Chennai Grand Masters 2025: Vincent Keymer wins title with a round to spare | Chess News
Chennai: With a round to spare, Vincent Keymer became the first non-Indian to be crowned Chennai Grand Masters champion on Thursday after a hard-fought draw and favourable results on other boards. The 20-year-old German, who has been in sublime form all week, bagged six points following his draw with Jorden van Foreest. And with top seed Arjun Erigaisi’s (4.5 points) stalemate against Vidit Gujrathi and Karthikeyan Murali’s (4.5) draw with Nihal Sarin, the third-edition title was his. It wasn’t a walk in the park in the eighth round here for Keymer, who was D Gukesh’s second during his World Championship title run. In the dying minutes of his crucial contest against Jorden, Keymer was jolted by a move in the endgame that he hadn’t seen coming. When his Dutch opponent, with black pieces, slid his bishop to D1, Keymer’s cheeks flushed, his leg shook under the table, and he kept shaking his head in disbelief. For the first time here, the in-form youngster seemed to lose his calm. Short on time, Keymer spent three minutes arriving at a ‘pawn to G6’ reply that ensured he doesn’t lose the contest completely. Jorden tried every last trick in the book before the two finally shook hands. Keymer, who began with his preferred ‘English Opening’, said he was better out of the opening, and then the game was shifting towards a clear draw, until that one move. “It’s just that I missed his bishop D1 idea, which is really something you shouldn’t miss. It’s crazy to miss it, especially at such a moment. I’m glad I at least managed to focus myself back onto the game and find the only drawing way,” said Keymer. In the challengers sections, M Pranesh beat Harika to take sole lead with 6.5 points.
