The fourth day of the grenke Chess Festival once again offered plenty of highlights—both on the board and in terms of atmosphere.
A Unique Atmosphere Captured from Above
The vibrant mood in the playing hall was beautifully captured in a drone video—a visual highlight that vividly conveys the spirit of the tournament.
Chess Art at Its Finest: Round 6
The most spectacular moves of the day came in the draw between Ian Nepomniachtchi and David Anton. Between moves 7 and 13, both players sacrificed their minor pieces five times —each one rated as brilliant by the engine. A true masterpiece, even though a few inaccuracies followed later in the game.
A Solid Day for Vincent Keymer
Vincent Keymer had a steady day overall. He drew his game against Aryan Chopra from India and went on to convincingly defeat Armenian grandmaster Sergei Movsesian. Movsesian played such a poor move at one point that he laughed at himself during the game—and resigned shortly afterward.
Drama at the Top Board: Time Trouble Against Carlsen
The day’s big drama unfolded in Round 7: Iranian grandmaster Parham Maghsoodloo had worked his way up to the top board to challenge Magnus Carlsen, who remains undefeated. While Maghsoodloo was under pressure, his position was not lost—until a lapse in concentration caused him to run out of time.
Disappointment and frustration were clearly visible on his face afterward (Photo: ChessBase India).
Exciting Finale in the A-Open
In the A-Open, Indian player Aswath S leads the standings with 6.5 out of 7 points. He is followed by four players with 6 points each: Nikita Vitiugov (England), Mahammad Muradli (Azerbaijan), Valery Kazakouski (Lithuania), and Daniil Yuffa (Spain).
High Tension Ahead of the Final Rounds
Spectators can look forward to an exciting finish: Magnus Carlsen will face Rauf Mamedov (Azerbaijan), while Vincent Keymer takes on Andrey Esipenko (FIDE). Keymer still has realistic chances of securing a coveted spot in the Freestyle tournament in Las Vegas—a spot for which Carlsen is already qualified.
Draw Ceremony with High-Profile Guests
Tomorrow’s draw for the starting positions will be conducted by Jan Henric Buettner and his wife Holly. Through his commitment, Buettner has helped raise the profile of Freestyle Chess to a new level. His Freestyle organization is, alongside grenke, one of the tournament’s main sponsors.
With these words, a participant of the GRENKE Open expresses in the Day 3 highlight video what many players on-site are feeling: a deep passion for the game and a sense of belonging to a community of like-minded people. This is precisely what makes the GRENKE Chess Festival so special.
Exciting Games and Big Emotions on Day Three
The third day of the tournament once again brought numerous chess highlights and fascinating stories.
In Freestyle Chess, starting position 302 was drawn. Since games begin immediately after the drawing and no additional preparation time is granted, many players use the first few minutes at the board to consider their opening move. A popular tactic – even among professionals – is to observe how players at neighboring boards make their first move. This was confirmed by Rasmus Svane in his interview with Fiona Steil-Antoni.
Carlsen in Control – Bacrot Walks Into a Trap
One of the most talked-about games featured Magnus Carlsen facing Etienne Bacrot. Carlsen castled as early as move 2. Then, on move 18, Bacrot blundered with b3?, trapping his own queen. Grandmaster Klaus Bischoff, who was providing live commentary at the venue, remarked dryly: "White’s queen couldn’t be placed any worse."
A memorable moment also occurred before the game: Bacrot revealed himself as a Carlsen fan and took a selfie. Chess photographer Dariusz Gorzinsk captured the moment live. Bacrot later posted the image on Twitter – and dutifully handed in his phone afterwards.
Mendonca Shakes Up the Tournament
A major surprise came from young Indian prodigy Leon Luke Mendonca, who defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi the day before and then went on to beat Richard Rapport with the black pieces. The critical mistake came with 29. Qh4?? instead of the safer Qh2. Although White anticipated the threat 29... Rh8!, after 30. Qe1 Qh2+, the queen could no longer come to the king’s aid against the decisive attack down the h-file.
Chess Stars Up Close: Souleidis, Kramnik and the Streaming Elite
Between rounds, popular chess streamer Georgios Souleidis ("The Big Greek") hosted a signing session at the Chess Tigers booth. Dozens of fans lined up to get autographs and have chess boards or books signed.
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Media interest remains high: alongside SPIEGEL, a 13-member team from a major U.S. streaming platform was on site, having flown in especially for the event.
Vladimir Kramnik also made another appearance and had the honor of drawing the starting position for Round 5. His connection with Hans Niemann continues to be the subject of much speculation – and Niemann’s interview with Fiona Steil-Antoni didn’t provide any clear answers. However, he did share that he has rarely been surrounded by so many fans asking for autographs as he has been in Karlsruhe.
Carlsen Calls the Arbiter
A brief stir arose at the beginning of Round 5 when Magnus Carlsen called for the arbiter. What had happened? His opponent, Victor Mikhalevski, was wearing a watch – an analog one, but still enough for Carlsen to feel distracted.
Carlsen went on to win the game. Mikhalevski’s attempt to gain an advantage through a queen sacrifice backfired. Although he gained a rook and a knight in exchange and even forced Carlsen into a triple pawn structure, his pieces lacked coordination. A powerful passed pawn on the a-file ultimately secured the win for Carlsen.
National Teammates Face Off
From a German perspective, the game between Rasmus Svane and Vincent Keymer was a highlight. “I was under pressure the entire time,” Svane said. Keymer’s fighting spirit was clearly visible – as evidenced by a photo taken by Angelika Valkova. Nevertheless, Svane managed to hold on for a hard-fought draw.
Great Atmosphere and Strong Organization
Beyond the thrilling games, the overall atmosphere among the 3,000 participants stood out. Much of this is thanks to the players themselves – but also to the exceptional organization. A special thanks goes to the team of arbiters, whose impressive teamwork ensures everything runs smoothly.
Switching to Freestyle and a Clash at the Top
After Round 4, around 50 players opted to switch from classical to freestyle chess – among them, American Awonder Liang, who went on to defeat Daniel Dardha in Round 5. His reward? A showdown tomorrow at the top board against none other than Magnus Carlsen.
Behind the undefeated Carlsen (5/5), seven players are close on his heels with 4.5 points: Jobava, Blübaum, Sarana, Liang, Maghsoodloo, Pultinevicius, and Mendonca. The next day promises even more top-tier excitement!
Today, the participants had to complete two full rounds. Videographer Niki Riga captured some atmospheric impressions at the start of the day:
Early Struggles for the Favorites
Several favorites stumbled as early as Round 2: Arjun Erigaisi and Vincent Keymer had to settle for draws, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was defeated by the Slovakian player Drusja. Fabiano Caruana narrowly avoided a loss to Bibisara Assaubayeva – already on the verge of defeat, the American capitalized on a critical time-trouble mistake by the Kazakh player to save the game.
Klekowski's Brilliancy
A game that may come only once in a lifetime was played by Polish grandmaster Maciej Klekowski. After sacrificing a rook in move 24 (24. …Nxd7 fails to Bxg7+), he followed up with a second brilliant rook sacrifice in move 26: 26. Rxg7!! – once again, the rook couldn't be taken due to Qg3+. Simply brilliant!
More Upsets in Round 3
Round 3 saw even more surprises: Fabiano Caruana lost to Etienne Bacrot, Ian Nepomniachtchi was defeated by L. Mendonca, and Wesley So fell to D. Kollars. Levon Aronian and Hans Niemann (pictured) drew their game.
Keymer’s Spectacular Game
Vincent Keymer showed in his game against Austrian player Felix Leisch that he, too, is capable of spectacular moves. Four of his moves were labeled brilliant by chess.com – a true rarity. The crowning finish was a textbook mate: 25. …Qf1+, followed by 26. Rxf1 Nxg2# – a Puzzle Rush-style finale.
Carlsen in Full Freestyle Mode
At the top of the leaderboard, Magnus Carlsen currently holds a perfect score – but he's not alone: a total of 14 players remain on 3/3. Carlsen’s game against Sweden’s Nils Grandelius opened with the unconventional 1. h4. In Freestyle Chess, Carlsen loves to start with the h-pawn when the rook is on h1.
Later in the game, he appeared to allow a repetition, only to change course at the last moment – a psychological trick that visibly threw Grandelius off balance. Commentator Lawrence Trent aptly called it “the psychological power of faking a repetition.”
Perfect Scores in the Open
In the classical Open, 51 players still have a perfect score – among them American rating favorite Awonder Liang, as well as several strong German players such as GM Alexander Donchenko and IM Valentin Buckels.
Strong Interest from Fans and Media
Media and audience response has been overwhelmingly positive: public broadcaster SWR aired a special report, and up to 11,000 viewers tuned into the livestream on YouTube, with another 7,000 watching via Twitch.
Social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are also seeing significantly more activity than last year, thanks in large part to the successful collaboration with the media teams of Freestyle Chess, Take Take Take, and ChessBase India.
Looking Ahead
Tomorrow brings the next exciting rounds – and if today was any indication, we can look forward to more thrilling games. The pairings for the top 15 boards are as follows:
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