News : Vincet Keymer: Germany's new Chess Hope – only 14 and already Grandmaster

For Vincent Keymer, the "wonderful friendship" begins at the age of five. In Hanover, in the second home of his parents, with an inconspicuous plastic wrap. Curious, he pulls her out of a cupboard. The roll becomes a square, he sees 32 white and 32 black fields. Nine years and almost 700 games later, he matured into the greatest German chess talent. Will the boy be Germany's second world champion? Quite possible.

But it is still not so far. Vincent is 14 and goes to high school, after the summer holidays he comes in the 11th grade. On free weekends, he trains up to six hours a day. He learns fast, gets better and better, in his sport he is already a little mental giant. He thinks of chess daily, and friendship has become more.

"I want to let off steam"

"But chess alone is not my life!" Says Vincent Keymer in an interview with the German Press Agency. "There are many other things. Especially the school. But I also need a bit of rest, I want to let off steam, "says the teenager. "Playing football in the garden. Cycle. Of course, chess takes a lot of time - but it's not all life. "

At the age of six he wins the International U8 Championship, at the age of twelve he becomes the youngest international champion Germany has ever had. With the tournament victory at the Grenke Open in Karlsruhe, he confirms his reputation as a talent of the century last year. This year he is once again making headlines in the top tournament: He defeated world champion Magnus Carlsen only after the 81st move - with 6:45 hours his longest match to date.

At the champion of Norway, who is twice his age, Keymer appreciates his "enormous knowledge - very, very blatant". He himself must first "learn a great deal, so that I can think at all and know what I still lack finally".

The largest manikin in Europe

In the U16 ranking of the World Federation FIDE is the teenager from the Rhineland-Palatinate Saulheim the number 6 - in Europe, he is already on the top spot. For the Grandmaster title Keymer still missing a good tournament and the third norm score. His coach is the Hungarian Grandmaster Peter Leko.

Century talents were there again and again, especially in the Russian chess school, but many a child prodigy has then disappeared again. "Of Wunderkind I would not speak, rather of exceptional talent. Vincent is clearly an outstanding young talent, as we have never had, "said Klaus Deventer, Vice President of the German Chess Federation (DSB). "In addition to talent and training, a good environment is part of it: parents, coaches, management. And he has. "At 14 Vincent plays" very serious and serious. But he still has something to add. "

Leisure is still enough for him

The fact that the young man finds the balance between school, chess and free time, between childhood and the public - this is also ensured by the parents. Both are musicians. They do not like to talk about their gifted Filius, shield him and keep his back free. Vincent passed through the middle school in a gifted student development program in three instead of four years. He often travels to tournaments and training camps. The Gymnasium Nieder-Olm is then very generous with exemptions for his most famous student, who sits in the Bundesliga for the chess friends Deizisau on Brett.

Chess is half his life, leisure is enough. "As much as I want, in principle. I can usually regulate that myself, "says Vincent Keymer. Often he swings on his racing bike. "Riding a bike has the great advantage that I can always drive off whenever I want, when I have time." At the time, that was not the case in the football club.

The mysterious slide once turned out to be his first chessboard, that was the beginning, the cornerstone. "A wonderful friendship - yes, you can say that today," says Vincent Keymer. One already suspects that it has long been his great love.