3/8/2019 – Over Easter, from April 18th to 22nd, one of the strongest open tournaments in the world takes place in Karlsruhe: the GRENKE Open. At the same time, ten of the world's best will face off in the GRENKE Chess Classic. Carlsen, Caruana, Aronian, Anand and Vachier-Lagrave are all confirmed, but also Vincent Keymer, the surprise winner of the 2018 GRENKE Open, who will have a prime opportunity to show what he can do against the world's best. Details via the tournament press release.
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First 2019 game between Carlsen & Caruana
World Champion Magnus Carlsen leads the 10-player round-robin as he looks to win the tournament for the second time since 2015. He's joined by the 2017 and 2018 winners, Levon Aronian and Fabiano Caruana. It will be the first meeting between Carlsen and his most recent challenger since their London match last November.
The first DVD includes the systems 1...e5, the Dutch and Indian setups.
At the moment, the following eight players have been announced for the GRENKE Chess Classic with two spots still pending:
Magnus Carlsen, world champion , No. 1 in the world rankings, Elo: 2845, Norway
Fabiano Caruana, No. 2 in the world rankings, Elo: 2828, USA
Viswanathan Anand, No. 6, Elo: 2779, India
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, No. 7 in the world rankings, Elo: 2775, France
Levon Aronian, No. 12 in the world rankings, Elo: 2761, Armenia
Peter Svidler, No. 20 in the world rankings, Elo: 2737, Russia
Arkadij Naiditsch, No. 35 in the world rankings, Elo: 2710, Azerbaijan
Vincent Keymer, No. 6 in the Under-16 world ranking, Elo: 2509 Germany
Update: Francisco Vallejo Pons (2698) and Georg Meier (2621) complete the field.
After his sensational GRENKE Chess Open 2018 victory, Vincent Keymer will exercise his right to participate in the GM tournament. The Classic is a fantastic opportunity for the 14-year-old German star, who is also supported by GRENKE and coached by Peter Leko, to compete with the best players in the world.
Scarcely any world champion has managed to captivate chess lovers to the extent Carlsen has. The enormously talented Norwegian hasn't been systematically trained within the structures of a major chess-playing nation such as Russia, the Ukraine or China.
Let endgame expert Dr Karsten Müller show and explain the finesses of the world champions. Although they had different styles each and every one of them played the endgame exceptionally well, so take the opportunity to enjoy and learn from some of the best endgames in the history of chess.
GRENKE Chess Open 2019 (with German titles) | GRENKE Chess on YouTube
Schedule
The tournament's first five rounds will be played in Karlsruhe, and then the last four in Baden-Baden. Times shown are in CEST (14:00 UTC / 9:00 AM EDT).
Round
Date
Time (UTC+1)
Location
1
April 20th
15:00
Schwarzwaldhalle Karlsruhe
2
April 21st
15:00
3
April 22nd
15:00
4
April 23rd
15:00
5
April 24th
15:00
Rest Day
April 25th
6
April 26th
15:00
Kulturhaus LA8 Baden-Baden
7
April 27th
15:00
8
April 28th
15:00
9
April 29th
15:00
A new record for the GRENKE Chess Open?
From April 18th to 22nd (Easter weekend) the GRENKE Chess Open will in Karlsruhe. It is the largest chess tournament in Europe and one of the strongest open tournaments in the world. Last year, 1,482 players and almost 300 titled players from all over the world took part. One month before the start of this year's edition over 1000 professionals and amateurs are registered, so that a new participation record appears in reach. The total prize fund for the festival is EUR €70,000, of which €20,000 are intended for the winner of the A-group alone.
Nikita Vitiugov is currently the top seed of the A-Group. The Russian super-grandmaster won the Open in 2017 and wants another shot at qualifying for the GRENKE Chess Classic.
Nikita Vitiugov | Photo: Georgios Souleidis
Number two player in the current starting rank Rauf Mamedov. The grandmaster from Azerbaijan is No. 42 in the March world ranking list with an Elo rating of 2701. Behind Mamedov is Francisco Vallejo Pons a member of the OSG Baden-Baden team of the German League, which is also sponsored by GRENKE.
Traditionally, the German chess elite take advantage of the GRENKE Chess Open to compete with world-class international players. The former "princes" Rasmus Svane, Alexander Donchenko and Dennis Wagner are therefore all planning to be in attendance.
The GRENKE Chess Open will be held in the Congress Center Karlsruhe, in the same hall as the GRENKE Chess Classic. The players and spectators thus have the chance to witness World Champion Magnus Carlsen and his peers up close.
More than 1100 players registered for the GRENKE Chess Open 2019 so far! Come to Karlsruhe to play and enjoy world class chess. Register here: https://t.co/hep48FsqaC#grenkeopen#grenkechess
Georgios SouleidisGeorgios Souleidis is an International Master with a degree in media and communication studies. He is an experienced journalist, author, photographer, chess trainer, editor-in-chief for the German Bundesliga, YouTuber, a regular contributor to the chessbase website, German chess magazine SCHACH, and previously blogged on his own site entwicklungsvorsprung.de.
Going out on a limb here: Keymer will lose all his games. I hope he doesn't but it looks difficult.
PatrickP 3/9/2019 12:30
I understand several of the reasons to give Keynes a chance. But a 200 ELO point difference with the second lowest rated player? Why would you want that?
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