Vincent Keymer wins Grenke Freestyle 2026, Harika qualifies for FIDE Freestyle World Championship

by Devansh Singh - 19/04/2026

Vincent Keymer drew his last game against Maxime Vachier Lagrave to win Grenke Freestyle 2026. Both players were co-leading the event going into the last round, and Vincent had a better tie-break score, which helped him win the title and spot in the Freestyle World Championship 2027. He scored 7.5/9 points, starting with an insane 6 wins in a row and drawing against Magnus Carlsen, Alexey Sarana, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the last 3 rounds. In the women’s standings, Harika Dronavalli, Alua Nurman, and Dinara Wagner secured 3 spots for the upcoming Freestyle World Championship 2027. It was a great event for Indian players as Aryan drew his last game against Carlsen to finish in the top 10 with Leon Mendonca. Photos: Abhyudaya Ram/Prajwal Bhat

Harika qualifies for the World Championship!!

GM Harika Dronavalli scored 6/9 points to finish in a shared 32nd and 1st in the Women's section, and she also qualified for the FIDE Freestyle Women’s World Championship 2027. Harika played some incredible chess and won against Awonder Liang and drew against Levon Aronian, Parham Maghsoodloo, and Baadur Jobava in the last round.

Top 3 Women: IM Dinara Wagner, 2nd IM Alua Nurman, and 1st GM Harika Dronavalli

Champion: Vincent Keymer

Leon Luke Mendonca finished in Joint 3rd and overall 7th place

Aryan Chopra scored 7/9 to finish in joint 3rd and overall 9th place

Round 8

Magnus Carlsen described it as “maybe the best freestyle position for opening entertainment so far.” Carlsen himself spent around 1.5 hours on just four moves. Vincent Keymer played an almost perfect game against Alexey Sarana, but under time pressure, he missed checkmating ideas, and the game ended in a draw. Magnus Carlsen won his game against Nodirbek Yakubboev to cut into the lead before the last round.

Round 8 starting position #332

"Few moments were as stirring as the appearance of Johanna Schmidt. Once a formidable German vice champion in kickboxing, Schmidt has since navigated the challenges of illness and a transition to life in a wheelchair, eventually earning a prestigious induction into the World Chess Hall of Fame." | Photo: Ivica Müller

Magnus Carlsen completely outplayed Nodirbek Yakubboev to win his game with black pieces

Vincent played one of the best games on the top board against Sarana, but it ended in a draw. Check out the critical moment below

Vincent missed a mate in 8 here. Can you find it?

White to play and win

Pranav V lost to MVL in the 8th round

Aryan Chopra won against Vladimir Fedoseev

Replay available games of round 8

Round 9

In the 9th round, Vincent and MVL were leading with 7/8 points while Magnus, Duda, Aryan, and Alexey were trailing with 6.5/8 points. MVL and Vincent decided to play a quick draw, but the other two games between the above 4 players also ended in a draw, and Vincent won on a better tiebreak score than MVL, and 7 players scored 7/9 points to finish from 3rd to 9th place.

Round 9 starting position #261

The starting position for the final round #261 was drawn by Radosław Jedynak, President of the Polish Chess Federation.

Pranav was in good form but lost his last round against Ian Nepomniachtchi

Aryan found an interesting resource in the middlegame and forced Magnus to do the repetition

Magnus is discussing with Aryan

In the final round, Harika drew against Baadur Jobava to secure her spot in the FIDE Freestyle World Championship 2027

Replay available games of round 9

Winners of the other events

In classical chess, IM Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov from Uzbekistan won the A-Open. He narrowly edged out Dominik Horvath (Austria) and Chongsheng Zeng (China). All three scored 8.0 points.

The results of the remaining tournaments were as follows:

B-Open (classical):

Garik Sharajyan (Armenia) 8.5/9
Vilhjalmur Palmason (Iceland) 8.5/9
Pavlo Soroka (Ukraine) 8/9

B-Open (Freestyle):

WFM Emilie Marchadour (France) 7.5/9
Daniel Reksten (Germany) 7.5/9
Berkan Hacioglu (Turkey) 7.5/9

C-Open (classical):

Oswald Zum Wald (Switzerland) 8.5/9
Hendrik Ole Jock (Germany) and Christopher Volz (Germany) 8.0/9

C-Open (Freestyle):

Anas Skeik (Germany) 8.0/9
Fatih Kanlidere (Turkey) 7.5/9
Markus Reichensperger (Germany) 6.5/9

Source: official website

Photo Gallery: Here

While many were already waiting eagerly for the award ceremony, these 2 gentlemen were playing Rook vs Rook and Knight endgame like a boss!!

“The Grenke Chess Festival is the chess tournament that every player must have played at least once in their life.” – Peter Leko

Winners!!

Look who is here!

Harika after the award ceremony

Another strong finish by Harika, and we are going to see her in the FIDE Freestyle World Championship now

Some Interesting Graphics | Grenke Chess

Champ!!

577 players took part in Freestyle

Photos: stevbonhage

Video Gallery: ChessBase India

In this video, we show you how Vincent became the Champion, a detailed interview with Vincent at the ChessBase India livestream, and an interview with his coach, the legend Peter Leko!

Enjoy the amazing closing ceremony of the Grenke Chess Freestyle Open 2026!

In the 9th and final round of the Grenke Freestyle Open, Magnus Carlsen was up against the strong Indian Grandmaster Aryan Chopra. Watch the final moments of the game, and a detailed interview with both players - Magnus talks about the selfie moment in Round 2!

Check out the starting moments of Round 8 at the Grenke Freestyle Open 2026, and all that happened in the round - including a brilliant interview with Magnus Carlsen in the end!

Important details

The Grenke Freestyle Chess Open is a classical-standard tournament utilizing the Freestyle Chess (Chess960) format. It functions as a critical qualification pathway for both the 2026 FIDE Freestyle Women’s Chess World Championship and the 2027 FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship. Held in conjunction with the traditional Grenke Chess Open, this event follows a nine-round Swiss system. Participants compete under a time control of 90 minutes for the full game, plus a 30-second increment per move. The tournament boasts a substantial prize pool exceeding 200,000 euros.

Prize Fund: EUR 205,250

1. EUR 60,000 + Trophy 2. EUR 40,000 3. EUR 30,000 4. EUR 20,000 5. EUR 10,000 6. EUR 8,000 7. EUR 7,000 8. EUR 6,000 9. EUR 5,000 10. EUR 3,000 11. EUR 2,000 12. EUR 1,000 13. EUR 500 14. EUR 300 15. EUR 200

Watch Live Streams

Watch Round 9 Live Commentary by GM Harshit Raja and IM Soumya Swaminathan | Video: ChessBase India

Venue: The Kongress Hall in Karlsruhe, Germany

The Kongress Hall in Karlsruhe, Germany, is the venue of the Grenke Open 2026. It will be the home of 3,000+ players at the event, playing across 6 sections: Classical Open A, B, and C, and Freestyle Chess Open A, B, and C. We bring you a venue tour of the place. Check out the video and be amazed at how the organizers have managed to arrange things under one roof.

The Kongress Hall in Karlsruhe, Germany

Venue Tour | Video: ChessBase India / Abhyudaya Ram

Final Rankings

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	RtgI	RtgN	Club/City	Pts.	TB1
1	5	GM	Keymer, Vincent	GER	2754	2754	2761	OSG Baden-Baden	7,5	57
2	13	GM	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	FRA	2700	2700	2709	OSG Baden-Baden	7,5	54
3	1	GM	Carlsen, Magnus	NOR	2888	2888	2841	FC ST.Pauli 1910 eV SAbt	7	58
4	2	GM	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	RUS	2771	2771	0		7	57
5	12	GM	Sarana, Alexey	SRB	2702	2702	2655	SC Viernheim 1934 e.V.	7	54,5
6	6	GM	Duda, Jan-Krzysztof	POL	2739	2739	2747	SC Viernheim 1934 e.V.	7	54
7	17	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke	IND	2676	2676	2632	Hamburger SK von 1830 eV	7	53
8	9	GM	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	UZB	2716	2716	2821	SC Viernheim 1934 e.V.	7	52
9	27	GM	Aryan Chopra,	IND	2629	2629	0	Saint Louis University Chess Clu	7	51,5
10	4	GM	Niemann, Hans Moke	USA	2760	2760	0		6,5	58