Vincent Keymer finished ahead of more than 50 Grandmasters in the GRENKE Open chess tournament. The teen has earned a spot in next year's Classic, where he would face the world's best players.
Image: picture alliance / PIXSELL
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The world's best chess players are facing off this week in Germany's GRENKE Chess Classic and Open, which began on March 31 and runs until April 9.
The games got off to an exciting start on Monday in the city of Kahrlsruhe, when 13-year-old Vincent Keymer won the GRENKE Open, the largest open chess competition in Europe.
The teen finished ahead of many expert players and won an invitation to next year's GRENKE Classic, a 10-player round robin tournament which is reserved for the world's top players.
Keymer reached the top of the Open competition on Monday when he defeated Hungarian Grandmaster Richard Rapport. The title of grandmaster is the highest awarded by the World Chess Organization FIDE. According to chess.com, the German teenager finished ahead of some 50 grandmasters to win the top prize, with a score of 8/9.
In addition to having qualified for next year's GRENKE Classic, the teen received a cash prize of €15,000 ($18,400).
In a post-match interview with German veteran chess player Georgios Souledis, the young Keymer said his win was "unbelievable" and marked "his best performance." When asked about his entry to next year's classic, the teen was still taking it all in and said to Georgios that he was not sure if he would participate.
The tournament will now move to the spa town of Baden Baden for the continuation of the Classic competition, where the world's best players are facing off. Grandmasters Fabiano Caruana of the US and Magnus Carlsen of Norway are the top players vying for the prize. The 27-year-old Norwegian is the current chess world champion and the highest ranked chess player in the world.
World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen will be defending his title in November. One of these eight challengers will go head-to-head with the Norwegian. They first have to win the Candidates Tournament in Berlin.
Image: David Llada
World Chess Champion: Magnus Carlsen
Wunderkind, chess genius, football fan and model for ad campaigns: 27-year-old Magnus Carlsen is breathing new life into the international chess scene. The Norwegian first won the title of World Chess Champion in 2013 in a match against Viswanathan Anand of India. Carlsen is defending his title for the third time in London from November 9-28, 2018, in a 12-match series.
Image: David Llada
Levon Aronian
The Armenian chess Grandmaster had an especially successful year in 2017. Aronian won the Grenke Chess Classics in April, beating out Fabiano Caruana and Magnus Carlsen. He lived in Germany for several years and played for the German Chess Organization. Although Aronian has already held the title in the area of Blitz Chess, the official World Chess Champion title is not yet one he holds.
Image: David Llada
Fabiano Caruana
At the Candidates Tournament for the World Chess Championship in 2016, Caruana, born in 1992, was at the head of the pack, second behind Sergej Karjakin. He likewise came in second at the Grenke Chess Classics 2017, ahead of Magnus Carlsen. Directly following the Candidates Tournament in 2018, he goes head-to-head with reigning champion Carlsen at the Grenke Chess Classics.
Image: David Llada
Alexander Grischuk
Blitz Chess is a style of game during which each player has just 15 minutes to consider their moves. Grischuk, born in 1983 in Moscow, has won the championship twice. Considered an expert poker player as well, Grischuk is married to chess Grandmaster Natalia Zhukova, one of the few women to have won the title from the World Chess Federation (FIDE).
Image: David Llada
Sergei Karjakin
The winner of the 2016 Candidates Tournament, the Russian played against Magnus Carlsen at the World Chess Championship in New York. The duo delivered a long, exciting tournament, as Carlsen was surprisingly unable to take the lead quickly. A showdown in the last round was what decided the outcome — delivering Carlsen a win on his 26th birthday.
Image: David Llada
Vladimir Kramnik
He was only eight when he first won at an adult tournament. Taught at a chess school run by Garry Kasparov, Kramnik defeated the former World Chess Champion in 2000 in a legendary World Chess Championship. In 2006, however, the Russian genius was delivered a spectacular loss against the "Deep Blue" computer. He has met Carlsen at numerous tournaments since — and usually goes home with a loss.
Image: David Llada
Ding Liren
Ding Liren is the first Chinese person to have qualified for the Candidates Tournament. In September 2017, he won in the semi-finals of the Chess World Cup against Wesley So, though he went on to be defeated by Levon Aronian. Liren has already met Carlsen for the Tata Steel Masters in the Dutch town of Wijk aan Zee.
Image: David Llada
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
The Azerbaijani Mamadeyarov comes from a family of chess talents. Born in 1985, the Grandmaster has two sisters who have both won the title of Woman Grandmaster. His native Azerbaijan has a long chess tradition and supports up-and-coming talents, something they are clearly quite successful at. The most famous of these talents is Garry Kasparov.
Image: David Llada
Wesley So
At 24, the Filipino Grandmaster Wesley So is the youngest player at the 2018 Candidates Tournament. Although representing the US Chess Federation, So does not need to hold citizenship to represent the country. Among other awards, So took first at the Tata Steel Masters in 2017 with just a one-point lead over World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen.
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Emanuel Lasker
Lasker became World Chess Champion in 1894 and retained the title 27 years — longer than anyone else to date. The mathematician and philosopher is also the only German among the world champions. To commemorate him on the year of his 150th birthday, coming up on December 24, the German Chess Federation and the Emanuel Lasker Association call for a Lasker Year in 2018.
