Freestyling in style, Keymer captures Chess960 inaugural event

​German GM Martin Keymer was Freestyling in style, successively defeating the world’s two highest-rated players to capture the inaugural event of the new Freestyle Grand Slam in Wangels, Germany, last week.

Keymer upset former world champion Magnus Carlsen, still the world’s top-rated player, in the semifinal knockout match and then dismissed American world No. 2 GM Fabiano Caruana in the finals to take home the $200,000 first prize, in the first of four planned Freestyle Grand Slam events this year. The games are played in the Chess960 or “Fischer Random” format, with both White and Black playing the same randomly selected array of shuffled pieces on the back rank and specialized rules for castling.

For elite players who must memorize reams and reams of opening theory just to stay competitive in classical chess, Chess 960, with its capricious relocating of knights, rooks, bishops and queens, takes both players out of the books virtually from the first move and allows them to just “play chess” right from the start. Whether the format will catch on for us lesser players, for whom the game’s riches seem inexhaustible just the way it has already been played, is another question.

Still, give the young German GM credit for taking it to his higher-rated opponents in the format, adjusting to the novelty of the opening position with aplomb.

For his win over Carlsen in the semifinals, you have to set up the pieces as in today’s diagram, and under the Chess 960 rules, Carlsen’s 4…0-0-0 puts the Black king on c8 and Black queen’s rook on d8. The four knights wind up in the four corners of the board, posing early developmental challenges for both players.

White eschews castling and by 12. Bd2 Kb8 13. Be3, the players have reached a relatively “normal” position, with Keymer having a slight edge with more space and better-placed pieces. White doesn’t sit on his advantage, taking the play to his famed opponent on 25. Qc4 Rc8 (Qxh2? 26. a4 Nd4 27. Nxb7! gets Black into big trouble; e.g. 27…Rd7 28. Nc5 Rd6 29. Qb4+ Rb6 30. Nxa6+ Ka7 31. Rxc7+ Kxa6 32. Qc4+ Ka5 33. Ra7+ Ra6 34. Rxa6 mate) 26. a4 Nd5 27. g5!, when White would have a winning attack after 27…fxg5 28. Rxd4 exd4 29. e5 Rdd8 30. Qb4 b6 31. Nxa6+ Kb7 32. Qb5.

Although White does miss one powerful shot — 33. Rf7! (instead of the game’s 33. Qc3!?) Qxh2 34. R1f2 Qh6 35. Rxc7 g3 36. Rff7 puts Black in a world of hurt — one gets the sense that Carlsen is fighting constantly uphill just to stay in the fight. The strain may have led to the game’s decisive mistake.

Thus: 35. Rff2 Rd6?! (not losing, but Black more easily holds the balance with 35…Nd4) 35. Rff2 (White covers his weaknesses while setting up annoying tactical threats) Ka8 (again, 35…Nd4 37. Nd3 Re8 38. Nxe5 c5 was a better course) 37. Ne6 c6? (a genuine miscalculation this time; 37…Kb8 keeps it a game) 38. Qa3!, attacking the loose rook, with both 38…Rd7 39. Nf8 and 38…Qd7 39. Rxf3 losing material for Black. Carlsen  tries 38…Rxe6 39. dxe6 Rc8, but resigns before seeing White’s reply as he has no compensation for his material deficit after lines like 40. Rxg4 Nd4 41. Rf8 Qc7 42. Rgg8 Rxf8 43. Qxf8+ Ka7 44. e7 and wins.

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In a month where we celebrate the achievements of notable Black Americans comes the sad news that IM Stephen Muhammad passed away late last year at the age of 62. A five-time Georgia state champion and an occasional competitor in tournaments here in the DMV, Muhammad boasted a peak rating of 2461 and was only the second African-American — after GM Maurice Ashley — to qualify for the U.S. national championship tournament, scoring a highly respectable 5-4 in the 2003 event.

Before retiring from tournament play in 2007, Muhammad defeated a number of notable grandmasters during his long career, notching several notable scalps during his multiple forays to the World Open tournament in Philadelphia. He took a full point off three-time U.S. champion GM Larry Christiansen at the 2003 World Open, capitalizing on an unfortunate placing of his opponent’s queen.

Things go sideways for Black early in this Queen’s Indian on 13. Qd2 Qd6? (either 13…a4 or 13…Ne7 is better here; the grandmaster is unwittingly building a prison cell for his own queen with this awkward developing idea) 14. Rfd1 Rfd8? (effectively closing the cell door; 14…dxc4 15. bxc4 Rfe8 is still playable) 15. Ne5! Bxg2 16. c5! (Kxg2?! Ne7 17. e3 Nd7 is far less impressive), and suddenly, any queen retreat just hangs the knight on c6.

Black takes his medicine with 17…Qxe5 (Qf8 18. Nxc6 Be4 19. bxf6 gxf6 20. Nxd8 Qxd8 21. c6 Ra8 22. f3 Bg6 23. e4, and Black has no counterplay and no compensation for the lost exchange) 18. Bxe5 Nxe5 19. Kxg2 Nc6 20. a3 Rb8; White is objectively winning with a queen for just two minor pieces, but he must be careful — rooks and knights are fiendishly good at setting up unbreachable fortresses and the game still must be won.

With 27. Rd4 h6 28. Rxb4! Rxb4 29. Qc7 Rxb3 30. Qxc6, White gives back a little material to activate his queen and — more important — create a second passed pawn on the queenside. A nice touch is 33. Ra1 Nf6 34. Qb7! Ne8 (Rxb7 35. axb7 Rb8 36. Ra8 Nd7 37. c6 wins) 35. c6!, when the White queen is again immune because of 35…Rxb7 36. cxb7 Rb8 37. a7.

Christiansen puts up a valiant fight to hold back the passed pawns, only to find his king is vulnerable on the other side of the board. Once the White king joins the attack, there proves to be no defense: 43. Qxe6 R8a7 44. Kf3 g6 45. Kf4 Kh6 46. Qd6 Ra4+ 47. Ke5 Ra8 48. Kf6 R4a6, and Black resigned before White could administer the coup de grace: 49. Qf4+ Kh7 50. Qc7+, and any Black king move is met by 51. Qg7 mate.

The Chess Drum’s Dr. Daaim Shabazz has a nice appreciation of Muhammad’s pioneering life and career at https://thechessdrum.net/blog/2025/02/09/stephen-muhammad-pioneering-international-master-1962-2024/.

(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)

Keymer-Carlson, Freestyle Grand Slam Weissenhaus 2025, Wangels, Germany, February 2025

1. g4 Ng6 2. Nb3 e5 3. Ng3 f6 4. c4 O-O-O 5. d4 Nb6 6. d5 d6 7. Bf5+ Bd7 8. f3 a6 9. e4 Nf4 10. Bxd7+ Rxd7 11. Kc2 Ba7 12. Bd2 Kb8 13. Be3 Nh3 14. Qg2 Nf4 15. Qf2 h5 16. Rfd1 hxg4 17. fxg4 Nc8 18. c5 dxc5 19. Bxc5 g6 20. Bxa7+ Nxa7 21. Kb1 Qh7 22. Nc5 Rd6 23. Ne2 Nxe2 24. Qxe2 Nb5 25. Qc4 Rc8 26. a4 Nd4 27. g5 Rcd8 28. gxf6 Rxf6 29. Rf1 Rb6 30. Rf2 g5 31. Ka2 Ka7 32. Rcf1 g4 33. Qc3 Nf3 34. Rg2 Rg8 35. Rff2 Rd6 36. Qe3 Ka8 37. Ne6 c6 38. Qa3 Rxe6 39. dxe6 Rc8 and Black resigns.

Muhammad-Christiansen, 31st World Open, Philadelphia, June 2003

1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 a5 5. g3 b6 6. Bg2 Bb7 7. O-O O-O 8. Nc3  Bxc3 9. Bxc3 Be4 10. Rc1 d5 11. b3 Nc6 12. Bb2 Rc8 13. Qd2 Qd6 14. Rfd1 Rfd8  15. Ne5 Bxg2 16. c5 bxc5 17. dxc5 Qxe5 18. Bxe5 Nxe5 19. Kxg2 Nc6 20. a3 Rb8  21. Rb1 Rb5 22. Qd3 Rdb8 23. a4 R5b7 24. Qa6 Nb4 25. Qxa5 Ne4 26. Rbc1 c6 27.  Rd4 h6 28. Rxb4 Rxb4 29. Qc7 Rxb3 30. Qxc6 R3b7 31. a5 Ra7 32. a6 Rba8 33. Ra1  Nf6 34. Qb7 Ne8 35. c6 h5 36. Kf3 Kh7 37. h3 Nd6 38. Qb4 Nc4 39. Kg2 f5 40. Rc1  Rxa6 41. Rxc4 dxc4 42. Qxc4 Ra5 43. Qxe6 R8a7 44. Kf3 g6 45. Kf4 Kh6 46. Qd6  Ra4+ 47. Ke5 Ra8 48. Kf6 R4a6 and Black resigns.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.