Vincent Keymer barged into the world’s top 10 ranking spots in the FIDE live ratings that are updated in real time on Wednesday after his victory in 39 moves with black pieces against Awonder Liang, the Cinderella story of the Chennai Grand Masters tournament. The win also helped Keymer put daylight between him and his pursuers — India’s Arjun Erigaisi and Awonder himself — at the top of the standings as he leads by a 1.5 points with just two more rounds left. Arjun Erigaisi played out a short draw against Anish Giri, which he explained was forced partially because he was under the weather coming into the game.
Keymer, who helped Gukesh become the world champion last year as part of the Indian teen’s team, has played some pragmatic chess in Chennai. After defeating three players who were rated below the 2700 mark in the first three games (Nihal Sarin, Pranav V and Karthikeyan Murali), Keymer played out draws against the strongest men in the event, Anish Giri, Vidit Gujrathi and Arjun. Then, finding himself taking on Awonder in the seventh round, he struck again.
It was a result that Awonder saw coming. A day before he sat across the table to take on tournament leader Keymer, the American grandmaster with one of the cheeriest dispositions in the sport, had a grim take on his chances the next day against the German GM. Having breached the 2700 rating threshold for the first time in his career, Awonder said he was suddenly feeling a sharp stab of pressure to keep his rating stable at that mark.
INTERACTIVE: How Vincent Keymer defeated Awonder Liang
That pressure, he felt, could hurt him and cost him the game against tournament leader Keymer, he prophesied.
Awonder’s prediction came true on Wednesday. Awonder had told Chessbase after the previous round how he was riding the wave of his unpredictability in Chennai: because he usually plays in open tournaments, his openings are slightly different — “weaker” was the term he used — than what his opponents had been expecting at Chennai. But with six rounds behind them, the element of surprise was gone.
Keymer took a healthy edge in the game from the 19th move itself, a blunder by his opponent. Soon, by the 29th move, Keymer was up a rook in return for two less pawns, a sizable material advantage besides the edge on the board. He converted that advantage into victory without breaking into sweat.
For Awonder, it was only his second defeat of the tournament.
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For Keymer, who has already won a Freestyle Chess event earlier in the year, even a simple draw on Thursday will be enough.
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