Vietnamese chess GM finishes 4th at Freestyle Friday, outplacing world No. 1 Carlsen

Son scored 8.5 points from 11 rounds, with eight wins, one draw and two losses, according to results published by Chess.com, the world's largest chess platform.

Sina Movahed of Iran won the championship with 9.5 points, followed by Nodirbek Yakubboev of Uzbekistan with nine points and Argentine prodigy Faustino Oro with 8.5 points.

Son finished level on points with Oro but lost out to the Argentine on tiebreaks, settling for fourth place.

In the final standings, Son finished ahead of Carlsen, the No. 1 player in FIDE's October 2026 classical rankings, despite losing to the Norwegian chess legend in their head-to-head encounter in round seven.

Carlsen scored seven points from 10 games, forfeiting the final round to finish 17th in the event.

Son also finished ahead of several other renowned players, including Ian Nepomniachtchi, Vladimir Fedoseev, Alexey Sarana and Parham Maghsoodloo.

Son's late surge began after his loss to Carlsen, after which the Vietnamese GM had accumulated just 4.5 points from seven rounds.

He then defeated Gianmarco Leiva Rodriguez, Mikhail Spizharny, Sarana and Maghsoodloo in succession to climb into the tournament's leading group.

One of his most notable victories came in round 10, when he defeated Sarana, a former European individual champion and the 2023 European rapid champion.

Playing with the black pieces, Son prevailed in a 76-move battle despite having only around six seconds left at one point.

The turning point came on move 67, when he used his knight to deliver check while simultaneously attacking his opponent's rook, eventually winning the piece.

He then promoted a pawn to a queen on move 72 before delivering checkmate with his queen on move 76.

The victory brought his tally to 7.5 points heading into the final round.

In the decisive game, Son, playing white, defeated Maghsoodloo, the 2018 world junior champion.

The win was particularly impressive as the Iranian grandmaster had won the same Freestyle Friday tournament on October 9, just three weeks earlier.

Freestyle Friday is a weekly online tournament for titled players featuring freestyle chess, also known as Chess960.

In this variant, the pieces on the back rank are placed in randomized starting positions, reducing the advantage of memorized opening preparation.

Each player has three minutes on the clock, with a two-second increment added after every move.

The tournament is part of a points-based system designed to help players qualify for the 2027 Freestyle Chess World Championship.