This Saturday, April 23rd at 3pm CEST, 17-year-old German No. 1 Vincent Keymer plays Banter Blitz here on chess24. FM Yosha Iglesias takes the opportunity to look back at his five most remarkable victories.

Vincent will accept challenges from our Premium members — anyone can watch him commenting on his games

Vincent Keymer made a name for himself in the public eye by winning the 2018 Grenke Chess Open ahead of 49 GMs, including four 2700+ players! Then only a 13-year-old International Master, the wunderkind won the tournament to the delight of his fans and his coach Peter Leko, himself one of the greatest prodigies in chess history.

The most impressive performance by a 13 yo? Replay the games

Since then, his progress has been constant. At 17, Vincent is now German n°1 and the 5th best Junior in the World.

Let's take a look at his five most impressive wins!

For those of you who prefer watching videos over reading, I also show these five amazing wins in this video on my new channel.

N°5 Keymer vs. Martirosyan, 2021

Haik Martirosyan has just played 37...Rf6, threatening Bxb4, and not only that... 38.Rxc4! Bf5!

Did Vincent just blunder? After both 39.Qe5 or 39.Qf4, Black wins the queen with 39...Bd6!
Nope, Keymer had planned 39.Rxc7! and after 39...Bxe4 40.Nxe4 White has a rook, a knight, a pawn, and a devastating attack that more than compensates for the queen!

There followed 40...Rg6 41.Bf7 Rg7 42. Rc8 Qe7 43. Bd5 Qb4 

Here Vincent played the nice interception 44.Nc5! and Martirosyan resigned on move 47. 

N°4 Keymer vs. Giri, 2022

Keymer finished in the Top 8 of the 2022 Airthings Masters Prelims, partly thanks to this crushing victory over Anish Giri! 22.Rxf7! was very tempting, but Vincent had to foresee a nice point after 22...Kxf7 23.Rf1+ Nf5 24.Rxf5+ Kg8

Black is up an exchange and might seem out of danger, but Vincent unleashed the nice 25.Ng6! threatening, among other things, 26.Rxf8+ Rxf8 27.Ne7+. Poor Anish defended as he could, but a few moves later, Vincent had a nice mating combination.

30.Qg6+ Kg8 31.Nf7 Qe8 32.Nxh6+ Kh8 33.Nf7+ Kg8 34.Rh5 Rxf7 35.Qh7+

And Anish finally resigned, just one move before mate!

N°3 Rapport vs. Keymer, 2018

It's the last round of the 3rd Grenke Chess Open. Whoever wins this game wins the tournament. What seems like a wild opposite-side castling game is, in fact, a wild same-side castling game, after Vincent's king had to run from g8 to a8! With his king finally safe, Black should be winning, but White has three pawns for the sacrificed piece. 43...Bxh3! Now it's only two pawns, as 44.gxh3 Rxh3 45.Rh2 Rg3 is hopeless.

Richie tried 44.Kg1 Rg7 45.Nh4 Rxf2 46.Kxf2

Vincent played the most convincing continuation: 46...Rxg2+! 47.Nxg2 Qxg2+ 48.Ke1 Qf1+ 49. Kd2 Bg4! 50.Qe8+ Ka7 51.Qxa4

The queen has just captured the knight and protected d1, but it's all over after 51...Qf2+! and Richie resigned! What a performance by the 13-year-old German!

N°2 Keymer vs. Gelfand, 2018

Facing the 2012 World Championship Challenger, Vincent first played the nice intermezzo 38.Nxb4! and after 38...Qe6, he sacced his queen with 39.Qxd8+! Bxd8 40.Rxd8+ Kg7 41.Bd4

The material balance recalls the game against Martirosyan that we just saw. After 41...Kh6 42.g4 Nd7 43.Nd5 f5 44.Rh8 fxe4 Vincent added a nice final touch to his masterpiece.

After 44.h4?? Ne5 Black's king escapes via g7, but 44.f4! does the trick! As it's mate after 45...Qxd5 46.g5 Kh5 47.Rxh7#, Boris tried 45...Nf8, but this did not prevent the mate after 46.g5+ Kh5 47.Nf6+ Kh4 48.Nxh7 e3+ 49.Bxe3

And the legendary player from Israel had to resign!

N°1 Keymer vs. Meier, 2019

Vincent lost his four first rounds of his first super tournament, the Grenke Chess Classic, including a game against Magnus Carlsen where the German was winning at some point. But in the 5th round Vincent showed his class by winning a magnificent endgame against Georg Meier!

52.Qb8+ starts a study-like maneuver to bring the queen closer. Black can't play 52...Kh1 as 53.Qh8! would win. There followed: 52...Kh3 53.Qc8+ Kh2 54.Qc7+ Kh3 55.Qd7+ Kh2 56.Qd6+ Kh3 57.Qe6+ Kh2 58.Qe5+ Kh3

Here Vincent spent 28 minutes calculating the next 16 moves!
59.Qe1! c4! 

60.b4!! avoiding 60.bxc4?? g1=Q 61.Qxg1 stalemate!

60...c3 61.Kc6 c2 62.Qc1 Kh2 63.Qxc2 Kh3 64.Qd3+ Kh2 65.Qe2 Kh3 66.Qe3+ Kh2 67.Qf2 h3 68.b5 Kh1 69.Qg3 h2 70.Qf3 Kg1 71.Qe3+ Kf1 72.Qf4+ Kg1 73.b6 h1=Q 74.b7 

The players have reached the position that Keymer had foreseen 16 moves ago — Black can't prevent White from queening! Georg resigned after 74...Qh7 75.b8=Q  Kh1 76.Qf3 Qc2+ 77.Kd5 Qd2+ 78.Ke4 Qc2+ 79.Ke5 Qc5+ 80.Kf6 Qd4+ 81.Kg6

What was your favorite win? And did I forget a brilliancy? Let me know in the comments!

And don't miss Vincent's Banter Blitz.

See also:

• Vincent Keymer Banter Blitz Saturday, April 23rd at 5 pm CES
• Yosha Iglesias' YouTube Channel