Carlsen Wins Grenke Chess Classic, Reaches 2875 Rating
Magnus Carlsen won his last-round game against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to clinch the Grenke Chess Classic with a 1.5-point margin over runner-up Fabiano Caruana, who quickly drew with Levon Aronian.
It was kind of telling that 2700chess.com was down for several minutes after Carlsen defeated MVL today—and it wasn’t the first time this week. The tournament winner couldn’t hide a smile when Peter Leko mentioned to him this modern-day, online expression of pure fandom.
For anyone who didn't check yet, here's the answer: Carlsen will have a 2875 rating on the May FIDE rating list, which is only seven points below his highest published rating of 2882 from five years ago.
(Update May 1, 2019: the Grenke results were not included in the May FIDE rating list, probably because it missed the deadline.)
Therefore, another question is back on the table, one that few dared to ask in the past few years. Will he ever break 2900?
Carlsen: "I don’t know. Right now I am just happy to be playing a lot better than I have. Frankly, some people have asked me privately over the last few years whether I’d ever get over 2900 and my answer has always been a pretty resounding ‘no, I don’t think I’m gonna get there.’ I still don’t particularly think so but now it’s at least a half-attainable goal. It’s something I will be looking at. But most of all it’s about continuing the process of playing well."
2900 is again within reach for Carlsen. He only needs to score 8,5/9 in #NorwayChess to break it. 6,5/9 will likely be enough to break his 2882 record. #GrenkeChess
— Tarjei J. Svensen (@TarjeiJS) April 29, 2019
Carlsen will be 56 points ahead of Fabiano Caruana, who he still considers to be best of the rest.
"I don’t think he had a brilliant tournament here but he nevertheless got a very clear second place," said Carlsen, "so I don’t think there’s any reason to consider him otherwise. He’s very good."
Carlsen's dominance over the other other players isn't as big yet as in May 2014, when his 2882 was 67 points more than Aronian's 2815.
The dominance of 13th world champion Garry Kasparov was still bigger than that. At his peak rating of 2851 (when Carlsen was nine years old), Kasparov was 82 points ahead of Viswanathan Anand (who, incidentally, had one point more 19 years ago than he will have on the new list: 2768).
January 2000 FIDE ratings (Top 10)
| # | Fed | Name | Rtg |
| 1 | Kasparov, Garry | 2851 | |
| 2 | Anand, Viswanathan | 2769 | |
| 3 | Kramnik, Vladimir | 2758 | |
| 4 | Shirov, Alexei | 2751 | |
| 5 | Morozevich, Alexander | 2748 | |
| 6 | Leko, Peter | 2725 | |
| 7 | Adams, Michael | 2715 | |
| 8 | Ivanchuk, Vassily | 2709 | |
| 9 | Bareev, Evgeny | 2709 | |
| 10 | Topalov, Veselin | 2702 |
Today's win against Vachier-Lagrave had just one key moment, when the French grandmaster sacrificed a pawn on move 10 in the style of the Benko gambit. Carlsen didn't like it.
"I didn’t have as much energy today, but fortunately I got helped by this free pawn," said Carlsen. "Sometimes he does this; he makes these impulsive decisions. He very much likes to give up pawns for the initiative but the problem is that there is no initiative; it’s just a free pawn. After it he is just clearly worse."
The other big story of the tournament was of course the 14-year-old IM Vincent Keymer getting invaluable experience in a field of elite grandmasters. Eventually he only managed to score 2/9, but he won rating points anyway, which shows how strong these super-tournaments are.
Today he seemed to have wanted to improve upon his main weakness, that of time management, and played much faster in the opening. However, this time around his coach Leko would have liked him to spend a bit more time on his 11th, 15th and 19th moves, which were all debatable.
The game got very complicated but it was already very difficult for Keymer after Paco Vallejo's 20...f5.
The round saw a third win (a 51.2 percent drawing percentage for this tournament was pleasantly low!) as Arkadij Naiditsch won the all-German battle against Georg Meier. The Latvian-born German grandmaster Naiditsch, who represents Azerbaijan, tied for third place with Vachier-Lagrave.
The game was absolutely wild and fits in the coffeehouse category:
The other two games were rather insignificant. About Anand and Peter Svidler's draw, Carlsen commented: "I don’t think it was pre-arranged, probably not, but everybody knows this particular one."
Caruana didn't seem too eager to try and go for a win—his last, theoretical chance to play for tournament victory in a playoff in case Carlsen would lose. The American grandmaster must have ruled out that last possibility when he decided to play the same, drawish line against Aronian's Marshall as Teimour Radjabov had done against Ding Liren in Shamkir this year.
2019 Grenke Chess Classic | Final Standings
| # | Fed | Name | Rtg | Perf | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | Pts | SB |
| 1 | Carlsen,Magnus | 2845 | 2992 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7.5/9 | |||
| 2 | Caruana,Fabiano | 2828 | 2835 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 6.0/9 | |||
| 3 | Naiditsch,Arkadij | 2710 | 2766 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 5.0/9 | 19 | ||
| 4 | Vachier-Lagrave,Maxime | 2775 | 2760 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 5.0/9 | 18.25 | ||
| 5 | Anand,Viswanathan | 2779 | 2721 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4.5/9 | 19.75 | ||
| 6 | Aronian,Levon | 2761 | 2723 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 4.5/9 | 18.75 | ||
| 7 | Svidler,Peter | 2737 | 2726 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 4.5/9 | 17.75 | ||
| 8 | Vallejo Pons,Francisco | 2698 | 2691 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.0/9 | |||
| 9 | Meier,Georg | 2621 | 2521 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 2.0/9 | 8.75 | ||
| 10 | Keymer,Vincent | 2509 | 2532 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 2.0/9 | 6.5 |
Very tough games, and at least managed to win the last one, I felt I was not very lucky in the important moments, let´s see if I can come back to my best level in the following months. Congrats to @MagnusCarlsen who won his own tournament! #GrenkeChess
— Paco Vallejo (@Chessidharta) April 29, 2019
Wonderful to see @MagnusCarlsen in his absolutely top shape, crushing carefree and relaxed. I guess knowing that he is free from the World Championship match torture for a year gives wings! ⚔👏 #GrenkeChess
— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) April 29, 2019
It has to be admitted that my fellow FIDE Presidential Board Member, @MagnusCarlsen , certainly knows how to play chess #awestruck
— Nigel Short (@nigelshortchess) April 29, 2019
So, here is the list of my top 3 favorite chess players of all time: 1. Carlsen (2014) 2. Carlsen (2019) 3. Carlsen (2013) @TarjeiJS @GRENKEChess #shamkirchess #Worldchampions #chess
— Elshan Moradiabadi (@eli_1985_mor) April 29, 2019
Two exceptional players, they do it because they love what they do, and that’s why they are the best and will break all the records!! #Magnus#Messi pic.twitter.com/cXL3J3MY4Y
— Mohamed Al-Mudahka (@almodiahki) April 29, 2019
If he keeps going at this rate he might win a game during the next world championship!
— Jon (@Jon__Zachary) April 29, 2019
Carlsen's next tournament will be the opener of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour season, the rapid and blitz tournament in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (May 6-13).
"I'm excited," said Carlsen. "It will probably be my only opportunity to go to Cote d’Ivoire. It’s exotic for sure. It will be the first time I or any sitting world champion plays in Africa. I specifically chose to play there.
"I'm happy to play some rapid and blitz. It’s been a long time since I’ve been part of the Grand Chess Tour. Even though classical is going so well at the moment, I am happy to do both," he said.
Find all upcoming major chess events in Chess.com's tournament calendar.
Earlier posts:
- Grenke Chess Classic: Carlsen Checkmates Svidler; Caruana Still In the Race
- "Scary" Win Carlsen-Aronian At Grenke Chess Classic
- Carlsen Takes Big Lead At Grenke Chess Classic
- Keymer Scores 1st Win In Grenke Chess Classic Round 5
- Anand, Carlsen Lead After Grenke Chess Classic Round 4
- Grenke Chess Classic: Anand Stops Carlsen, Svidler Joins Lead
- 3 Winners At Grenke Chess Classic; Carlsen Maintains Lead
- Keymer Fights, Loses Marathon Game To Carlsen As Grenke Chess Classic Takes Off
- New Carlsen-Caruana Clash At Grenke Chess Classic
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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