Exclusive interview by Vincent Keymer (special arrangement) NEW DELHI: Vincent Keymer was an International Champion (IM) and was barely 13 when he first asserted his authority on home soil by winning the prestigious Grenke Chess Open title in 2018. Held 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’s No. 1, returned this year to claim the Grenke Freestyle 2026 title, edging out Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in a superb tiebreak on the final day of what has now become the world’s largest open chess tournament with 3,658 entrants.
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Harika Dronavalli Exclusive: Inside Grenke’s #chess win, viral no-handshake incident and moreKeymer comes from a musical family and has established himself as a fixture among the world’s elite. In an exclusive interview with TimesofIndia.com, Keymer talks about his recent victory, his unique journey and what it’s like to take on a five-time world champion like Magnus Carlsen. Excerpts.
Return to Karlsruhe
You recently won the Grenke Freestyle title in Karlsruhe, a place that means a lot to you. How would you describe the overall experience of winning such a massive tournament?It was a special place for me. In 2018, as a 13-year-old boy, I won the Open tournament, which in a way started my professional chess career. So for me, coming back to Karlsruhe, playing in that hall and playing a tournament in that atmosphere is always special. They also greatly increased the number of participants, making it even bigger. It was a really amazing feeling to win there again after a long time.Until the last day, the standings were incredibly close. How did you manage your nerves?I wasn’t very (nervous) I must say, simply because there’s not much to do. At the end of the day I felt like I was playing pretty good chess. So I knew as long as I could hang on and keep my nerve I should be fine.
Vincent Keymer wins Grenke Freestyle title (special arrangement)
Mastering the art of free chess
You have become a dominant force in Freestyle Chess (Chess960). After last year’s Weissenhaus victory and this year’s fourth place in the FIDE Freestyle World Championship, you are clearly at the top of the format. For Indians, the format was something of a mystery; what are your preparation tips?(laughs) I’ve never prepared for freestyle, so I can’t give any tips on that. I firmly believe that if you are a good chess player, you are also a good freestyle chess player. If you understand the positions, the structures, where the pieces belong and how they are active, which in my opinion belongs to a good chess player, this is enough to understand the differences in the new starting position. It’s possible 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 so far I have never needed specific preparation for freestyle.Does this mean that Freestyle is more about intuition than the deep calculations we see in classical chess?Certainly more, yes. You have a lot more options to get new starting positions, but very few can be ruled out because you don’t have the knowledge of which moves are good or bad. There is no designated center where the pieces or certain structures you analyzed at home go. Those things just don’t exist, so it’s your intuition that tells you which direction to go.
Magnus Carlsen’s “Intimidation Factor”.
You have now played many matches against Magnus Carlsen. Is there a real “intimidation factor” when facing a player of his character, and how do you deal with it?Yes, I think it’s there. It’s a little different, but it diminishes the more you play with him and realize 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 I beat him in a real match in Weissenhaus, things changed a bit because I was losing a lot to him before. 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 a chance against him or can beat him if things go your way, the more this mystery is solved.
Keymer’s journey coming from a musical family
You come from a family of musicians rather than chess players. How did your journey begin and how did you get on the road to becoming Germany’s number one?Yeah, it was a bit specific, as almost everyone’s story is. I come from a family of musicians, so chess didn’t work very well in the family. I started playing at the age of five after I found a chess board and was curious about it. I annoyed my parents a bit until they showed me the rules and then I realized I really liked the game.After that I started going to a local club, playing a bit, watching chess DVDs and eventually participating in youth tournaments, first regional, then national. At first I seemed to do pretty well with relatively little practice, so I felt like I might have some talent.I think the important part was that I never felt a lot of pressure to perform or to be a certain type of player. At that age I mostly enjoyed it and that’s probably why it went so well.Around the age of 13, however, things became more complicated. I already reached 2400 rank on 11 but then got stuck there for a while. The Grenke tournament and the whole year was great for me. In 2018, I narrowly missed my last Grand Master standard, so it took another full year to complete it in 2019 when I turned 14.That was still young, of course, but compared to other top juniors my age, it came late. Players like Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin were already above 2600 at the time. I really tried to catch up during the COVID and then at the Grand Swiss in Riga in 2021 I became the German number one.
I used to play the piano, but that was a long time ago
German Grandmaster Vincent Keymer
You come from a musical family. Do you still find time to play an instrument?I used to play the piano, but unfortunately that was a long time ago. It still means a lot to me, but time-wise it just wasn’t possible anymore. I still went to normal school in Germany when I was a chess professional. You really don’t have much of a choice there.I had some special arrangements to travel to tournaments, but whenever I was back home I had to go to school and write exams. Juggling a semi-professional chess career with school was already quite difficult, and at some point there was simply not enough time left for the piano.
State of German Chess
How would you describe the chess culture in Germany?Well, of course Matthias Blübaum had a great run, qualifying for candidates and reaching 2700, so it’s nice to see that German chess is improving overall. We have talented players, but perhaps not many who stand out. In Germany, the support system for professional chess players is very different from places like India. For kids, choosing chess as a career is possible, but the path isn’t really laid out for you, you have to fight to make it work.Now that I’m in the top five in the world, I’d say things have worked out for me. We also have a very strong national team and I hope we will compete for medals at the next Olympics. If you look at most of these players, many were still going to normal school, some even completed college education and most of them had very little professional coaching, often just group training. Given that, it’s remarkable how strong they’ve become.I was lucky enough to be supported by Péter Lékó from the age of 13, and that was amazing for me.
Vincent Keymer with Péter Lékó (special arrangement)
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 for chess, that’s for sure. Although he hardly plays these days, you can still feel that this is where his passion lies. Especially at the beginning it was great to have him there to explain how things work, how to prepare the launch, how to approach the first big tournaments and how to choose events.For example, when I qualified for Grand Swiss 2019, there were so many things I just didn’t know. You can figure these things out yourself, but that usually means messing up a lot before you find the right approach. Having someone who has 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 was extremely helpful.
Most important update
Question from your fans: When do you update your Instagram profile picture? They feel like it’s been the same for a very long time!(laughs) That’s right! I think I will do that very soon. It sure is a long time ago!READ ALSO: With Judit Polgar, trainer D Gukesh as followers, 12-year-old Aarav Sarbalia reimagines chess as content
