• World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and Germany’s top player Vincent Keymer come to Baden
  • Premiere of an innovative freestyle tournament format in Karlsruhe
  • Winner qualifies for the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam tournament in New York in July


Baden-Baden, 13 February 2025: Karlsruhe will once again become a Mecca for chess over the Easter holidays in 2025. From 17 to 21 April, two open tournaments will take place in the Residence of Justice. A classical chess tournament and an innovative freestyle chess tournament in which the starting position of the pieces is determined by a draw. This simplifies the tournament format from now on.

Until now, the well-known freestyle chess tournaments have been played by a small group of the world's best players. The organisers, the Baden-Baden Chess Centre, are now opening up this format to everyone, with the world's best taking part at the same time. The world's strongest player, Magnus Carlsen, will play in the grenke Freestyle Chess Open, which is open to everyone. The total prize money for the grenke Chess Open and the grenke Freestyle Chess Open is EUR 295,000. This has been made possible by another sponsor, Freestyle Chess Operations GmbH.

The winner of the grenke Freestyle Chess Open will qualify for the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tournament in New York City from 17 to 24 July 2025. If the winner is already qualified, the highest ranked player of the grenke Freestyle Chess Open who has not yet qualified will receive this place, regardless of ELO rating. Karlsruhe will thus have the same weighting as Paris, New York and Delhi, giving everyone the opportunity to take part in a Freestyle Grand Slam tournament with the world's best chess players.

Dr Sebastian Hirsch, CEO of grenke AG: “grenke has been passionately committed to chess for decades. We invite the international chess elite to our region, bring them together and offer the winner a trip to New York. We are proud of the diversity and quality of the field and wish all the players a successful tournament. I recommend everyone to come along, because the new grenke Chess Festival offers chess enthusiasts and the curious an unforgettable experience in Karlsruhe.”

In 2024, the grenke Chess Open was the largest open chess tournament in the world. Around 2,600 chess enthusiasts, 30 per cent more than in 2019, and 300 titleholders from 55 nations came to Karlsruhe. At the same time, the world's top grandmasters competed in a tournament featuring the world's top player, Magnus Carlsen, the 2023 Chinese World Champion, Ding Liren, and Germany's youngest grandmaster and first German Super Grandmaster, Vincent Keymer.

If you want to watch the pros live over Easter, you are welcome to attend the event in Karlsruhe's Schwarzwaldhalle for free, or watch online at any time. The videos on the grenke chess YouTube channel received over 12 million views last year, and the live broadcasts on YouTube and Twitch received over 1.25 million views.

More information at www.grenkechessopen.de