Vincent Keymer emerges victorious at grenke Freestyle Chess Open

by Johannes Fischer
4/7/2026 – Vincent Keymer has done it! With a quick draw against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the ninth and final round of the grenke Freestyle Chess Open in Karlsruhe, he secured overall victory and qualified for the 2027 Freestyle Chess World Championship. The draw left both Keymer and Vachier-Lagrave tied for first place with 7½ points each, but Keymer won thanks to his superior tiebreak score. Seven players finished half a point behind on 7/9. This group included Magnus Carlsen, who finished third on tiebreaks. | Photo: Nils Rohde / ChessBase
Your personal chess trainer. Your toughest opponent. Your strongest ally.
FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before. 

Keymer edges MVL on tiebreaks

Vincent Keymer began the grenke Freestyle Open with 6 out of 6, and after this impressive start, three draws in the final rounds were enough to secure first place. Keymer's six wins at the start of the tournament also gave him a strong tiebreak score, and thus he was content with a quick draw against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final round. Vachier-Lagrave secured a substantial prize with the cautious draw.height="1"

Vincent Keymer and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave at the start of their game | Photo: Nils Rohde

Magnus Carlsen, the world number one and reigning Freestyle Chess world champion, could still have caught up with Keymer and Vachier-Lagrave with a win in the final round against the Indian grandmaster Aryan Chopra, but he had to settle for a draw. In 2025, Carlsen had won the grenke Freestyle Open convincingly with a perfect 9 out of 9 - this year he finished third. As the reigning world champion, he has already qualified for the Freestyle Chess World Championship 2027.

Aryan Chopra (right, with Black) held Carlsen to a draw in the final round | Photo: Nils Rohde

Ian Nepomniachtchi (right, with white) defeated Indian grandmaster Pranav Venkatesh in the final round and thereby moved up to fourth place overall | Photo: Nils Rohde

Carlsen takes a look at the competition | Photo: Nils Rohde

Some like it, others do not: in Freestyle Chess, the starting position is drawn at random | Photo: Nils Rohde

The top three places in the women's standings went to Harika Dronavalli of India, Alua Nurman of Kazakhstan and Dinara Wagner of Germany. All three have qualified for the first official FIDE Women's Freestyle Chess World Championship, which is scheduled to take place later this year.

Final standings - Freestyle Chess

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Keymer, Vincent 7,5 57
2 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 7,5 54
3 Carlsen, Magnus 7 58
4 Nepomniachtchi, Ian 7 57
5 Sarana, Alexey 7 54,5
6 Duda, Jan-Krzysztof 7 54
7 Mendonca, Leon Luke 7 53
8 Abdusattorov, Nodirbek 7 52
9 Aryan Chopra, 7 51,5
10 Niemann, Hans Moke 6,5 58
11 Yakubboev, Nodirbek 6,5 53,5
12 Saric, Ivan 6,5 52
13 Maghsoodloo, Parham 6,5 51,5
Bortnyk, Olexandr 6,5 51,5
15 Murzin, Volodar 6,5 51
16 Gokerkan, Cem Kaan 6,5 50,5
17 Aronian, Levon 6,5 50
18 Fedoseev, Vladimir 6,5 49
Liang, Awonder 6,5 49
20 Mamedov, Rauf 6,5 48
Vokhidov, Shamsiddin 6,5 48
22 Tabatabaei, M. Amin 6,5 47
Meier, Georg 6,5 47
Wagner, Dennis 6,5 47
25 Karthikeyan, Murali 6,5 46
Kamsky, Gata 6,5 46
27 Pranav, V 6 52,5
Jobava, Baadur 6 52,5
29 Aravindh, Chithambaram VR. 6 52
30 Van Wely, Loek 6 51,5

...310 players

All available games - Freestyle Chess

The world elite competed in Karlsruhe in the grenke Freestyle Open, but alongside the main event, there was also an open tournament in classical chess, which was likewise strongly contested. IM Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov of Uzbekistan won the event with 8 points from 9 games on tiebreaks. Second and third places went to Dominik Horvath of Austria and Chongsheng Zeng of China, who also scored 8 points.

Final standings - Classical Chess

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Suyarov, Mukhammadzokhid 8 57,5
2 Horvath, Dominik 8 52,5
3 Zeng, Chongsheng 8 50,5
4 Hong, Andrew 7,5 56,5
5 Koellner, Ruben Gideon 7,5 55,5
6 Moussard, Jules 7,5 54
7 Eljanov, Pavel 7,5 53
8 Kunin, Vitaly 7,5 50
9 Amar, Elham 7,5 46,5
10 Xiao, Tong(QD) 7 57,5
11 Prraneeth Vuppala, 7 54,5
12 Gupta, Abhijeet 7 53,5
Pajeken, Jakob Leon 7 53,5
Degraeve, Remy 7 53,5
15 Karthik Venkataraman, 7 53
16 Schmidek, Emil 7 50,5
Schneider, Ilja 7 50,5
Kalogridis, Antonios 7 50,5
19 Brodsky, David 7 50
20 Engel, Luis 7 49,5
21 Jin, Yueheng 7 49
22 Rozen, Eytan 7 48,5
23 Haug, Havard 7 48
Richter, Leonard 7 48
25 Brunke, Pascal 7 46,5
26 Sydykov, Bayastan 7 45
27 Barria, Jose 7 44,5
28 Kundianok, Vladislav 7 43,5
Koutlas, Nikolaos 7 43,5
30 Abdurakhmonov, Mukhammadali 6,5 56

...998 players

All available games - Classical Chess

Links

<< World University Team Championship
Candidates R8: Nakamura takes down Caruana, Giri beats Pragg >>
Topics: grenke Open 2026, Vincent Keymer
Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".
Discussion and Feedback Submit your feedback to the editors

See also

grenke: Keymer takes control ahead of final day

4/6/2026 – Vincent Keymer holds the sole lead at the grenke Freestyle Open A with 6½/7 points after defeating Hans Niemann and drawing Magnus Carlsen in a tense encounter. A chasing group consisting of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Alexey Sarana and Pranav Venkatesh remains within striking distance as the final two rounds of the event are set to take place on Monday. | Photo: Nils Rohde / ChessBase
More...
 3

See also

grenke: Keymer and Niemann still perfect after five rounds

4/5/2026 – After five rounds in Karlsruhe, Vincent Keymer and Hans Niemann are the only players left on a perfect score at the grenke Freestyle Chess Open, setting up a direct encounter for the sole lead. Magnus Carlsen follows half a point behind, alongside five other players, after conceding a draw in round four. Two starting positions close to classical chess were seen on Saturday, but results remain varied, with long games, time pressure and a notable upset influencing the standings. | Photo: Nils Rohde / ChessBase
More...
 2

Video

60m English New ideas in the Najdorf_E

‘New ideas in the Najdorf – a Power Play 18 Update’ aims to complement Daniel King’s popular DVD from last year ‘The Sicilian Najdorf - a repertoire for Black’. Such a dynamic and popular opening as the Najdorf is developing the whole time. On this download, Daniel King updates lines that were included on his DVD but also responds to viewers’ requests, considering lines that he omitted from his original repertoire. The lines examined on this update are: • 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 h3 e5 7 Nde2 • 5….a6 6 Bc4 in combination with the English Attack (Be3, f3 etc) • 5…a6 6 Be3 and the …a5 variation • 5…a6 6 Be2 and 9 Re1 • 5 f3 (instead of 5 Nc3) It isn’t necessary to have seen the original Najdorf DVD to understand the lines examined here – but it would help as they form part of a complete repertoire.