Magnus Carlsen commented on the final games of the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship 2026. The Champion noted the difficulty of playing against Fabiano Caruana and pointed out severe fatigue after the games.

Magnus Carlsen

Magnus Carlsen

World No. 1

“In the last game, my head was really heavy. I’m just completely exhausted, my head can’t think straight…

There were many days with a lot of games, and with this format, we have no time to rest. But that’s how it should be. It shouldn’t be easy, but I felt that absolutely every last bit of strength had been squeezed out of me.”

Fabiano lost his advantage several times and lost the third game after missing a 98% chance to win according to the Evaluation Bar.

The FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship 2026 is the first joint World Championship in the 960 format, which took place in Weissenhaus, Germany from February 13 to 15. Magnus Carlsen (2840) defeated Fabiano Caruana (2795) with a score of 2.5-1.5 in the Final and became the first Freestyle Chess World Champion.

Credit: Lennart Ootes/Freestyle Chess