World Champion Gukesh D vs Magnus Carlsen | Freestyle Chess (#931)

Featured is an excellent and instructive Freestyle Chess game between World Chess Champion Gukesh D and Magnus Carlsen from round 9 of the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour Round Robin, held in Weissenhaus, Germany. From start position #931 we observe unprotected a and h pawns, however they aren't really exploitable. Gukesh and Carlsen deploy their pieces in the opening phase with an eye on potential pawn duos. An important middlegame battle is sparked after Gukesh's 9th move e4. Key pawn moves in the middlegame help pave the way for the pieces to assume quality posts. After move 39, both Gukesh and Carlsen are both under 1 minute with the endgame position still level, but it would be tricky with knights remaining! #FreestyleChess #GukeshD #MagnusCarlsen Image of Magnus Carlsen by Lennart Ootes lennartootes.com I'm a self-taught National Master in chess out of Pennsylvania, USA who was introduced to the game by my father in 1988 at the age of 8. The purpose of this channel is to share my knowledge of chess to help others improve their game. I enjoy continuing to improve my understanding of this great game, albeit slowly. Consider subscribing here on YouTube for frequent content, and/or connecting via any or all the below social medias. Your support is greatly appreciated. Take care, bye. :) ★ LICHESS.ORG https://lichess.org/@/Chess-Network ★ CHESS.COM https://www.chess.com/member/chessnetwork?ref_id=1552369 (affiliate link) ★ TWITCH http://twitch.tv/ChessNetwork ★ TWITTER http://twitter.com/ChessNetwork ★ FACEBOOK http://facebook.com/ChessNetwork ★ PATREON https://www.patreon.com/ChessNetwork ★ DONATE https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=QLV226E6FUUWG PGN [FEN "brkrnqnb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BRKRNQNB w KQkq - 0 1"] 1. f4 b6 2. b3 Nh6 3. Ngf3 g6 4. Bxh8 Qxh8 5. g3 c5 6. e3 Nc7 7. Nd3 f6 8. Nf2 Nf7 9. e4 f5 10. Qe2 e5 11. fxe5 Nxe5 12. Nxe5 Qxe5 13. O-O d5 14. d4 Qxd4 15. exf5 gxf5 16. Rbd1 Qg7 17. Nh3 Rf8 18. c4 O-O-O 19. Nf4 Rfe8 20. Qd3 d4 21. Bxa8 Nxa8 22. Qxf5+ Qd7 23. Qxd7+ Rxd7 24. Nd5 Rg7 25. Rde1 Rxe1 26. Rxe1 Nc7 27. Nf4 Kd7 28. Re5 Re7 29. Rh5 Ne8 30. Rh6 Nd6 31. Nd5 Rf7 32. Nf6+ Kd8 33. Nd5 Nf5 34. Re6 Kd7 35. Re2 Kd6 36. Rf2 b5 37. Kf1 bxc4 38. bxc4 Ke5 39. Ke1 Nd6 40. Nf4 Rc7 41. Re2+ Kf5 42. Nd5 Rb7 43. h3 Ne4 44. g4+ Ke5 45. Kf1 d3 46. Re1 Kd4