A historical moment for chess Germany: Vincent Keymer surprisingly won the first tournament of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour in Weissenhaus on the Baltic Sea. The 20-year-old Mainz showed why he could become world champion for ARD shaft expert Niklas Schenk.
Was that really the “Boris Becker moment” for German chess? Vincent Keymer, the youngest German grand master of all time, has won the freestyle tournament at Gut Weissenhaus on the Baltic Sea-and above all showed why it has always been considered a chess wonder child.
If one could become the first German chess world champion since Emanuel Lasker, then he. This reputation was ahead of Keymer as a little boy from Saulheim near Mainz. Especially when he sensationally won the Chenke Chess Open in Karlsruhe in April 2018. As a 13-year-old boy in front of 49 great masters.
First Abitur, then professional
His climb afterwards: steadily, with isolated highlights, especially the Vice World Championship in Schnellschach 2022. But not quite as rapidly as with the Indian talents Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa or Dommaraju Gukesh. Who already broke off the school as children and put everything on the chess, while Keymer graduated from high school in 2022 before becoming a professional.
In 2024 it seemed as if Keymer could be left behind by the other youngsters. While his 19 -year -old competitor Gukesh became world champion, the great results were not available at Keymer. Many were surprised that, as a second, he helped his Indian competitor to become world champions.
Keymer in Weissenhaus without weaknesses
And then this bang in early 2025. In Weissenhaus, Keymer looked like a player without weaknesses: nerve -wracking, patient, but in the right moments aggressively and supported by his excellent understanding of the game. Keymer expects well, but also has a good intuition for the position on the board. A good combination in freestyle chess, where the installation of the starting figures is drawn.
“This is one of the greatest, if not the greatest success of my career.”
– Vincent Keymer
The fact that the wildcard participant on the Baltic Sea started after a mixed preliminary round was probably due to the French Alireza Firouzja. He won the preliminary round and was therefore allowed to choose his quarter -final opponent.
He chose Keymer – and pile up the 20 -year -old even more. Inspired by his victory against Firouzja, Keymer defeated Magnus Carlsen, the number one in the world in the semifinals – the overfigure in the chess, against which Keymer had previously narrowly missed a victory. In the end, the Norwegian finished third in Weissenhaus.
In the final against the American Fabiano Caruana, the number two in the world for a long time, Keymer submitted a tie after a victory on Thursday in the first game a day later. With the disadvantage of the black figures, he agreed on Friday after almost three hours with his opponent on a draw.
If Caruana hadn’t been born in the time of a Magnus Carlsen, he would have been pretty much world champion himself. He was rarely seen as chance as in the first game against Keymer.
200,000 dollars victory bonus
In addition to the impressive prize money of $ 200,000, the Mainz receives 25 points in the ranking, the overall winner of the freestyle series receives an additional $ 150,000 after the last stop in Cape Town (5 to 12 December).
Keymer’s victory in Weissenhaus brings him a lot of freedom for his further career. His parents are musicians, his father is also his manager. Keymer is still hardly active on social media, public relations were always not so important to the keymers. This may have contributed to finding sponsors for a long time to find sponsors. Although he always enthused everyone with his eloquence and intelligence, for example in the current sports studio.
The development of Keymer proves them right. Whenever others were waiting impatiently for the next step, Keymer took time. And now works ready to fight the classic World Cup.
With all the enthusiasm for the new freestyle format, it is still his main goal. He wants to qualify for the next candidate tournament. If he wins there, he should challenge world champion Gukesh in 2026.
You now trust him. In any case, Keymer played like a world champion on the Baltic Sea.
This topic in the program:
Schleswig-Holstein Magazin | 14.02.2025 | 7:30 p.m.
