“GM Hans Niemann Withdraws from Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, Replaced by Nodirbek Abdusattorov”
Less than 48 hours before the Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam kicks off in the French capital, GM Hans Niemann has withdrawn from the tournament for “personal reasons.” The U.S. grandmaster is the second player to be replaced, after GM Alireza Firouzja dropped out earlier this week.
The sudden development ahead of the second event of the 2025 Freestyle Grand Slam Chess Tour was confirmed by the German organizers on Saturday. World number-six GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov has already been announced as the replacement.
“We are obviously incredibly disappointed to hear about Niemann’s withdrawal from this event,” said Jan Henric Buettner, CEO of Freestyle Chess in a statement to Chess.com. “But we are very happy to have found an incredible replacement with Nodirbek Abdusattorov on very short notice.”
Niemann’s inclusion in the 12-player elite event was one of the most talked-about aspects among many chess fans. He received a surprise wildcard after winning the 2024 Grenke Chess Open, one of the largest open tournaments in the world. That victory originally qualified him for the Grenke Classic in 2025, but after the festival format was revamped and the Classic discontinued, Buettner and the organizers instead extended an invitation to Niemann as a form of compensation.
Niemann’s withdrawal means fans will miss another showdown with GM Magnus Carlsen, co-founder of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, a rivalry rooted in one of the most controversial episodes of modern chess.
The two clashed in the 2022 Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis when Carlsen abruptly withdrew from the tournament after losing to Niemann, later implying that Niemann may have cheated. The incident sparked a $100 million defamation lawsuit, which was ultimately dismissed by a U.S. court. The dispute was later settled privately, which allowed the two players to return to battle it out over-the-board. Despite the legal resolution, tensions between them have remained high.
Speaking on The Joe Rogan Experience in February, Carlsen addressed the controversy, saying: “It didn’t smell good to me. It still doesn’t. […] I don’t trust him, and a lot of top players still don’t trust him.”
The 21-year-old U.S. grandmaster cited personal reasons for dropping out of the tournament and has not made any additional public statements. Norwegian broadcaster TV 2 reports the withdrawal came shortly after Niemann was informed that Buettner had invested in new and improved anti-cheating measures.
Buettner declined to speculate on Niemann’s reasons for withdrawing, saying: “It is correct though that we have put the most serious anti-cheating measures in place at this tournament that have ever been applied to any chess tournament.”
Tournament Director of Freestyle Chess, GM Sebastian Siebrecht said most details of the measures had been distributed to the players days ago. The technical meeting, attended by players, takes place today at 5 PM local time.
The news of Niemann’s withdrawal comes just two days after it was announced that Firouzja, who lives in Chartres, an hour away from Paris, had also dropped out for personal reasons. The Iranian-born Frenchman has been replaced by GM Richard Rapport from Hungary, who will now make his Freestyle Chess debut despite losing to GM Vidit Gujrathi in the Paris Play-In Final.
Despite the loss of two major fan favorites, the Paris event is guaranteed to deliver excitement on the highest level. “We are very excited about each of the 12 players that will be participating,” said Buettner. “Among them are eight of the top-nine rated players in the world.”
The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Paris will start with the first round on Monday. Chess.com has reached out to Niemann for a comment on this story.