Bulgarian failure prodigy Ivan Kukushkin made the daring statement after winning his second victory against an international master in as many games at the Grenke Chess Freestyle Open, where the world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen has already been crowned champion with a round to lose.
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The Grenke Chess Freestyle 2025 Open started only four days after the end of the Parisian leg of the Grand Slam tour of Freestyle chess and enters its last day on Monday. The event witnessed the participation of some of the biggest names in the world of chess, the world’s n ° 1 and the great home of Paris Magnus Carlsen to the Weissenhaus champion, Vincent Keymer and Fabiano Caruana’s finalist.
The world n ° 4 Arjun Erigaisi, which had finished fifth in the French capital on the beginnings in freestyle earlier this month, is also one of the people in action. Like the controversial great American master Hans Niemann, who finally presented himself for a freestyle chess event after having suddenly found himself from the Grand Slam in Paris without offering an explanation.
Among the players in action at the event that is organized in Karlsruhe, Germany, is a 10 -year -old chess prodigy, Ivan Kukushkin, who has a fide note from 2030 and beat some international masters – Georg alone and Canada Shiyam Thavandiran, in consecutive games.
The Bulgarian had even underlined an illegal move from the Rook during his match against Thavandiran and had a healthy reaction after defeating his more upscale opponent.
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“ I can beat Magnus ”, says prodigy of 10 years
And after his victory over Thavandiran in the fifth round of the event, the young Ivan told Chessbase India that he was considering first place in the tournament, which, for anyone, would finally go to Carlsen with a round to lose on Sunday.
“Yeah, I know,” Kukushkin said when the host Sagar Shah stressed that Carlsen was also among people in action at the Grenke Open.
“I can beat Magnus. Everyone can beat Magnus. Magnus is the best in the world but he is not a computer. He can make mistakes,” added the 10 -year -old, before highlighting a “bad decision” from Carlsen at his third round meeting with GM Swedish Nils Grandelius.
Carlsen is in no way unbeatable, having lost his meeting in the semi-finals against Keymer in the Grand Colem of Weissenhaus and also undergoing a defeat against Erigaisi on the round of La Ronde in Paris.
At the Grenke Chess Open, however, Carlsen has had a perfect campaign by winning the eight games so far. And Monday, he will seek to make an emphatic statement by completing a perfect 9.0.
