Magnus Carlsen did not show any mercy when he spotted his opponent Victor Mikhalevski carrying a wristwatch in their match at the Grenke Chess Freestyle Open. Carlsen leads the ranking after five laps.
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Freshly out of the Parisian leg of the Grand Chelem tour of freestyle chess, Magnus Carlsen, world n ° 1, has another good outing at the open grenke chess freestyle. After five laps, Carlsen is in the lead and the only player with a perfect 5/5 score.
On Saturday, the five-time world champion Carlsen beat the big-mammers Etienne Bacrot and Victor Mikhalevski. The match against the 53 -year -old Israeli Master Victor Mikhalevski became particularly notable due to a special demand that Carlsen made just before the start of their match.
Carlsen forces the opponent to remove the wrist watch
Before the two players could engage in an intense Battle of chess, Carlsen called the referee while Mikhalevski wore a wrist watch. As a result, Mikhalevski was forced to give his wrist to the referee.
Magnus calls the referee before the match since his opponent, Victor Mikhalevski, has a watch! pic.twitter.com/ae6vv1mkr
– Chess24 (@ chess24com) April 19, 2025
It is not strange to see Carlsen complain of his opponent wearing a wrist watch. Similarly, in 2023, during the chess event of Qatar Masters, Carlsen complained of Alisher Suleymenov carrying a wrist watch after losing against the Kazakhstan player.
Carlsen had specified on social networks X that he does not accuse Suleymenov of cheating, but the wrist watch made him difficult to concentrate. He was also angry with the organizers for not having taken measures against this.
“I was completely crushed in my match today. It is not to accuse my opponent of anything, who played an incredible game and deserved to win, but honestly, as soon as I saw that my opponent wore a watch at the start of the game, I lost my ability to focus,” Carlsen wrote on X.
“I obviously take responsibility for my inability to properly manage these thoughts, but it is also incredibly frustrating to see the organizers still not taking toilor seriously (no delay in transmission, spectators walk in the game room with smartphones),” he added.
Carlsen leads the open ranking of Grenke Chess Freestyle
Returning to the Grenke Chess Freestyle open, which takes place in Karlsruhe, Germany. Carlsen is currently in the lead after five laps, but seven players are behind him half a point. These seven grandmothers are Awonder Liang, Paulius Pouttinevicius, Baadur Jobava, Matthias Bluebaum, Alexey Sarana, Parham Maghsoodloo and Leon Luke Mendonca.
The American grandmaker Hans Niemann, who jumped the Grand Chemps-chem from Paris Freestyle, also fights for the title at the Grenke Chess Freestyle open. He has four points after five laps.
