All posts tagged: Vincent Keymer

R Praggnanandhaa becomes first Indian to win Norway Chess Title

R Praggnanandhaa becomes first Indian to win Norway Chess Title

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Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa created history by becoming the first Indian to win the prestigious Norway Chess 2026 title, sealing the championship with a crucial final-round victory over Germany’s Vincent Keymer in Oslo. The 20-year-old capped a remarkable turnaround after recovering from a difficult middle phase of the tournament to emerge victorious in one of the strongest fields in world chess. Praggnanandhaa finished ahead of a star-studded lineup that included world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, reigning world champion D Gukesh, Alireza Firouzja, Wesley So and Keymer. Stunning comeback powers Praggnanandhaa to title The Indian’s title challenge appeared under threat midway through the tournament, but a series of impressive victories brought him back into contention. He registered crucial classical wins over Firouzja, Carlsen and Gukesh, setting up a dramatic final-round battle for the championship. His victory over Gukesh in Round 9 proved particularly important, keeping him within striking distance of the leaders before he delivered the decisive win against Keymer. One of the standout achievements of Praggnanandhaa’s campaign was his dominance over Carlsen. He defeated the …

Praggnanandhaa wins Norway Chess 2026 title after stunning final round victory | Chess News

Praggnanandhaa wins Norway Chess 2026 title after stunning final round victory | Chess News

Published by Webster

2 min readOslo (norway)Jun 6, 2026 12:33 AM IST India’s R Praggnanandhaa won the Norway Chess 2026 title after a classical victory over German grandmaster Vincent Keymer in the final round on Saturday at Oslo’s Deichman Bjørvika. This is the 20-year-old prodigy’s first title of the year. Pragg had a remarkable final kick at the end of the 10-round tournament, winning four classical games in a row after losing two on the trot. The win over Keymer came on the heels of Praggnanandhaa’s victories over Alireza Firouzja, world no 1 Magnus Carlsen and world champion Gukesh over the last four days. The tournament also saw Praggnanandhaa complete a double over Carlsen. After his victory over Gukesh on Thursday, Praggnanandhaa had spoken about how he had clawed back from the bottom of the table to rise to a title fight. “I’m happy that I’m still in the race because three days back I was fighting for the last spot,” Praggnanandhaa had said. “And now I have a chance at fighting. So I’ll take it.” The Gukesh …

Norway Chess: Gukesh drops to last spot; Divya Deshmukh chasing title | Chess News

Norway Chess: Gukesh drops to last spot; Divya Deshmukh chasing title | Chess News

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2 min readUpdated: Jun 2, 2026 11:47 AM IST World champion D Gukesh slipped down to the last place in the open standings at Norway Chess after being unable to convert his hefty advantage against American grandmaster Wesley So in their round 7 game on Monday. But the mystery of the Wesley So vs Gukesh game was why the American agreed to a draw on the 40th move when the Indian was down to barely a minute on his clock which meant he would have had to survive for the rest of the game on 10-second increments per move. The good news for the Indian who just turned 20 is that even though he is last in the six-player standings, he’s just 4.5 points off the top of the table, which is currently occupied by So with 12.5 points. Just above Gukesh in fifth spot is compatriot R Praggnananddha, with nine points along with Vincent Keymer and five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen. Praggnananddha defeated Alireza Firouzja in their classical battle. After defeating Magnus Carlsen and …

Magnus Carlsen pulls out ‘proper old guy move’ in win over Alireza Firouzja | Chess News

Magnus Carlsen pulls out ‘proper old guy move’ in win over Alireza Firouzja | Chess News

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3 min readOsloJun 1, 2026 07:04 AM IST It’s starting to happen again. That juggernaut called Magnus Carlsen is starting to gather momentum to chase another title at Norway Chess, however absurd it sounds this time around. After all, it was only yesterday that Carlsen was at the bottom of the standings. A notorious slow starter at tournaments these days, it would have felt like Carlsen had left it too late to power another title challenge. Despite experiencing an unprecedented three losses in five games — to Alireza Firouzja, R Praggnanandhaa and Wesley So — so far at the tournament in Oslo, Carlsen is just four points behind tournament leader Wesley So after he took down the French-Iranian Firouzja in a classical game by playing “old man chess”. Walking into the game on Sunday, Carlsen was asked to rate from 1 to 10 how much of a mood he was in to fight. “1.5,” Carlsen had shrugged before walking away. But on the board, he had opted for an old-school opening trick to try and …

The world champion with 9 lives: Gukesh saves dead lost position at Norway Chess | Chess News

The world champion with 9 lives: Gukesh saves dead lost position at Norway Chess | Chess News

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Vincent Keymer’s pawn sat haplessly on the g3 square, stranded there like a beached whale. All around it on the board, Keymer’s king and queen shuffled from one square to another desperately trying to provide the pawn with the breathing space for it to move just two squares ahead. Two forward pushes of the pawn, and Keymer would win his first round encounter at Norway Chess. Standing in the way of the pawn’s promotion and Keymer’s victory was world champion D Gukesh’s queen. With the game poised on a knife’s edge and with time trouble making the contest treacherous, Gukesh’s queen ran a marathon around the chess board for over 50 moves, delivering check after check. Like hitting a snooze button on what felt inevitable. Eventually, after four hours and 38 minutes, the 144-move game between Gukesh and Keymer ended in a draw. It was a result that felt psychologically as important as a win for the teenager who will be called upon to defend his world champion’s crown in six months’ time. After 18 …

Praggnanandhaa ends tied-fifth at Romania classical event; Vincent Keymer wins

Praggnanandhaa ends tied-fifth at Romania classical event; Vincent Keymer wins

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2 min readMay 24, 2026 08:07 AM IST German grandmaster Vincent Keymer clinched the Super Chess Classic Romania 2026 tournament with a final round victory over Jorden van Foreest on Saturday. Keymer’s win was the only decisive game of the final round at Bucharest, but it ended up being a tournament deciding result on a day where five players had a chance to win the title. R Praggnanandhaa, India’s only contender in the tournament, ended joint-fifth, along with four other players. Praggnanandhaa’s only victory in the nine rounds he played in the tournament came against world championship contender Javokhir Sindarov while the Indian prodigy had lost in the seventh round to Fabiano Caruana. Pragg will now fly to Oslo to compete in the Norway Chess tournament, where he will be pitted against world champion D Gukesh, world no 1 Magnus Carlsen, Keymer, Wesley So and Alireza Firouzja. The Norway Chess tournament starts from Monday. On Saturday, Praggnanandhaa played out a 31-move draw against Dutch grandmaster Anish Giri. Both players were not in contention to claim …

Praggnanandhaa, Keymer produce a masterclass in Bucharest

Praggnanandhaa, Keymer produce a masterclass in Bucharest

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R Praggnanandhaa has fond memories of playing chess in Bucharest. The Romanian capital has witnessed the Chennai Grandmaster dominate its marquee annual classical event ever since he first made his presence felt. Having played the Super Chess Classic Romania twice before – – in 2024 and 2025 – – Praggnanandhaa is yet to lose a single game. He finished on top in both editions: a four-way tie for first place in 2024, followed by a three-way tie in 2025. While it’s still too early for a judgment, the second-highest-ranked Indian in the live ratings looks already on course for a three-peat. After the third round late on Saturday, Praggnanandhaa remains in the leading pack. With 2.0 points from three rounds, he finds himself in a five-way battle for the top spot alongside Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Anish Giri, Jorden van Foreest, and Vincent Keymer. Praggnanandhaa played with all his might, trying to squeeze out a win against Keymer in a long-drawn battle, but the German No. 1 came up with the best defences to neutralise all the …

Tamizh Amudhan, 8-year-old from Sivakasi, beats World No 7 Vincent Keymer in candlelight using dying laptop | Chess News

Tamizh Amudhan, 8-year-old from Sivakasi, beats World No 7 Vincent Keymer in candlelight using dying laptop | Chess News

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Sivakasi, the city known for being the firecracker capital of India, jolted the chess world with an almighty bang on Friday night when Tamizh Amudhan, an eight-year-old boy from the Tamil Nadu city, took down Vincent Keymer, the 21-year-old German grandmaster currently ranked seventh in the world, in an online blitz game in the Freestyle Friday tournament. What was even more remarkable was a photo of Tamizh playing the event: the boy can be seen sitting on the floor of his Thiruthangal house (a suburb of Sivakasi), legs outstretched, laptop propped up on a pillow, and the room only lit by the feeble flicker of a candle. Due to thunderstorms in the city, the power had gone off in the area. So Tamizh played on a laptop with around 48 per cent battery powered by his mother’s cell phone’s one-GB-per-day data pack being expended via hotspot to propel the little one’s internet exploits. The laptop’s battery eventually gave way an hour into the tournament, which means Tamizh could play just four games. Sathish Arumugam, Tamizh’s …

‘A horror nightmare’: How Arjun Erigaisi’s ‘pawn war’ crushed Magnus Carlsen in a wild Freestyle World Championship upset | Chess News

‘A horror nightmare’: How Arjun Erigaisi’s ‘pawn war’ crushed Magnus Carlsen in a wild Freestyle World Championship upset | Chess News

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4 min readFeb 14, 2026 06:00 AM IST Less than two months after Magnus Carlsen had gone viral again for smashing his fist on the table at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship for losing to Arjun Erigaisi, the world no 1 lost to the Indian again: this time in a classification game at the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship in Weissenhaus on Friday. While Arjun Erigaisi did not make it to the semi-finals of the Freestyle World Championships 2026, he had one of the wildest days in the qualification rounds where he remained the only player to not have a single draw in the seven rounds that were played on Friday to determine the four semi-finalists. Arjun took down the top two finishers in the league stage — Carlsen and Vincent Keymer — besides also defeating Javokhir Sindarov. He lost the remaining four games to end in sixth place. Carlsen, Keymer, Fabiano Caruana and Nodirbek Abdusattorov qualified for the semi-finals. The win over Carlsen, who has proven to be an unstoppable force in …

Praggnanandhaa and others issue open letter about “clash of events”

Praggnanandhaa and others issue open letter about “clash of events”

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Seven top Grandmasters, including India’s Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, have issued a call for help regarding clash of multiple high profile events in the 2026 calendar. In an open letter posted by GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on social media, the players have raised concerns regarding a clash in schedule for the 2026 Esports World Cup and the 2026 Grand Chess Tour. “We are writing to express serious concern about the scheduling conflict between the 2026 Grand Chess Tour and the Esports World Cup chess events,” the letter read. “The Esports World Cup is scheduled for August 6-8 (Last Chance Qualifier) and August 11-15 (Main Event). The Grand Chess Tour has scheduled the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz for August 2-6 and the Sinquefield Cup for August 10-20. These dates directly overlap, making participation in both effectively impossible,” it further added. Two major chess events. One calendar clash.We’ve published an open letter calling for better coordination between the 2026 Grand Chess Tour and the Esports World Cup — so qualified players can compete in both. pic.twitter.com/jPq3jMU0Hu — MVL (@Vachier_Lagrave) …