GM Sina Movahed won Freestyle Friday on October 16, riding a 7/7 start to sole first place on nine points. GM Haowen Xue finished second with 8.5/11, surpassing GM Ian Nepomniachtchi on tiebreaks. The win was Movahed's sixth in Freestyle Friday, tied for the second-most ever, albeit his first victory since January 30 and his first of the Freestyle Friday Championship (FFC) that began in February.

GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave streamed his tournament for Freestyle Chess, finishing ninth, good enough to tack on a point in the FFC standings. Watch the stream back here:

GM Magnus Carlsen was also among the participants. After a first-round upset loss, he recovered to 3/4, one of 20 people on that score. GM Anna Muzychuk had 3.5 points, and five players tied for the lead: Movahed, Vachier-Lagrave, GM Christopher Yoo, GM Felix Ilinca, and NM Ethan Sheehan.

Only Movahed would reach 5/5, defeating Ilinca while Yoo and Vachier-Lagrave made a draw with each other, as did Sheehan and Carlsen.

Movahed extended his score to 6/6 against Vachier-Lagrave in the next round. With Yoo and Sheehan drawing again, Movahed now led everyone by at least a full point. Eight players found themselves on 5/6, including GM Pouya Idani, who defeated Carlsen and induced the world number-one to drop from the tournament.

Movahed had to work for 7/7 over Xue, but got there. His perfect score did not survive the eighth round against GM Faustino Oro, however. Along with Oro, Idani also joined the lead after the round, defeating IM Quoc Hy Nguyen. Elsewhere, Vachier-Lagrave forced GM Nodirbek Yakubboev to demonstrate the bishop and knight mate, which he did to become one of eight players on 6/8, the others being Xue, Nepomniachtchi, Yoo, Nguyen, and previous Freestyle Friday winners GM Parham Maghsoodloo, GM Oleksandr Bortnyk, and IM Renato Terry.

After a break before his recovery effort, Movahed got White against Idani, while Oro took Black against Nepomniachtchi. Ian got the best of him, putting the winner of Movahed-Idani in great shape. That would end up being Movahed, putting him right back onto the first-place track.

Behind Movahed on seven points with two rounds remaining were now Oro, Idani, Nepomniachtchi, Nguyen, and Yakubboev. As Movahed continued his march in round 10, defeating Yakubboev with Black, only Idani stayed in range of the tie for first, defeating Oro. Xue, Nepomniachtchi, and Nguyen (the latter two of whom drew with each other in round 10) were now playing for second on 7.5 points each.

Movahed and Idani both got Black in the final round, facing Nepomniachtchi and Xue, respectively. Nepomniachtchi did what Idani needed him to, but Idani could not take advantage. In the end, his tiebreaks would likely have fallen short regardless. Xue's tiebreaks did not fall short, with his win against Idani resulting in second place, the best he could have hoped for entering the round.

The paid spot for fourth place after Movahed, Xue, and Nepomniachtchi went to Ilinca, who won his last three games of the tournament against Muzychuk, FM Oleksii Nakonechnyi, and Yoo. The women's prize ultimately went not to Muzychuk but IM Polina Shuvalova. 

October 16 Freestyle Friday | Final Standings (Top 25)

Prizes: Movahed $400, Xue $250, Nepomniachtchi $150, Ilinca $100, Shuvalova $100.