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Fedoseev Joins Carlsen & Co. In Weissenhaus After Winning Armageddon Thriller

Fedoseev Joins Carlsen & Co. In Weissenhaus After Winning Armageddon Thriller

Colin_McGourty
Colin_McGourty
Staff
| 30 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Vladimir Fedoseev beat GM Ian Nepomniachtchi in the Semifinals and then GM Javokhir Sindarov in a thrilling Final to clinch the last spot in next month's $750,000 2025 Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess Grand Slam. 19-year-old Sindarov inflicted the only defeat on Fedoseev in the Play-In and was winning the final armageddon game but couldn't convert the tricky queen vs. rook position with his time running out.

Final Bracket (Quarterfinals onward)

Semifinals: Sindarov Cruises, Fedoseev Wins Slugfest

12 players were invited straight into the 16-player Knockout, but in the end it was two of the four players who had battled through a grueling 250-player, 9-round Swiss tournament who made it to the final. Both remained unbeaten, though their Semifinals were very different.

Sindarov made short work of GM Yu Yangyi by pouncing on an endgame mistake by his Chinese opponent in the first game and converting flawlessly, making it nine wins in his last 10 games.

Then in the second game he was never troubled before he forced a draw by repetition from a position of strength. 

Fedoseev, meanwhile, hit turbulence after a near-perfect two days when he'd scored 8/9 in the Swiss and 4/4 in the Knockout matches.

At first he seemed set to continue his winning run against GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, a player he has a 2-1 score against in classical chess. He was one move, 20.Rdf1!, away from gaining a winning position in the first game. 

Despite being over three minutes up on the clock, Fedoseev rushed with 20.Bd4?. After 20...Nc6! the advantage had vanished and the game fizzled into a draw. Fedoseev understood it wasn't going to be easy:

I saw that I had a winning move in game one and it was such an obvious move, Rdf1, double rooks on the f-file, Rf8, and that’s it! I played a move in five seconds and lost this opportunity, and from this point I understood that I’m in shaky form. I’m probably not handling my nerves at the same level as yesterday.

I understood that I'm in shaky form.

—Vladimir Fedoseev

A day earlier, Nepomniachtchi had lost a game to GM Hans Niemann after a disastrous pawn grab on b2, and Fedoseev seemed to be doing the same when he played 6...Rxb2? and found his rook trapped and vulnerable after 7.Nb3!.  

Nepomniachtchi initially played well to grow his advantage, but he lost his way. Later in the game he blundered with 18.gxf4? when Fedoseev pounced but once again failed to deliver the knockout blow.

"I was either unable to sense critical moments or to navigate those moments, so I knew it was going to be a tough day for me from this point," said Fedoseev.

The first blitz game against Nepomniachtchi was incredibly tense, and it seemed as though the two-time world championship challenger was taking over when he grabbed a pawn on h2, with Fedoseev getting down to under a minute trying to find a reply. In the end, however, it was Fedoseev who would spot the last trick to clinch the decisive win of the match.

Nepomniachtchi had to win on demand, which looked unlikely when he blundered on move seven, but he fought his way back into the game, ensuring Fedoseev had some nervous moments before finally clinching a place in the Final with a draw in 52 moves.

Final: Fedoseev Beats Sindarov In Armageddon Thriller

Both players had reached the Final undefeated, but that wouldn't last long! 

Fedoseev noted that while he has a 2-1 classical score against Nepomniachtchi, Sindarov is one of the few opponents to have a plus score against him, having beaten him twice in the Sharjah Masters. He was well aware of how good his opponent is, commenting:

He’s one of the youngest grandmasters in the world and maybe one of the most talented guys right now, and our brief discussions after those games I lost to him sort of convinced me that he’s a really super-talented player with some abilities I can’t say I have, so huge respect to him.  

He's a really super-talented player with some abilities I can't say I have.

—Vladimir Fedoseev on Javokhir Sindarov

Sindarov struck the first blow, going for probing play on both sides of the board before unleashing 16.g5!, a move Black only seemed to have covered. The rest was brutal.

For the first time in the event, Fedoseev had to win on demand, and he did, posing his young opponent problems that burned up time on the clock and meant that when a match-winning escape was briefly offered, Sindarov missed it!

That comeback win is our Game of the Day, with analysis by GM Rafael Leitao below. 

Sindarov was able to shrug off that loss and play the opening of the first blitz game brilliantly. 10.b3! was a nice little trick to unleash another a1-bishop (10...Qxa1?? runs into 11.Bxh7+! and the rook takes the queen)...

...but the real star move, 12.h4!, would soon follow, giving White a winning position due to some back-rank tactics. Fedoseev could have been forgiven for giving up immediately, but instead he limited the damage to an exchange and then somehow managed to survive—it was remarkable that in what followed Sindarov never made any particularly clear mistake.

The second blitz game was just as tense. While the balance was never seriously upset, both players at times had to find only moves before reaching an 85-move draw.

A currently fashionable split first would have been an absolutely fair reward for the players, but there was just one place up for grabs and the rules meant an armageddon game would decide everything.

White got five minutes, while the players bid for the lowest amount of time they would be willing to have to take Black and need only a draw. Fedoseev won with a bid of four minutes and 16 seconds to Sindarov's four minutes and 31 seconds.

Once again, the action promised to be over fast, when Sindarov's 7.Nc3? ran into 7...Nc4!, winning a pawn due to the combined threats of Nxd2 and Qxc3.

It seemed to be all over bar the shouting, but once again remarkable events followed. Fedoseev got his pieces tangled, lost his edge, and then failed to find a brilliant saving move after 44.Qxe5 and slipped into a lost position.

In the end it didn't matter, however, since Sindarov reached a pure queen vs. rook endgame 10 seconds behind on the clock and couldn't find a way to win—the position is notoriously difficult to win against a computer, though in human practice the defender usually blunders a fork at some point! 

Fedoseev's joy and relief was visible in his celebration.

Sindarov had fallen agonizingly short, while Fedoseev was an absolutely deserving winner, having finished on top of both the Swiss Stage and the Knockout. 

The prize is to join GMs Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Gukesh Dommaraju, and more titans of chess in the Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in Germany on February 7-14. The first prize is $200,000, while Fedoseev will score $7,500 even if he finishes in last place.

Fedoseev is relishing his chance:

I can say that I really enjoy this opportunity to play classical chess freestyle format, 960, and it would be nice to meet with many of the best players of the world from the current era and to play with them probably my favorite chess game at the moment, and my best chess game at the moment also, because I think in Fischer Random I’m probably better than in any chess format now. I’m really excited to try my best in such a company!

It would be nice to meet with many of the best players of the world from the current era and to play with them probably my favorite chess game at the moment.

—Vladimir Fedoseev

Fedoseev feels his experience of freestyle chess can work in his favor, pointing out, "I think I played much more than a thousand games and with long time controls."  

It's going to be a big month for Fedoseev, who first plays the Tata Steel Chess Masters on January 18-February 2. He mentioned that would mean he could do less preparation than others, but he's not alone in playing both events. Caruana, Gukesh, GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and GM Vincent Keymer are all in the same boat, as the new year in chess gets off to its traditional start in Wijk aan Zee. 

    How To Rewatch
    You can review the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Weissenhaus Play-In on the Chess24 YouTube or Twitch channels. You can also check out the games on our dedicated events page.
    GM Daniel Naroditsky and IM David Pruess hosted the broadcast.

    The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam started with the $750,000 first of five legs in Weissenhaus, Germany, on February 7-14. Nine players, including GMs Gukesh Dommaraju, Magnus Carlsen, and Hikaru Nakamura have already been invited, while the remaining spot was decided in a Play-In on Chess.com on January 4-8. 12 players moved straight to a 16-player Knockout with two-game 15+3 matches, while the last four players qualified from a nine-round Swiss Open played at a 10+2 time control. All games are played in freestyle chess.  

    Previous coverage:

    Colin_McGourty
    Colin McGourty

    Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.

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