Vincent discovers chess
Vincent Keymer was born on November 15, 2004 in Mainz. He grew up in Saulheim, Rheinhessen, and received his first piano lessons at the age of 4.Early tournament successes
Already with his first three tournaments, he qualified as a 6-year-old for the German U10 Championships. His great talent was noticed there and Vincent received his first training. At the same time, he won his first 1st prize in the piano solo category at the Jugend Musiziert competition. In 2014, Vincent became German U10 Champion for the second time at the age of 9, this time with a 100% score. This unusual result earned him a nomination for the U18 national team, with which he became European U18 team champion at the age of 10.
International Master
Vincent earned his first IM norm at the age of 10 at the Pfalz Open. A year later at the Vienna Open, he just missed his first GM norm due to a slightly too low opponent average. However, Vincent defeated several grandmasters and a 3rd place with a performance of 2601 Elo brought him the second IM norm. In 2017, at the age of 12, he finished fourth at the German Chess Championship and achieved his 3rd IM norm. He thereby became the youngest German IM.
Vincent becoming a grandmaster
Vincent achieved one of his greatest successes in 2018 when he won the Grenke Chess Open in front of 49 grandmasters with 8/9 points at the age of 13. His performance of 2796 Elo was the highest ever played at that age up to that point and earned him the first GM norm. He achieved the second GM norm 4 months later at the Xtracon Open in Elsinore. After Vincent missed the final GM norm by a hair's breadth several times in the following months, he achieved it at the Grand Swiss on the Isle of Man in 2019 and became the youngest German grandmaster of all time at the age of 14.
Photo: Souleidis
Vincent between final secondary-school examinations and chess
Shortly before reaching the grandmaster title, Vincent entered the upper school of the Nieder-Olm Gymnasium and also had to divide his time between chess and school in the years before his Abitur. So it remained a challenge for him to have enough time for his chess development and to keep up with the other strong chess players of his age from India or Uzbekistan who were already chess professionals. In September 2021, Vincent was runner-up at the European Chess Championship in Reykjavik at the age of 16. Two months later he reached 5th place at the Fide Grand Swiss in Riga as number 65 on the seed list and thus qualified, in a complete surprise, for the Fide Grand Prix to be held at the beginning of 2022.
Photo: Souleidis
Vincent as a chess professional
2022 was a successful year: Vincent won the Challenger tournament at the Prague Chess Festival and the German Masters, in October he reached the 2700 Elo mark for the first time and in December Vincent was runner-up to Magnus Carlsen at the Rapid World Championship. In 2023, Vincent was narrowly eliminated from the World Cup after winning his first game against Magnus Carlsen and missed out on a victory in Biel in the last round, but consistently strong performances saw him rise to 12th place in the world rankings.
Photo: Ootes
