A thrilling start: The grenke Chess Festival 2026 is underway
The grenke Chess Festival has started. To kick things off, the more than 3,500 participants were welcomed with a film showing highlights from last year – accompanied by the European anthem, Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.”
Welcome and vision of the festival
Tournament director Sven Noppes welcomed the participants and was impressed by the packed hall:
“This is the greatest chess stage in the world.”
At the same time, he outlined the concept behind the festival:
“Mass and class come together in one place.”
“We want to bring chess to the world.”
Wolfgang Grenke, the namesake of the main sponsor, as well as a representative of grenke AG, also addressed the participants. The roots of today’s tournament go back to a meeting between Grenke and Christian Bossert in 1997, which laid the foundation for top-level chess in Baden-Baden and Karlsruhe.
For the second main sponsor Freestyle, GM Sebastian Siebrecht welcomed the players.
Media, streams and reach
A strong focus this year has been on media coverage. Teams from Chess.com, ChessBase India and Freestyle Chess are on site, along with various TV and radio stations.
The SWR even reported live from the playing hall at times.
For the first time, a larger group of streamers is also involved, having received a guided tour of the venue before the tournament began.
Freestyle kickoff and commentary
Fiona Steil-Antoni hosted the opening ceremony and announced the starting position for the Freestyle competition, drawn by Christian Bossert: number 906.
For many top players, the format offers a refreshing change. Hans Niemann said in an interview with ChessBase India:
“I’ve never been so relaxed in my life.”
The tournament is being commented on by Peter Leko and Alexander Donchenko, while Klaus Bischoff provides on-site analysis.
Results of the first round
In the first round of the Freestyle competition, major upsets were largely absent. However, Levon Aronian was held to a draw by Aleksander Kumala.
Magnus Carlsen secured a comfortable win against Narmin Khalafova from Azerbaijan.
An interesting matchup took place between Vincent Keymer and Sonja Maria Bluhm, who have known each other since their youth. Keymer won convincingly. Commentator Peter Leko particularly praised the move 20. Ba7, describing it as “Karpov-style.”
Outlook
“A wonderful day, just as expected,” summarized Peter Leko at the end of the day.
The tournament has thus started successfully – with further rounds to follow in the coming days. ♟️