Bortnyk Begins Freestyle Friday 9/9

On June 5, GM Oleksandr Bortnyk became the first player to win nine Freestyle Fridays and to win three in the 2026 Freestyle Friday Championship. A fast 9/9 start was enough to hang on to outright victory through an 0.5/2 finish as Bortnyk returns to first place in the championship standings in his continuing battle with GM Pranav Venkatesh.

GM Maciej Klekowski took second place with 8.5 points, defeating IM Yoseph Taher in the final round to catch up and then pass on the tiebreaks, with Taher ending up in third place.

Three players achieved 4/4 starts: Bortnyk, of course, as well as GMs Matthias Bluebaum and Luis Quesada. In the fourth round against GM David Navara, Bortnyk snapped off a piece with a combo of rook fork and bishop pin.

Unfortunately, Quesada’s fifth-round game started but he didn’t play, moving Bortnyk to an easy 5/5. Bluebaum played a dull, drawish-looking game against GM Dmitry Andreikin, but got impatient and allowed a trade, which allowed a sacrifice, which allowed Andreikin to win the game.

Joining Andreikin on 4.5/5 were three other players—Taher, GM-elect Faustino Oro, and IM Renato Terry. It was Andreikin who got the shot at Bortnyk, and it took just two moves for a game-changing blunder. Andreikin eventually returned the favor, however, with 35.h3 self-trapping his queen more than 30 moves later. Fifteen moves after that, Bortnyk moved to 6/6.

Meanwhile, Taher beat Oro, and Bluebaum recovered to beat Terry, leaving Taher the only player on 5.5/6 and Bluebaum the only one on 5/6.

In the seventh round, Bortnyk needed just 16 moves to dispatch Taher who bizarrely hung his bishop and queen at the same time. Bluebaum, facing IM Erik Gasparyan, ended in another potentially drawish pawn structure, but Gasparyan had real chances and converted them. That put Gasparyan as the only player within one point of Bortnyk in the standings.

A win in the eighth round would mean that Bortnyk needed just draws in the last three rounds to guarantee a share of first place. Bortnyk was pushing for much of the game, and then the push became an advantage. Next the advantage became a winning advantage, and finally the winning advantage became a checkmate on move 37.

Not only would three draws coming out of the second break guarantee at least a tie for first for Bortnyk, but they would also win outright unless Andreikin or Taher scored a perfect 3/3. Instead, Bortnyk won yet again, moving to 9/9 against GM Conrad Holt. And only Taher stayed within range, as he was the victor when he and Andreikin faced off against each other.

With two rounds left, Bortnyk had almost the only chance of winning the tournament, and a win in the 10th would take it outright. In an IM battle on the board below, Taher on 7.5 points and Gasparyan on seven needed to win their last two games and some help from Bortnyk’s opponents. Once again, Bortnyk’s rivals faced off with each other, while Bortnyk faced a player lower in the standings whom he had not yet beaten.

That was Terry this time. The Peruvian player who has won this event himself multiple times had something to say about Bortnyk’s attempt at 11/11, with the game basically over by move 20 and officially over before move 30.

Things suddenly looked far tougher for Bortnyk when Taher, already higher than Gasparyan in the standings, won as well. Bortnyk was still in the lead and being chased by only one player. A Bortnyk victory with Black against GM Nodirbek Yakubboev would win the tournament; otherwise, Taher was still alive during his last encounter as White with Klekowski.

Ultimately, Bortnyk didn’t have anything to worry about. Things looked good for Taher for a while, but Klekowski soon won a queen for a rook and bishop, which was enough to eventually pull out a win and second place.

In his last game, Bortnyk was never in danger of losing before making the draw that secured first place. After Klekowski and Taher in the next two spots, Andreikin took fourth place on tiebreaks with 8/11, leaving Terry, Bluebaum, and GM Volodar Murzin behind. The women’s prize went to WIM Margarita Potapova, who took an impressive 11th place with 7.5 points, including wins over two GMs.

June 5 Freestyle Friday | Final Standings (Top 25)

(Full final standings.)