13-year-old German trounces chess Grandmasters
April 3, 2018
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.
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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.
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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.
jcg/aw (dpa)