CAPE TOWN – Hans Niemann of the United States made history on Thursday by becoming the inaugural Diving Chess Cape Town 2025 Champion after defeating compatriot Fabiano Caruana in the final of an extraordinary underwater chess tournament held at the Silo Hotel in Cape Town.
The event, billed as the first ever Freestyle Diving Chess Championship, saw players make their moves on a small chess set positioned 110 centimetres beneath the surface of the Silo Hotel’s rooftop pool.
The unique format required each player to dive underwater to make their move before surfacing for air, at which point their opponent would immediately dive to respond.
Javkohir Sindarov of Uzbekistan, the recent FIDE World Cup winner, secured third place after defeating India’s Vidit Gujrathi in the bronze medal match.
Following his victory, Niemann celebrated from the pool, displaying his medal to enthusiastic local supporters before taking on Diving Chess World Champion Michal Mazurkiewicz of Poland.
Despite falling behind early after the Polish player won a rook and pawn for a bishop due to a blunder on move two, the American grandmaster recovered to claim victory in that encounter as well.
University Exhibition Draws Hundreds
The diving chess competition formed part of the broader Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Finals programme.
Elsewhere on Thursday, four other participants visited the University of the Western Cape for a simultaneous exhibition before approximately 200 chess enthusiasts, predominantly members of local Cape Town chess clubs.
The event was organised through a partnership between Freestyle Chess and Chess South Africa.
Norwegian world champion Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian of the United States conducted a tandem simultaneous display, alternating moves across 20 boards and achieving 15 victories, one draw, and four defeats.
Germany’s Vincent Keymer and Hungarian coach-commentator Peter Leko remained undefeated, drawing two games whilst winning 18.
The exhibition featured notable participants including streamers Anna Cramling, Dina Belenkaya, and Niklas Steenfatt.
Iran’s Parham Maghsoodloo spent two and a half hours playing blitz games against fans, allowing opponents five minutes to his 30 seconds (with a one-second increment), yet won every encounter.
Organisers Express Delight at African Debut
Earlier, Carlsen and Jan Henric Buettner addressed the media at the Silo Hotel.
Buettner expressed particular pleasure at bringing the tournament to Africa, stating: “I know that the African population, at least the people who follow chess, are extremely happy to have such a tournament here with Magnus and all the other great players. We have eight top players. It’s fantastic, and we’re very grateful and excited to start this tournament.”
For Carlsen, the visit marked a return to Cape Town after 26 years, having first visited with his family in 1999, shortly before his tenth birthday.
“I’ve always wanted to come back, but it hasn’t panned out, so I’m very happy to finally be back in this beautiful country,” he remarked. “People keep telling me the city has changed, and what can I say — it’s still beautiful!”
The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Finals will be held Monday 8 December to Thursday 11 December at Grootbos near Gansbaai.
While there is no ticketing or public access to the tournament venue, the V&A Waterfront will become the public viewing hub of the Grand Slam Final.
Starting at 12:30 each day, the official Freestyle Chess broadcast will be shown live on-site, hosted by South African presenters Cato Louw and Adrian Endly, joined by grandmaster Vidit Gujarathi from India and several special guests from the South African chess community whilst the rest of the world can enjoy the action on YouTube.
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