Five years after the last edition, the GRENKE Chess Festival is finally taking place again. From 26 March to 1 April, six world stars compete in a special rapid chess format at the GRENKE Chess Classic.
In the first two rounds, the spectators got to see high-quality chess games. After a win against Carlsen and a draw against Ding Liren, Richard Rapport leads the table with 1.5 points. Magnus Carlsen, Vincent Keymer, Ding Liren and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave follow in second place with 1 point each. Daniel Fridman is currently in last place with 0.5 points.
"Everyone has been waiting for this chess festival" - GRENKE Chess Classic and Open are just around the corner with a great and big line-up!
There is only one day left until the big chess festival in Karlsruhe starts! The Schwarzwaldhalle and the Gartenhalle in Karlsruhe will be transformed into an Easter chess mecca. Five years after the last edition, the GRENKE Chess Festival will finally take place again. From 26 March to 1 April, six world stars will compete in rapid chess in the GRENKE Chess Classic. All other players will compete two days later, from 28 March to 1 April, at the GRENKE Chess Open, the world's largest tournament.
The GRENKE Chess Classic will see the number one, two and three players in the current current world rapid chess rankings: Magnus Carlsen, Ding Liren and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Carlsen is the reigning world rapid chess champion and is regarded by many chess fans the best chess player of all time. Ding Liren currently holds the world champion title in classical chess, and the Frenchman Vachier-Lagrave won the world blitz chess title in 2021. Another player in the line-up is Richard Rapport, one of the most creative players on the chess scene and second to Ding Liren during his world championship match in 2023. The field is completed by the German number one Vincent Keymer and the multiple German national champion Daniel Fridman. Keymer was runner-up in the 2022 World Rapid Chess Championship. He celebrated one of his biggest successes in 2018 when he surprisingly won the GRENKE Chess Open. Daniel Fridman qualified for this year's GRENKE Classic by winning the 2019 Open edition. For tournament director Sven Noppes, this is the "absolute dream line-up". Dr Sebastian Hirsch, Chairman of the Board of Directors of GRENKE AG, added: "We are delighted with the high-calibre international field of participants". It will be interesting to see what happens with the time control, which is: 45 minutes + 10-second increments per move. This gives players more time than in conventional blitz and rapid tournaments, but guarantees faster decision making than in classical chess.
The pairings for the first round (26 March, 15:00) are as follows: Vincent Keymer vs. Daniel Fridman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave vs. Ding Liren Richard Rapport vs. Magnus Carlsen
The pairings for the second round (26 March, 15 minutes after the end of the last game of the first round) are as follows: Partie der ersten Runde) lauten wie folgt: Daniel Fridman vs. Magnus Carlsen Ding Liren vs. Richard Rapport Vincent Keymer vs. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Chess Classic & Open
