Per week after GM Jeffery Xiong scored the first 11/11 in Freestyle Friday historical past, this week’s 960 occasion on Chess.com led to a three-way tie on 9 factors. GM Denis Lazavik pulled forward within the ninth spherical, however then allowed IMs Eytan Rozen and Marco Materia to catch up earlier than the top of the occasion. Nonetheless, Lazavik’s tiebreaks held by a large margin, giving him the event victory. Value noting: not one of the high three finishers have even turned 20 but.
No participant, of any age, made it greater than 5 rounds with no loss or draw. GM Dmitry Andreikin was thus in a position to transfer into the only lead with 6.5 factors after seven rounds, defeating IM Renato Terry in simply 25 strikes after a formidable sequence on strikes 12-15, adopted by checks on seven of the final eight turns.
Andreikin prolonged his rating to 7.5 factors within the subsequent spherical, however then within the ninth spherical he confronted the eventual event winner, and it was right here the winds shifted. A protracted tactical sequence ended with Lazavik forward by a pawn, which ultimately proved sufficient.
Lazavik, who had made attracts in rounds 5 and 7, now held the event lead by himself, however he would additionally make two extra attracts the remainder of the way in which, permitting Rozen and Materia to catch up. Materia defeated GM Hans Niemann in similar ninth spherical that featured the Andreikin-Lazavik turning level, then beat Andreikin himself within the tenth, bringing him all the way in which again right into a tie for first regardless of having misplaced all the way in which again within the second spherical. Andreikin constructed an enormous lead on this recreation however couldn’t maintain the benefit.
With one spherical to go, there was a three-way tie for first on 8.5/10 between Lazavik, Rozen, and never Materia however Terry. Materia and FM Rustam Rustamov had eight factors every. Andreikin would defeat Rustamov and so, regardless of the consecutive setbacks in rounds 9 and 10, was in a position to take fourth place. Materia, who like Rozen additionally misplaced early on (spherical three), would find yourself in third by leapfrogging Terry (the April 18 event winner) after taking their recreation.
Due to Terry’s loss, both Lazavik or Rozen may have received the event outright with a decisive end result. As an alternative, they performed 69 strikes till nothing however the kings had been left, which was end result for Lazavik due to his overwhelming tiebreak benefit.
The ultimate prize, the ladies’s prize, went to IM Le Thao Nguyen Pham in twenty first place. With a number of gamers busy on the 2025 World Speedy & Blitz Group Championships, 196 gamers participated on this week’s Freestyle Friday, a quantity that ought to rebound within the coming weeks.
June 13 Freestyle Friday | Closing Standings (Prime 20)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Identify | Ranking | Rating | 1st Tiebreak |
| 1 | 4 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 2787 | 9 | 75 | |
| 2 | 20 | IM | @Moultino06 | Eytan Rozen | 2555 | 9 | 59.5 | |
| 3 | 18 | IM | @scarabee43 | Marco Materia | 2598 | 9 | 59 | |
| 4 | 2 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 2803 | 8.5 | 73 | |
| 5 | 12 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 2658 | 8.5 | 68.5 | |
| 6 | 11 | GM | @artooon | Pranesh M | 2672 | 8.5 | 66.5 | |
| 7 | 7 | GM | @Sargsyan_Shant | Shant Sargsyan | 2717 | 8 | 70.5 | |
| 8 | 13 | GM | @OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 2642 | 8 | 63 | |
| 9 | 33 | FM | @ilqar_74 | Rustam Rustamov | 2490 | 8 | 61 | |
| 10 | 9 | GM | @SGchess01 | Szymon Gumularz | 2667 | 8 | 56.5 | |
| 11 | 40 | GM | @Savva_KraSavva | Savva Vetokhin | 2429 | 8 | 55.5 | |
| 12 | 138 | FM | @ChrisTheBellRinger | Christian Gloeckler | 2096 | 8 | 49 | |
| 13 | 29 | FM | @puz2010 | Semyon Puzyrevsky | 2501 | 7.5 | 68 | |
| 14 | 38 | IM | @IMchanged | Felix Ilinca | 2454 | 7.5 | 59.5 | |
| 15 | 62 | GM | @Iskusnyh | Sergei Iskusnyh | 2332 | 7.5 | 50 | |
| 16 | 4 | NM | @Little_Skib | Ethan Sheehan | 2469 | 7.5 | 49 | |
| 17 | 76 | GM | @SharapovEvgeny | Sharapov Evgeny | 2306 | 7 | 66.5 | |
| 18 | 24 | GM | @Nuvas | Evgenios Ioannidis | 2502 | 7 | 64 | |
| 19 | 36 | FM | @SahibSinghKnight | Sahib Singh | 2437 | 7 | 61.5 | |
| 20 | 21 | FM | @FandiMazen | Mazen Fandi | 2503 | 7 | 58.5 | |
| 21 | 74 | IM | @Fh2411 | Le Thao Nguyen Pham | 2272 | 7 | 53.5 |
Prizes: Lazavik $400, Rozen $250, Materia $150, Andreikin $100, Le $100.
Freestyle Friday is Chess.com’s weekly event devoted to Freestyle Chess for titled gamers. The event begins at 11:00 a.m. Japanese Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Commonplace Time.
