Ukranian GM Oleksandr Bortnyk scored 8 wins and 2 draws to win the January 9 Freestyle Friday tournament with 9 points. Runner-up GM Benjamin Bok won 9 times and lost twice, which led him to finish second with 9 points as well.

Two players finished with 9 points and three players with 8.5 points, requiring a tiebreak to decide the final standings. The Freestyle Friday (January 9, 2026) Top 5 are:

Place Player Score TB
1. 🇺🇦 GM Oleksandr Bortnyk 9 71.5
2. 🇳🇱 GM Benjamin Bok 9 57
3. 🇦🇿 GM Vugar Rasulov 8.5 70.5
4. 🇮🇳 GM Mitrabha Guha 8.5 66
5. 🇷🇺 GM Dmitry Andreikin 8.5 54.5

Freestyle Friday is a weekly Chess.com event for verified titled players, featuring the Chess960 variant. The event is an 11-round Swiss tournament with a 3+1 time control featuring a $1,000 weekly prize fund.

Credit: Michal Walusza