In the end, Magnus Carlsen also took a very close look. Like most in the room, the Norwegian walked to the board on Wednesday evening, where Vincent Keymer was doing everything he could to crown what was already the greatest success of his career. Germany’s top chess player needed a win over French grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to draw level with leaders Carlsen on points and force a playoff for the world rapid chess title. “The whole world is watching,” said Peter Leko as his student attempted to win the final.
Leko, who has been coaching Keymer since he was 13, comments online on the World Rapid and Blitz Championship from Almaty, Kazakhstan, and makes little effort to feign impartiality when Keymer is at the board. What for, after all, the 18-year-old inspires even neutral viewers.
Because even if he ultimately could not defeat his French opponent and the two agreed on a draw after 65 moves of an exciting game, Vincent Keymer’s performance on the way to second place at the World Championship in rapid chess was outstanding. Keymer himself had emphasized before the tournament that the competition was primarily an exercise at a high level for him, after all he actually felt more comfortable playing classic chess with longer periods of time. And yet he almost won a decisive game against the best player in the world in his first World Rapid Championship.
From day two Keymer acts like an absolute world class player
The fact that Magnus Carlsen (at least with the white pieces) is probably still a size too big was shown in the opening game of the third tournament day, in which the world champion punished the German for being passive at first and finally forced him to resign. It was the only loss of the day for Keymer, who went on to beat 2021 and 2023 World Cup finalists Jan Nepomnyashchi and Indian Santosh Vidit. Before the tournament, both were assessed to be significantly stronger than the German, Nepomnjaschtschi in particular is part of the top class to which Keymer has not yet belonged. But now more than ever, the emphasis is on: still.
Keymer has steadily improved over the course of his 13 World Cup games. While he still got 3.5 points from the first five games, he acted like an absolute world-class player from the second day on. Right at the start he beat the US top player Fabio Caruana in a high-class game, followed by two more victories against super grandmasters and a hard-fought draw with Black against Vladimir Fedoseev from Russia. Keymer won every game with the white pieces anyway. “Congratulations on a great tournament,” said Magnus Carlsen to Vincent Keymer at the final press conference.
For Carlsen, the fourth World Championship triumph in rapid chess is the certainty that he won’t have to do without a World Champion title on his letterhead any time soon; he already announced months ago that he would not defend his title in classical chess. He wants to put pressure on the world association Fide to reform the World Cup match and, among other things, to integrate the more entertaining variants such as rapid and blitz chess more into the fight for the most important title in the sport. At least in terms of entertainment value, the days in Almaty have proved Carlsen right so far. Because on the one hand they show what a high level there is now at the top of the world, even when the players not only play against each other, but also against the ticking clock.
A defeat by Carlsen shortly before the end of the competition ensures tension until the last game
On the other hand, in times of internet live streams, the game of kings also thrives on mistakes. Spectators don’t want to see constant draws, Kurzweil is good for the competitions. A wrong move like in his game against the Russian Vladislav Artemiev in the eleventh round would probably never have happened to Magnus Carlsen in classical chess. The defeat of the favorite shortly before the end of the competition caused tension until the last game. Blitz chess is even faster than rapid. Instead of 15 minutes plus ten seconds per move, the time limit is 3+2, i.e. three minutes per player and two seconds credit for each move.
The determination of the world champion in this sometimes wild discipline marks the end of the week in Kazakhstan, which is already the most successful of Vincent Keymer’s career – not least because of the high prize money of the equivalent of around 47,000 euros, which he received as the World Cup runner-up. Keymer has been a full-time professional since graduating from high school in March. According to his own statements, he needs around 60,000 euros a year for this.
“The tournament went fantastically for me,” said Germany’s best chess player to the Chess24 camera after the final draw against Vachier-Lagrave: “I’m happy with the result.” As always, Keymer seemed very tidy and confident even after the greatest success of his career, no big emotional outbursts are to be expected from him. So it’s all the nicer that his great sponsor and coach is commenting on the games live online. More than once, viewers of the live stream remarked: “Peter Leko looks like a proud dad.”