Hard to believe, but at 28 years of age — he will turn 29 in April — Matthias Blübaum is the second-oldest participant at the youngest Wijk aan Zee Masters in history, behind tournament senior Anish Giri. Yet if one looks at his performance in this event, at his results, the impression is that this is a player whose development is not yet complete. As one of only three players with an Elo rating below 2700, Blübaum was considered an outsider before the tournament began, but after ten rounds — two thirds of the tournament — he is competing for overall victory, just half a point behind leader Abdusattorov. And it is probably wrong to describe this as an outsider’s success, because it appears that Blübaum’s current Elo rating is still lagging behind his true playing strength.
Photo: Lennart Ootes
In the final two rounds of the Masters, Blübaum first defeated Gukesh and then Anish Giri. Both games carry a certain edge, because Blübaum and Giri will meet at the upcoming Candidates Tournament, where they will compete for the right to challenge the World Champion. And that World Champion is Gukesh. Matthias Blübaum has shown that he can beat both of them. His third victim in the Masters was national team colleague Vincent Keymer, who, as world number four, is nominally even higher rated than World Champion Gukesh and fellow Candidate Anish Giri. It seems that Matthias Blübaum can beat any player. Even Carlsen, Nakamura and Caruana, the three at the top of the performance pyramid — but we will come back to that.
A Steep Rise
Matthias Blübaum was born in 1997 in Lemgo into a chess family. His father, Karl-Heinz Blübaum, is also a strong player. With a rating of just under 2200 DWZ, he tops the rankings at Königsspringer Lemgo. He not only taught his son Matthias how to play chess, but also his daughters Bettina and Johanna, both of whom are active tournament players as well.
Blübaum attracted attention early on as a major talent within the German Chess Federation (DSB – Deutscher Schachbund), was admitted to its junior development squad at the age of 12, and at just 14 was nominated for a DSB representative team for the first time.
The so-called “Princes”, Germany’s best juniors: Dennis Wagner, Matthias Blübaum, Rasmus Svane (hidden), Alexander Donchenko | Photo: DSB
In 2012, he was voted German U14 Youth Player of the Year.
Picture: German Junior Chess Association
In 2015, he took part in the World Junior Championship and finished in third place. In 2016, Blübaum won the Grenke Open. In 2020, he became German Blitz Champion and won the German Masters. In 2021, he alternated with Alexander Donchenko as number one in the national rankings. In 2022, Matthias Blübaum became European Champion. In 2025, he repeated the achievement in a German one-two finish with Frederik Svane. Matthias Blübaum is the only player ever to have won this title twice.
Photo: European Chess Union
“Not a very strong player” — or is he?
Blübaum has held the title of International Master since 2022 and that of Grandmaster since 2015.
Since 2020, Blübaum has been among the world’s top 100 players, but for a long time appeared to have settled into the role of a very solid and reliable, yet not particularly risk-taking player, with an Elo rating of around 2670. In the national rankings, the several-years-younger Vincent Keymer had meanwhile overtaken him and most recently even advanced into the absolute world elite.
In a now famous quote, GM Arkadij Naiditsch remarked that “Blübaum is, of course, not a very strong player.” Blübaum took this harsh judgment in good spirit and used it tongue-in-cheek as the account name for his online chess activities.
Now, however, Blübaum is stepping on the gas. At the Grand Swiss tournament in the autumn of last year, Blübaum finished unbeaten in second place behind Anish Giri, defeated world-class grandmasters Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa among others, and thus qualified for the Candidates Tournament as the third German after Robert Hübner and Wolfgang Uhlmann. Toward the end of the event, Blübaum held a decisive game against Vincent Keymer to a draw. That success earned him an invitation to the Tata Steel Tournament, where he is now astonishing the competition.
Photo: Lennart Ootes
In recent times, Blübaum has gained a good 22 Elo points according to the live Elo list and has climbed 56 places in the world rankings over the past twelve months. With a rating of 2701, he is now number 32 in the world. Where the journey will lead is impossible to know in advance, but in Wijk aan Zee Blübaum’s current Elo performance is above 2800. And he has not even made full use of all his opportunities. It is therefore quite possible that there is still more progress to come.
Where does the surge in form come from?
How can this surge in form be explained? One possible factor is that alongside his professional chess career, Matthias Blübaum studied mathematics at Bielefeld University from 2015 onwards, completing his degree successfully in 2022. Now he can focus chess. What is striking, however, is the number of his games listed in the Mega Database. Blübaum is recorded there with around 6,500 games played, placing him among the players with the highest number of games. Only six players have played more games, including Nakamura and Carlsen at the very top. A large proportion of these games are from online tournaments.
With the pandemic, a parallel chess world has established itself on the internet. The top players meet in countless blitz tournaments and gain valuable practical experience. Online tournament platforms evidently act as a catalyst not only for the playing strength of young talents. And in various online events, Blübaum has already played against Carlsen, Nakamura and Caruana — and has at times even managed to defeat them.
After the game against Giri, Matthias Blübaum explained that with his 1…g6 opening and the later capture on c3, Giri had very deliberately prepared for a specific move sequence. Blübaum, however, deviated early from his previous games in this line, and a wild struggle developed, with the better outcome for the German.
There is, however, also bad news for Matthias Blübaum. Hardly anyone will seriously believe in an outsider’s role for him at the Candidates Tournament in Cyprus anymore.
Ok, I’ve seen enough. He’s winning the Candidates. pic.twitter.com/PRF9cXTIYc
— GothamChess (@GothamChess) January 28, 2026
