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Hans Niemann achieved a peak rating of 2708 in May 2023, but saw his rating falling to 2659 by November. There followed a remarkable showing in Zagreb and a fifty-percent performance in the London Classic to end the year. At the start of 2024, Niemann scored 7/13 at the Tata Steel Challengers before sharing first place with Daniel Dardha in Djerba. All these events left him with a 2676 rating in the official FIDE ranking for March 2024.

At the main section of the Grenke Chess Open, Niemann was the fifth seed, as one of 19 players rated 2600 or above. An outstanding performance with 7 wins and 2 draws saw him grabbing clear first place after winning his final-round game over Velimir Ivic. The result gained the 20-year-old 12.3 rating points, allowing him to climb to 47^th place in the live ratings list with 2688 Elo points to his name.

Niemann entered the final round as one of six co-leaders, and was paired up against Ivic (with the black pieces) on board 3. Draws were seen on the first two boards, which meant the full point obtained by Niemann granted him outright victory.

After obtaining a strategic edge in a queenless position with pairs of bishops for both sides, Niemann showed good technique to obtain his final-round victory.

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Black’s outside passer on the h-file is very strong here, while Ivic’s 37.Rh1 turned out to be too passive going forward. Resignation by the Serbian GM came only six moves later.

Niemann’s victory is likely to gain him an invitation to next year’s Grenke Chess Classic.

Also outstanding was the performance of Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, who scored 7/9 points to become the fourth-youngest grandmaster in history, as he obtained the most prestigious title in chess at the age of 12 years, 9 months and 29 days. The Turkish representative is also the youngest GM in the world at the moment.

After kicking off the event with four consecutive wins against lower-rated opponents, Erdogmus grabbed draws against Abhimanyu Mishra and eventual tournament winner Hans Niemann. The only loss suffered by the youngster was seen in round 8, when he was defeated by top seed Arjun Erigaisi.

Erdogmus came from winning the Jeddah Youth Chess Festival, where he outscored fellow prodigies Volodar Murzin and Raunak Sadhwani in a 10-player single round-robin.

Expert analysis by IM Robert Ris

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Links

• Official website
• Grenke Classic: Magnus caps grand performance with a win (2019)
• Grenke Classic: Caruana clear first after clutch win (2018)
• Grenke Classic: Aronian misses win in exciting finale (2017)