Vincent Keymer is currently enjoying an astonishing run of form. At the European Club Cup in Rhodes on Wednesday, he secured his third victory in three games. His opponent was none other than former top grandmaster and multiple World Championship candidate Boris Gelfand, who was also the 2012 World Championship runner-up. Although the Israeli top player has certainly passed his zenith, he is by no means a walkover.
Vincent Keymer began the year with the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee, ultimately finishing in the middle of the pack. He also failed to finish higher than mid-table at the subsequent Masters in Prague. However, he really took off in May. He was the standout player at the German Championships in Munich, winning with an Elo performance rating of over 2800. He carried this momentum into the Chennai Masters, dominating the strong Indian grandmasters — including Arjun Erigaisi — and winning the tournament by two points with an Elo performance rating of over 2900.
Photo: ChessBase India
In September, the important Grand Swiss tournament in Samarkand was on the agenda. At stake was nothing less than participation in the Candidates Tournament. Vincent Keymer was among the leaders in an extremely strong field, but then he squandered two possible wins in his games against Matthias Blübaum and Arjun Erigaisi and, as the second to fourth player with the worst tiebreaker, narrowly missed out on a qualifying place – with an Elo performance of just under 2800.
The action continued in early October with the European Team Championship in Batumi. Vincent Keymer played on board one for the German team, achieving the second-best result of the tournament behind Richard Rapport with 7 points from 9 rounds and an Elo performance rating of 2838.
Keymer is now continuing at the same pace in the European Club Cup without a break. His game against Christopher Noe demonstrates why some observers refer to him as ‘the German Capablanca’.
This winning streak is also clearly reflected in the FIDE world rankings and the live world rankings. Keymer had already reached the top ten in the FIDE October list. Now, with his victory over Gelfand, he has moved up to fourth place in the live list, leaving Pragnanandhaa and Erigaisi (just) behind him. Only three players are still ahead of Vincent Keymer – Caruana, Nakamura and Carlsen.
Three years ago, in October 2022, Keymer and the Indian trio of Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Erigaisi were still roughly on par in the Elo rankings. Then the young Indians took off at a rapid pace, while Keymer made slower progress. His coach Peter Leko pointed out that, unlike the Indians, Keymer still had the added burden of his schoolwork. Now the best German chess grandmaster has closed the gap and is even ahead at the moment.
The future is exciting – especially the near future, when Keymer will once again compete for qualification for the Candidates Tournament at the World Cup in Goa (30 October – 27 November).
Vincent Keymer’s recent tournaments
