"Peter Leko's always there, with full energy...[and] quite a few sleepless nights"

Vincent Keymer claimed outright victory at the Super Chess Classic in Bucharest after scoring a crucial win over Jorden van Foreest with the white pieces in the final round. The German star had entered the day tied for first place with Fabiano Caruana, and took full advantage after Van Foreest mishandled the position in the early middlegame (see the full game with annotations below). The result left Keymer in clear first place on 6/9 points.

Caruana, meanwhile, played black against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and had a chance to keep pace with Keymer. Out of a double-edged Sicilian, MVL blundered on move 24, but Caruana failed to find the winning refutation, 24...c5!

Instead, he played 24...Bc8?, and the game soon drifted towards a draw. Caruana was later surprised by his own miss, noting that the winning line was "not too difficult" to find.

Master Class Vol.7: Garry Kasparov

On this DVD a team of experts gets to the bottom of Kasparov's play. In over 8 hours of video running time the authors Rogozenko, Marin, Reeh and Müller cast light on four important aspects of Kasparov's play: opening, strategy, tactics and endgame.

The two remaining games of the round ended in rather quiet draws.

The final results gave Keymer sole first place, with Caruana finishing clear second, half a point behind. Wesley So and Javokhir Sindarov shared third place on 5/9.

Long-time colleagues, friends and rivals - Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Round 9 results

Final standings

Javokhir Sindarov claimed back-to-back wins in rounds seven and eight, and ended the event tied for third place | Photo: Lennart Ootes

King's Indian Attack - Simple. Flexible. Dynamic.

The King‘s Indian Attack is a universal opening: easy to learn, flexible, and rich in both tactical and positional opportunities.

Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Wesley So cannot stop analysing chess positions! | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Keymer later described the triumph as his "biggest classical tournament victory ever". He scored a 2835 tournament performance rating and gained 7.8 rating points, having won all his game with the white pieces. The strong result allowed Keymer to climb to sixth place in the live ratings list, leapfrogging Anish Giri, who ended the event on fifty-percent after his disappointing round-eight defeat against Bogdan-Daniel Deac.

This is the first year in which Keymer is playing as a regular in the Grand Chess Tour. Before Bucharest, his only appearance in the series had come as a wildcard at the 2024 Superbet Rapid and Blitz Poland. Since he did not take part in this year's inaugural event in Warsaw, his victory in Romania amounted to a strong debut as a regular in the series.

Vincent Keymer: "It's been an amazing event for me, with quite a big blow in the middle. But still, overall, I am very happy with both the result and also my performance. I managed to win all my white games. I guess...the biggest classical tournament victory ever for me." | Photo: Lennart Ootes

After the tournament, the 21-year-old from Mainz thanked the organisers for the extraordinary playing conditions; his father, who accompanied him at the event; and the fans for their support. He also sent a big shout-out to his long-time trainer Peter Leko, thanking him for his energetic work, which included "quite a few sleepless nights, or at least nights of very little sleep".

Leko and Keymer have worked together for years, dating back to before Keymer's breakout victory at the Grenke Chess Open, when he was just 13 years old. Keymer entered that event as the 99^th seed and won it ahead of 49 grandmasters, a result that drew wide attention in the chess world. Leko himself is a former World Championship challenger and reached a peak ranking of fourth in the world in April 2003.

Peter Leko and Vincent Keymer | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Master Class Vol.20 - Bent Larsen

In this video course experts examine the games of Bent Larsen. Let them show you which openings Larsen chose, where his strength in middlegames were, how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame & you’ll get a glimpse of his tactical abilities!
Bent Larsen (1935–2010) was the greatest chess player in Danish history, and for a time, the second-strongest player in the Western world behind Bobby Fischer. Between 1954 and 1971, he won the Danish Championship six times, and achieved numerous international tournament victories throughout his career. 
Free video sample: Introduction to Bent Larsen by Peter Heine Nielsen
Free video sample: Introduction to the Opening Section

A final photo with players and organisers side by side | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Keymer 1-0 Van Foreest

How to attack - principles of training

Most players prefer to attack rather than defend. But what is the correct way to do it? GM Dr Karsten Müller has compiled many rules and motifs to guide you, along with sharpening your intuition for the exceptions.

Calculating | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Jorden van Foreest resigns | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Vachier-Lagrave ½-½ Caruana

Fritz 21

YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
FRITZ is more than just a chess engine – it’s a training revolution! Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.

The two key encounters of the final round | Photo: Lennart Ootes

All games

Links

• Grand Chess Tour website
• Javokhir Sindarov: "The quarantine changed my life"