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"What a Blockbuster Day!"

Written by Michael Busse on .

"What a Blockbuster Day!" - that´s how live commentator Lawrence Trent summed up Day 2 of the grenke Chess Festival in Karlsruhe. 

Insightful news article after day two by Freestyle Chess: www.freestyle-chess.com/news/fourteen-players-remain-perfect-after-three-rounds/

Two Rounds in One Day

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:

 

Tournament started: "A picture that you couldn´t paint more beautifully"

Written by Michael Busse on .

 

With around 3,000 participants, the grenke Chess Festival has officially started, turning the Karlsruhe Trade Fair into the epicenter of the chess world over the Easter holidays. The largest chess open in the world offers a truly impressive sight— one that visibly moved Tournament Director Sven Noppes during the opening ceremony: “A picture you couldn’t paint more beautifully.”

This major event is made possible through the close cooperation between grenke, the Baden-Baden Chess Center, and Freestyle Chess. Popular chess journalist Fiona Steil-Antoni warmly welcomes the participants in this greeting video on behalf of all partners:

Two Worlds: Classical and Freestyle

At the beginning of the round, the starting position for the Freestyle Tournament was drawn by Britta Wirtz, CEO of Karlsruhe Trade Fair. The draw landed on position 758. Meanwhile, players in the classical open were met with the usual standard starting position, number 518.

A special highlight came from Wolfgang Grenke himself: the longtime chess patron and supporter of Vincent Keymer made the ceremonial first move in Magnus Carlsen’s game. Keymer, following his recent strong performances in Freestyle Chess, once again appeared highly focused.

A Relief for Fans: Hans Niemann Is Here

One of the most frequently asked questions in the lead-up to the event was: Is Hans Niemann playing? After his surprising withdrawal from the Freestyle event in Paris, fans were thrilled to get a quick answer in Karlsruhe: Yes, Hans is here! The American grandmaster made a public appearance and was photographed, among others, with Martina Noppes (Chess Tigers).

Media Buzz and International Presence

Media interest is high: alongside the Freestyle Chess production team, ChessBase India is also on-site, covering top Indian players such as Arjun Erigaisi (pictured) and Aravindh Chithambaram.

 

Top Stars Deliver – But Amateurs Shine as Well

As expected, the favorites held firm on the top boards: Carlsen, Keymer, Erigaisi, Nepomniachtchi, and other Elo heavyweights all began the tournament with confident wins. Major surprises were largely absent in the first round.

One particularly memorable story came from Vinzenz Hillermann, who had the chance to face Magnus Carlsen. During their joint analysis, Carlsen identified the move 15...c6? as the critical mistake.

 

 

Fastest Victory of the Day

The fastest win of the day came from German national team player IM Dinara Wagner, whose game was decided after just eight moves—a lightning victory of the highest order.

Missed Opportunity Against Aronian

Matthias Bach came close to causing a sensation against Levon Aronian, missing a chance to force a perpetual check. After 42. Lxc7 Kxc7, the rook sacrifice 43. Rxb7! would have led to a forced draw (43... Kxb7 44. Qxd7+, etc.). Unfortunately, Bach overlooked this possibility and was ultimately defeated.

 

Strong Performances in the A-Open

In the A-Open as well, top players such as Awonder Liang, Nikita Vitiugov, and Alexei Shirov had convincing starts. European Champion Aleksandar Indjic, however, was surprisingly held to a draw by underdog Kai-Christian Bruns.

 

Expert Commentary With Wit and Wisdom

Live commentary is provided by GM Peter Leko and IM Lawrence Trent – a well-rehearsed duo offering deep analysis and entertaining anecdotes. In one screenshot, the duo can be seen analyzing the game of Hans-Walter Schmitt. A longtime promoter and close friend of Vishy Anand, Schmitt was honored for his contributions to Chess960 (Freestyle Chess) by being seated directly behind Carlsen at Board 2.

 

Looking Ahead

Round two continues on Good Friday at 10 a.m. We wish all participants continued success, exciting games—and above all, enjoyment of the game!
Note: According to the official tournament rules, switching from classical chess to Freestyle Chess is possible until the fifth round. The change must be declared no later than after round 4.

 

 

 

Livestream & media covering grenke chess

Written by Michael Busse on .

We are proud to present our commentary duo: GM Peter Leko and IM Lawrence Trent. 

The live commentary is presented here: 

 

Chess fans can also follow the grenke chess festival on the following channels:

Results and pairings:

 

The following players will stream their games live: 

 

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