Playing black against Aronian in the second round of the group stage on the morning of 17/7, Carlsen found himself in a middlegame where Aronian's white rook on f1 threatened Carlsen's black queen on f8 after move 26. However, instead of moving his queen to safety, Carlsen used his e4 pawn to capture Aronian's bishop on d3. Pique, watching from the audience, appeared surprised, seemingly unable to understand why the world's top chess player would sacrifice his queen so readily.

Pique (left) shakes hands with Carlsen before the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam group stage at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel in Nevada, USA, on 16/7/2025. Photo: Screenshot.

After the match, the 2010 World Cup-winning defender said, "For me, as for everyone, Carlsen is a chess legend. I really enjoy watching him play, even though I don't understand many of his moves. I was very surprised to see Carlsen lose his queen, and I thought he wasn't in the best position. But then I realized he did it intentionally to achieve a better position. It was fascinating. I learned a little about how they think and move the pieces."

The "loss of the queen" that Pique referred to was, in reality, a brilliant sacrifice by Carlsen, and the only move that maintained his winning advantage in that position. The Norwegian grandmaster took just over half a minute to spot this sacrificial move.

The position after move 26.Rf1. Aronian (white) threatens the black queen. But Carlsen doesn't move his queen; instead, he captures the bishop on d3.

Sacrificing his queen, Carlsen gains a rook and a bishop, and, more importantly, sets up subsequent threats: the black pawn can capture the white pawn on e2, the black bishop can capture the white knight on d2, allowing the black rook to move to f1 for checkmate.

Aronian moves his knight to f3 to block the black rook's f-file and protect the e2 pawn with his queen. But Carlsen responds by sacrificing his d2 pawn. White can't capture the pawn without losing a knight or being checkmated. If he doesn't capture, Carlsen plans to move his rook to d8, supporting the black pawn's advance to promotion.

Aronian was then forced to capture the pawn and lose a knight. But with a rook and two bishops, Carlsen's firepower was too much for the white queen. The Armenian-American grandmaster tried to prolong the game but ultimately resigned on move 35.

Pique mentioned that a member of the Barca coaching staff had taught him how to play chess. Later, he and his tutor often played chess and poker together. The 38-year-old former defender was invited to Las Vegas to watch the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam and meet two of the world's leading players, Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura. Nakamura smiled and chatted with Pique. Carlsen, however, only shook hands and didn't smile broadly, as he is a fan of Real Madrid, Barca's rival.

Despite his impressive victory over Aronian, Carlsen didn't perform well in the subsequent group stage games. Ultimately, he lost to Aronian in the play-off for a place in the quarterfinals. Losing both play-off games, Carlsen was unable to defend his title and was relegated to the lower bracket.

On the second day of competition, the morning of 18/7, Carlsen won both his first-round matches in the lower bracket against Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, thus avoiding elimination. In the upper bracket, Nakamura's championship hopes were dashed when he unexpectedly lost to Aronian 1,5-2,5. Aronian will advance to the semifinals to face Fabiano Caruana, who defeated Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in the quarterfinals.

The other semifinal will be between Hans Niemann and Arjun Erigaisi. Niemann beat Javokhir Sandarov 4-2 in the quarterfinals, while Erigaisi defeated Nodirbek Abdusattorov 1,5-0,5.

Xuan Binh