The opening day of the Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam saw six of the eleven rapid round-robin games completed, with Magnus Carlsen and Nodirbek Abdusattorov emerging as joint leaders on 5/6 points.

Carlsen, the perennial favourite, secured five wins but suffered a single loss to Indian GM Arjun Erigaisi. In contrast, Abdusattorov, a late replacement for Hans Niemann, remained unbeaten, achieving four wins and two draws to match Carlsen's score.

Just behind the leaders is French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who impressed with a solid performance, remaining undefeated and collecting 4½ points. GM Ian Nepomniachtchi follows on 4 points, keeping close pace ahead of the final five rounds on Tuesday.

At the other end of the standings, Richard Rapport and Vidit Gujrathi find themselves in a difficult position, having each managed only 1 point across the six rounds. Also under pressure are reigning World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju, who has scored just 1½ points, and Germany's Vincent Keymer, the winner of the Weissenhaus leg, who sits on 2 points.