Ending the year on a high note
At the World Blitz Championship, Vincent Keymer entered the event with a blitz rating of 2599 as number 62 on the starting list. From that perspective, a 38th-place finish, a final score of 12 out of 19 and a rating gain of 17.7 points represent a success, although as world number four, Keymer may have hoped for more.
However, the six blitz games scheduled for 30 December at the World Blitz Championship did not seem to provide him with enough chess, as once the preliminary stage of the event had ended after 19 rounds, he immediately went on to play in the renowned Titled Tuesday on Chess.com. Every Tuesday, title-holders and the world’s best players compete in an 11-round online blitz tournament.
The World Blitz Championship proved to be good preparation, and Keymer won the online tournament convincingly. He scored 10 points from 11 games (+9, =2) and finished a full point ahead of Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Alexey Sarana, who shared second and third place with 9 out of 11 each.
He also produced an entertaining game in round two against Luong Vu Nguyen, which remained exciting right to the end.
With this Titled Tuesday victory, Keymer makes a strong start to 2026. His first major tournament of the new year will be played from 16 January to 1 February in Wijk aan Zee.
Titled Tuesday games
EXPAND YOUR CHESS HORIZONS
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