Keymer, Niemann Still Perfect, To Clash On Easter Morning

As the only two players still on a perfect 5/5 score in the Grenke Chess Freestyle Open, GMs Hans Niemann and Vincent Keymer will be playing each other on top board in Sunday morning's sixth round. Behind them is a group of six players on 4.5/5: GMs Ian Nepomniachtchi, Magnus Carlsen, Alexey Sarana, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and GM Daniel Hausrath.

Round six will be on Sunday, April 5, starting at 4 a.m. ET / 10:00 CEST / 1:30 p.m. IST, followed by round seven on the same day at 10 a.m. ET / 16:00 CEST / 7:30 p.m. IST.

Round 5 Standings (Top 15)

Round 4 Results (Top 10 Boards)

The position for the fourth round was #534.

The third day of play started with arguably the most normal and, therefore, the most special starting position possible in Freestyle Chess: the one from regular chess, but with kings and queens reversed. GM Peter Leko called it “the nightmare of all nightmares” because it reminded him of the many chess-themed Hollywood posters with a mistake in how the board was set up.

It is a bit confusing because the first thought might be that it's just normal chess but with colors reversed. But no: since long and short castling remain the same, the position is actually different. At the closing ceremony of the Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam last year, a group of players had discussed this position, and their conclusion was confirmed on Saturday: It's quite promising for White after 1.d4.

As co-commentator GM Alexander Donchenko noted, an improved Jobava London is possible with 1.d4, 2.Nc3, 3.Bf4 and 4.0-0-0. Niemann, who joined the studio to explain his game in this round, pointed out that it is actually an improved Italian. To add to the confusion, he first called his opponent's 1...f5 "sort of a Dutch" but then agreed with Leko that the middlegame was more like a Scheveningen!

As it went, Niemann got a winning advantage but due to imprecise play, he allowed his opponent back in the game. The rook endgame was objectively a draw but hard to hold for Black. The difference between 42...Ke2? and 43...Ke3! is super instructive; see the annotations below.

Carlsen's historical run came to an end in this round, after scoring 12/12 with results of last year and this year combined. His opponent, GM Amin Tabatabaei, continued his non-losing streak because he had just won the Reykjavik Open last week undefeated.

With a starting position that gets an engine evaluation of 0.54 after 1.d4, it was perhaps a stretch to expect another win from the reigning Freestyle world champion against a player in form. Carlsen was under pressure in the opening and was lucky to get away with only a slightly worse endgame because his opponent couldn't resist (pseudo-)sacrificing the roooook where he had been even better.

GM Ian Nepomniachtchi did move to 4/4 alongside Niemann and four other players: GMs Vincent Keymer, Nodirbek Yakubboev, Alexey Sarana, and the most surprising name, Maksim Chigaev.

Nepomniachtchi did not play 1.d4 but beat GM Parham Maghsoodloo anyway, in a game where the opening resembled a Catalan with reversed colors. It was the Iranian GM who got the better chances in the early middlegame when he managed to establish an octopus on e3, but he should have continued more forcefully.

Chigaev (Spain) defeated GM Vladimir Fedoseev (Slovenia) in a clash between two Russian grandmasters who decided to leave their country and represent new federations following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Somehow, just a few inaccurate moves in the opening were enough for Chigaev to take control and never let go:

Round 5 Results (Top 10 Boards)

The position for round five was #230.

It was quite the coincidence when the randomly chosen position for the fifth round was also extremely close to regular chess. In this case, the only differences were the rook and knight on the queenside being swapped.

This starting position was especially confusing for WIM Robin Duson's opponent on the lower boards. He resigned after just three moves (!) in this round. This went 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.c4?? Qe4+ and the rook on b1 dropped. Ouch.

Taking huge risks to win his game against GM Georg Meier last night paid off for Keymer, who won both of his games today to maintain his 100-percent score. After beating the 2024 World Rapid Champion GM Volodar Murzin in the morning, he was also too strong for Olympic gold winner GM Nodirbek Yakubboev.

Keymer spent almost 10 minutes on 1.e4 and also faced a "Scandinavian" (2...d5) like we see in the miniature game above, but decided that 2.e5 must be more challenging because after 2.exd5 Qxd5, White does not have 3.Nc3. He explained afterward that in regular chess, this wouldn't be great because Black can play ...c7-c5 in one go and improve on a Caro-Kann, but because the knights on the queenside will be going to b3 and b6 here, this would be a good Caro-Kann for White.

Only Niemann could keep the pace with Keymer as he won a game that looked like completely normal chess. Chigaev had a small advantage out of the opening, until he barked up the wrong tree with a speculative sacrifice on the queenside. He gave a knight in return for a passed pawn on c6, but when that was blocked by a knight on c7, it was clear who was playing for a win in this game.

When Leko asked Niemann about the fact that all his games had been fairly quiet so far, Niemann commented: “To be honest, I really have been sleeping badly and I’m still jetlagged, so if you don’t have much energy, you play old man’s chess!”

I really have been sleeping badly and I’m still jetlagged, so if you don’t have much energy, you play old man’s chess!
—Hans Niemann

A certain Uzbek GM active in Cyprus is claiming all the headlines these days, but quite a few of his compatriots are playing in Karlsruhe. Like Keymer, Carlsen defeated a member of the 2022 Olympiad winning team: GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov.

This game soon started to look like a French Defense but one where White had the upper hand right from the start. A nice pawn sacrifice on move 16 more or less decided the game; a lot happened after that, but Carlsen was always more or less in control.

Rather unexpectedly, Tabatabaei's non-losing streak came to an end in this round. After doing so well in Reykjavik and now in Karlsruhe, and right after drawing with Carlsen, he lost to 49-year-old German GM Hausrath, rated 2440 and the clear underdog in this game. The moves tell a different story, though.

An interesting sidenote is that Hausrath had played the first four rounds in the "normal" chess Open, so this was his first round of Chess960. He probably didn't mind that the position was very close to normal chess.

GM Rafael Leitao has analyzed the Game of the Day below:

Below are the pairings for round six of the Freestyle Chess event.

Round 6 Pairings | Top 10

(See all pairings here.)

How to watch?

The Grenke Freestyle Chess Open is a classical tournament in the Freestyle Chess (Chess960) format that serves as a qualifier for the FIDE Freestyle Women's Chess World Championship 2026 and the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship 2027. The event takes place alongside a regular classical tournament, the Grenke Chess Open. The Freestyle Chess event is a nine-round Swiss with a time control of 90+30 for the entire game, with a prize fund of over 200,000 euros.

See also:

• Day 2: Carlsen, Nepomniachtchi, Niemann, Keymer Among 19 Players On 3/3 At Grenke
• Day 1: Carlsen On 10/10 As Grenke Chess Festival Takes Off In Karlsruhe
• Carlsen, Keymer, Abdusattorov Headline Massive Grenke Chess Field