Vincent Keymer conquers Freestyle Grand Slam Tour Stage 1

by Shahid Ahmed - 15/02/2025

Vincent Keymer (GER) drew with Fabiano Caruana (USA) to become the champion of Freestyle Grand Slam Tour Stage 1 Finals. The Germany no.1 truly played like a champion throughout the event. He started the tournament with four losses in the first eight games, finishing the Rapid Round-Robin stage with only 4/9 at sixth place. In the Knockout stage, he eliminated Alireza Firouzja, Magnus Carlsen and won the Finals against Caruana. He did not need a single tie-break game, winning all his KO matches with 1.5-0.5 score. This triumph earned him his highest prize in his career so far which is US$ 200000. The second leg of the tour will take place from 8th to 15th April in Paris, France. Photo: Lennart Ootes

Germany no.1 dominates at his home soil

"It could be possible. At least from the openings have gone, it seems so but I don't really understand why or how but yeah I think I'm just happy that it is the way it is." - Vincent Keymer of whether his understanding of the Freestyle Chess variant is much better than other players. "Yeah and also think it's very important to take your time in the right moments which usually is something that's not always so easy for me in Classical chess but here I think my time management was quite good." - Keymer added.

Top 3 (L to R): 2nd Fabiano Caruana (USA), 3rd Magnus Carlsen (NOR) and 1st Vincent Keymer (GER) | Photo: Lennart Ootes

"No, I wasn't looking at chess at all except for the games like my laptop hasn't been opened for chess once in the whole time that I have been here and also I didn't do any tactics or books or anything." - Vincent Keymer

Caruana - Keymer: 0.5-0.5

"Yeah I was getting nervous because at first I thought the position was pretty much fine for Black. Then in the analysis we got to the conclusion that 1.d4 is the most critical try. We weren't really sure how to react to that. None of the options we considered were really liked, at least by me. So then he played 1.d4 as kind of expected and I was not sure what to play. I went through all the options and I liked none of them until I found this idea of going f5, it was connected to going d5, e5 and Ng6. We already thought that 2.Nhg3 d5 3.f3 is the most critical response. There I need some idea because it's the most human way. When I found this, I felt this is actually kind of playable and that's why I finally could make a move." - Vincent Keymer (GER) shared his reasoning behind 20+ minutes thought for the first move. He drew the game as it was enough to win the match and the tournament.

Vincent Keymer on his win over Fabiano Caruana | Video: ChessBase India

Different moments of Fabiano Caruana and Vincent Keymer's second game in the Finals | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Vincent Keymer with his longtime trainer, the legend - Peter Leko (HUN) | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Magnus Carlsen defeated Javokhir Sindarov in the second game also to finish third | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Hikaru Nakamura analyzes his game against Nodirbek Abdusattorov | Video: GMHikaru

Hikaru Nakamura won the second consecutive game against Nodirbek Abdusattorov to finish fifth | Photo: Lennart Ootes

The present and future of chess!? - Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Vincent Keymer and Javokhir Sindarov | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Our very own Cofounder and CEO - IM Sagar Shah with famous streamers - WFM Alexandra Botez (CAN) and WFM Anna Cramling (SWE) | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Jan Henric Buettner is delighted with Vincent Keymer's triumph | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Day 8 preview | Video: ChessBase India

Closing ceremony | Video: ChessBase India

For more closing ceremony photos, click here.

Replay live stream

Replay Finals Game 2 live commentary by IM Sagar Shah, GM Harshit Raja and Amruta Mokal | Video: ChessBase India

Total prize fund

US$ 750000 per Grand Slam

Format

Time: Rapid and Standard

• Round robin: Rapid 10 minutes for the game + 10 seconds per move

• Knockout stage - Game 1+2 = 90’+30’’ / Game 3+4 = 10’+10’’ / Game 5+6 = 5’+2’’ / Game 7 = Armageddon

Schedule

7th and 8th February: Round-Robin stage - Rapid

9th and 10th February: Quarterfinals - Classical

11th and 12th February: Semifinals and Playoffs for 5th to 8th - Classical

13th and 14th February: Finals - Classical

Finals result

No.		Name	FED	Game 1	Game 2	Pts.
Final - Round 1 (2025/02/13 - 2025/02/14)

2	GM	Keymer Vincent	GER	1	½	1½
1	GM	Caruana Fabiano	USA	0	½	½

Details

3rd place result

No.		Name	FED	Game 1	Game 2	Pts.
Final - Round 1 (2025/02/13 - 2025/02/14)

2	GM	Sindarov Javokhir	UZB	0	0	0
1	GM	Carlsen Magnus	NOR	1	1	2

Details

5th place result

No.		Name	FED	Game 1	Game 2	Pts.
Final - Round 1 (2025/02/13 - 2025/02/14)

2	GM	Abdusattorov Nodirbek	UZB	0	0	0
1	GM	Nakamura Hikaru	USA	1	1	2

Details

7th place result

No.		Name	FED	Game 1	Game 2	Pts.
Final - Round 1 (2025/02/13 - 2025/02/14)

2	GM	Firouzja Alireza	FRA	½	1	1½
1	GM	Gukesh D	IND	½	0	½

Details

Links

Official site

Weissenhaus

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