NEW DELHI: Vincent Keymer was an International Master (IM) and barely 13 years old when he first stamped his authority on home soil by clinching the prestigious Grenke Chess Open title in 2018. Hosted in the German city of Karlsruhe, the Grenke festival has always carried the proud weight of Germany’s rich chess tradition.In a poetic full-circle moment, Keymer, now 21 and also Germany No. 1, returned this year to capture the Grenke Freestyle 2026 title, edging out Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on a superior tiebreak on the final day of the event, which became the the largest open chess tournament in the world this time with 3658 participants.
Hailing from a family of musicians, Keymer has established himself as a permanent fixture among the world’s elite. Speaking to TimesofIndia.com in an exclusive interview, Keymer opens up about his recent victory, his unique journey, and what it’s like to take on a five-time world champion like Magnus Carlsen. Excerpts.
The return to Karlsruhe
You recently won the Grenke Freestyle title in Karlsruhe, a venue that holds immense significance for you. How would you describe the overall experience of winning such a massive tournament?Keymer: It’s been a special place for me. I won the Open tournament in 2018 as a 13-year-old kid, which, in a way, started my professional chess career. So for me, coming back to Karlsruhe, playing in that hall and tournament in this atmosphere, is always special. They’ve also greatly increased the number of participants, making it even bigger. Winning there again after quite a long time really felt amazing.Going into the final day, the standings were incredibly tight. How were you managing your nerves?I wasn’t too much (nervous), I have to say, simply because there’s not much you can do. At the end of the day, I felt like I was playing pretty good chess. So I knew that as long as I kept that up and managed to keep my nerves, things should go well.
Vincent Keymer wins the Grenke Freestyle title (Special Arrangements)
Mastering the art of Freestyle Chess
You’ve become a dominant force in Freestyle Chess (Chess960). After winning at Weissenhaus last year and finishing fourth in the FIDE Freestyle World Championship this year, you are clearly at the top of this format. For Indians, the format has been something of a mystery; what are your tips for preparation?(Laughs) I never prepared for freestyle, so I cannot really give any tips on that. I strongly believe that if you are a good chess player, you are also a good freestyle chess player. If you understand positions, structures, where pieces belong and how they are active, which I believe is part of being a good chess player, that is enough to understand the differences in a new starting position. It might be that if we continue this for a few more years and start repeating positions, preparation could matter, at least for the first few moves of a certain setup. But for now, I’ve never needed specific preparation for freestyle.Does that mean Freestyle is more about intuition than the deep calculations we see in classical chess?Surely more, yes. To get new starting positions, you have many more options, but very few can be ruled out because you don’t have the knowledge of which moves are good or bad. There’s no designated centre where pieces are going or certain structures you’ve analysed at home. Those things simply don’t exist, so it’s your intuition that tells you which direction to go in.
The ‘intimidation factor’ of Magnus Carlsen
You’ve played many games against Magnus Carlsen now. Is there a genuine “intimidation factor” when facing a player of his stature, and how do you handle it?Yes, I think it’s there. It is a bit different, but it lessens the more you play him and realise that, yes, he’s an amazing chess player, but he’s also human, he can make mistakes, and you can beat him.
Magnus Carlsen (Image: Freestyle Chess/Stev Bonhage)
For me, especially after beating him in an actual match at Weissenhaus, things changed a bit because before that I had lost to him a lot. That doesn’t make him any less of a great chess player, but a big part of it is psychological. The more you feel you have chances against him or can beat him if things go your way, the more that mystery resolves.
Keymer’s journey coming from a family of musicians
You come from a family of musicians rather than chess players. How did your journey begin, and how did you navigate the path to becoming Germany’s No. 1?Yeah, it was kind of specific as pretty much everyone’s story is. I’m from a family of musicians, so chess didn’t really run in the family. I started playing at five years old after finding a chessboard and getting curious about it. I annoyed my parents a little until they showed me the rules, and then I realised I really liked the game.After that, I started going to the local club, playing a bit, watching chess DVDs and eventually taking part in youth tournaments, first regional, then national. I seemed to do quite well early on with relatively little training, so there was a feeling that maybe I had some talent.I think an important part was that I never felt huge pressure to perform or become a certain kind of player. At that age, I was mostly enjoying it, and that’s probably why things went so well.Around the age of 13, though, things became more difficult. I had already reached a 2400 rating at 11, but then I was stuck there for quite a while. The Grenke tournament and that whole year were great for me. I narrowly missed my final Grandmaster norm in 2018, so it took another full year before I completed it in 2019, when I was 14.That was still young, of course, but compared to other top juniors my age, it felt late. Players like Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin were already above 2600 by then. During COVID, I really pushed myself to catch up, and then at the Grand Swiss in Riga in 2021, I became Germany’s number one.
I used to play the piano, but that was quite a long time ago
German Grandmaster Vincent Keymer
You are from a family of musicians. Do you still find time to play any instruments?I used to play the piano, but that was quite a long time ago, sadly. It still means a lot to me, but time-wise it just wasn’t doable anymore. In Germany, I still went to school normally while being a chess professional. You don’t really have much choice there.I had some special arrangements so I could travel for tournaments, but whenever I was back home, I still had to attend school and write exams. Combining a semi-professional chess career with school was already quite tough, and at some point there just wasn’t enough time left for piano.
The state of German Chess
How would you describe the chess culture in Germany?Well, of course Matthias Blübaum had a great run, qualifying for the Candidates and reaching 2700, so it’s nice to see German chess improving overall. We do have talented players, but maybe not many who stand out extraordinarily. In Germany, the support system for professional chess players is very different from places like India. For children, choosing chess as a career is possible, but the path is not really laid out for you, you have to fight to make it work.Now, being in the world’s top five, I would say things worked out for me. We also have a very strong national team, and I hope we can fight for medals at the next Olympiad. If you look at most of these players, many still went to school normally, some even completed university degrees, and most had very little professional coaching, often just group training sessions. Considering that, it’s remarkable how strong they became.I was fortunate to have the support of Péter Lékó since I was 13 years old, and that has been amazing for me.
Vincent Keymer with Péter Lékó (Special Arrangements)
Speaking of Péter Lékó, he is known for his endless passion for the game. What is he like as a coach?Well, as you said, he lives chess, that’s for sure. Even though nowadays he barely plays, you can still feel that this is where his passion is. Especially at the start, it was great having him there to explain how things work, how to prepare openings, how to approach your first major tournaments, and how to choose events.When I qualified for Grand Swiss 2019, for example, there were so many things I simply didn’t know. You can figure those things out yourself, but that usually means getting it wrong many times before finding the right approach. Having someone who has already done it all and been a top-10 player for 10 years helps a lot. Of course, not everything that worked for him works exactly the same way for me, but it gave me a very strong starting point and most of the advice has been extremely useful.
The most important update
A question from your fans: When are you going to update your Instagram profile picture? They feel it’s been the same for a very long time!(Laughs) That is true! I’m going to do that very soon, I guess. It’s definitely long overdue!ALSO READ: With Judit Polgar, D Gukesh’s coach as followers, 12-yo Aarav Sarbalia reshapes chess as content