No Carlsen vs Niemann at Paris leg of Freestyle Chess Tour as American Grandmaster makes surprise withdrawal

There will be no Magnus Carlsen vs Hans Niemann match at the upcoming Paris leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025. Niemann has pulled out of the event with only a few days to go for the chess tournament.

The news of Niemann pulling out of the Paris leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour was shared by the organisers on Saturday with the tournament set to start on Monday (7 April).

Abdusattorov replaces Niemann for Freestyle Tour Paris leg

Uzbekistan Grandmaster Nodirbek Abdusattorov has been included in the tournament as a replacement for Niemann. “Hans Niemann has withdrawn last minute and Nodirbek Abdusattorov will replace him,” Freestyle Chess Tour organisers said on Instagram.

The exact reasons behind Niemann’s withdrawal have not been shared by the organisers.

Niemann keeps silence on withdrawal from Freestyle Tour

Niemann has not released any statement or clarification from his end. On Tuesday he had posted a Ghibli-styled animated picture of him playing chess with former world champion Vladimir Kramnik on his X account with the caption" “Coming soon to Paris.”

pic.twitter.com/BUFwqS28QD

— Hans Niemann (@HansMokeNiemann) March 31, 2025

Earlier, talking about the opportunity to play in Freestyle Tour, Niemann had said; “I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to compete in the Freestyle Paris edition… No matter what opportunities come my way, I will continue to let my chess speak for itself. Thank you to everyone who has supported me on this journey.”

Niemann’s withdrawal has robbed chess fans of a chance to see him once again take on world No.1 Carlsen who had accused the American Grandmaster of cheating in 2022. The cheating accusation led to a $100 million lawsuit, which was eventually settled out of court.

The controversy was rekindled recently after Carlsen spoke about it on Joe Rogan’s podcast and Niemann hit back at him by accusing him of trying to destroy the life of a teenager.

Freestyle Tour in Paris: All you need to know

Nonetheless, the Paris leg of the Freestyle Chess Tour will kick-off on 7 April at the Pavillon Chesnaie du Roy which is inside the historic Bois de Vincennes in Paris. The first two days will involve round-robin matches between 12 chess Grandmasters. Eight of them will then qualify for the knockouts.

The next six days of the tournament will witness classical time-control knockout matches with the final taking place on 14 April.

Germany’s Vincent Keymer won the first leg of the Grand Slam tour in Weissenhaus.

Besides Keymer, Abdusattorov and Carlsen, other players in the Paris tournament will be Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Richard Rapport (replacing Alireza Firouzja), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, R Praggnanandhaa and Vidith Gujrathi.

The Freestyle Tour in Paris has a price pool of $7,50,000 and the winner is guaranteed of $2,00,000 prize money.