We worked late into the night

Vincent Keymer is the best German grandmaster and, at the age of 20, has ambitions of becoming world champion himself one day. Nevertheless, the 19th-ranked player in the world joined Gukesh's team.

‘During the Grand Chess Tour in Warsaw in June, Gukesh asked me to be part of his team for the World Championship,’ Keymer wrote to SPIEGEL. Several training camps were organised in preparation for the World Championships.

Now, after the World Cup, Keymer posted a photo from Spain with two colleagues, Polish grandmaster Radosław Wojtaszek and Indian grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna.

"During the World Cup itself, I was in Manilva, Spain, together with Pentala Harikrishna and Radoslaw Wojtaszek, from where we supported Gukesh's opening preparations," writes Keymer: "The work itself was intense and exhausting, especially during the match we often worked late into the night. I was all the more pleased that all the efforts of everyone involved were ultimately crowned with success."

Unusual collaboration

The Keymer Variation - 1.Nf3 d5 2.e3

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"It is rare for chess players to work as seconds for direct competitors," Der Spiegel writes. "It is usually players who no longer harbour any major World Championship ambitions themselves who then work for the World Championship participants."

One reason for this is that the opening repertoire of chess grandmasters is a well-guarded treasure. If they share this treasure with other players, they could have an advantage in direct duels because they can better prepare for their opponent's game. "I myself saw it as an opportunity to gain experience of working at the absolute highest level," Keymer wrote. He did it among other things with a view to qualifying for the 2026 Candidates Tournament.

Last February Keymer found a sponsor for this enterprise: multimillionaire Jan Henric Buettner, who founded the Weissenhaus Chess Academy. "The top priority for us is Vincent Keymer with the world championship mission," Buettner told SPIEGEL.

• SPIEGEL subscribers can read the full articl (in German) here.
• Also watch Gukesh talk about including Vincent in his team to ChessBase India

We at ChessBase have known Vincent since he was ten years old and visited our office in Hamburg. Frederic Friedel has told us all about the visit and how he took Vincent to meet and spend a few hours analysing with Garry Kasparov in Berlin.

Grivas looks at Vincent Keymer

Vincent Keymer is nowadays the strongest German GM, holding a FIDE rating between 2730 and 2740. The young GM (borne 15.11.2004) recently played Champions Chess Tour Finals 2024 (Oslo, Norway - Rapid 10+2), and started with all his three first games entering the endgame phase.

Attack like a Super Grandmaster

In this Fritztrainer: “Attack like a Super GM” with Gukesh we touch upon all aspects of his play, with special emphasis on how you can become a better attacking player.