Vladimir Kramnik is the bodyguard of Hans Niemann (Video interview)
Magnus Carlsen is the winner of Grenke Freestyle Chess 2025. The five-time classical World Champion is proving to be unstoppable at Freestyle (aka Chess960 or Fischer Random) too. After Carlsen’s Freestyle victory in Paris, now he managed to secure the Grenke Freestyle Chess 2025 title with a round to spare. (replay Carlsen’s games here) But the other large story of Grenke was the appearance of Hans Niemann after 12 days of radio silence. Vladimir Kramnik was often spotted next to Hans Niemann. In an interview for ChessBase India, titled “Vladimir Kramnik is the bodyguard of Hans Niemann,” Kramnik himself provides more details
While Niemann’s appearance after 12 days of radio silence was the key motif of the first rounds, chess spoke for itself and Carlsen’s performance acted like a magnet for all media covering the event.
Niemann himself finished with a lower than expected score, but he was followed by a team of Netflix, who are shooting yet another episode of Netflix UNTOLD 2025 – Carlsen – Niemann story. This will be an ongoing story, here is a timeline of the events so far:
05.04. Norwegian TV reports that Niemann is withdrawing after he was informed about anti-cheating
05.04 Breaking: Hans Niemann withdraws from Freestyle Chess Paris 2025 (rolling updates)
06.04 Reactions to Hans Niemann withdrawing from Paris Freestyle Chess 2025
06.04 Chess Song: Disappearing stars (Hans Niemann & Alireza Firouza) #TweetOftheDay
06.04 The organizer of Freestyle Chess Paris comments on the withdraw of Hans Niemann
17.04 Hans Niemann shows at round 1 of Grenke Chess after 12 days radio silence
17.04. Round 1 pairings of Grenke with Hans Niemann playing
19.04 Interview with Hans Niemann at Grenke
21.04 Vladimir Kramnik is the bodyguard of Hans Niemann (Video interview)