2013 Classic Six players participated in the first edition of Grenke Chess. The winner was
Viswanathan Anand ahead of
Fabiano Caruana; they scored 6.5 and 6 out of 10, respectively. :
2014 Classic Arkadij Naiditsch, the highest-rated German chess player, won the 2014 edition of Grenke Chess Classic ahead of
David Baramidze. This edition was not a supertournament, but rather a national competition; all eight participants were German. It was a single
Round-robin tournament, and two spots were provided for the players to win entry into the next edition of 2015. :
2015 Classic The tournament was played between 2–9 February 2015. With an average rating of 2752, it was the strongest edition of Grenke Chess in its history. Among the participants were
Magnus Carlsen,
Fabiano Caruana,
Viswanathan Anand and
Levon Aronian. The winner was
Magnus Carlsen, who eventually won a five-game tiebreak with
Arkadij Naiditsch with a score of 3–2 (two rapid, two blitz and one armageddon game). : ; Notes • Final rapid/blitz/armageddon tie-break:
Magnus Carlsen def.
Arkadij Naiditsch, 3–2. • FIDE Ratings as of February 2015.
2016 Open The 2016 open tournament (section A) was won by
Matthias Blübaum with a score of 7½/9. Blübaum thus qualified for the Grenke Chess Classic 2017.
2017 Classic The 2017 tournament took place from 15 to 22 April in Karlsruhe and Baden-Baden.
Open The 2017 open tournament (section A) was won by
Nikita Vitiugov with a score of 7½/9. He thus qualified for the Grenke Chess Classic 2018.
2018 Classic The tiebreaks were as follows: 1) number of wins; 2) number of black wins; 3) head-to-head.
Open The 2018 open tournament (section A) was won by 13-year-old
IM Vincent Keymer with a score of 8/9, who also achieved a
grandmaster norm in the process. He thus qualified for the Grenke Chess Classic 2019.
2019 Classic Open The 2019 open tournament (section A) was won by
Daniel Fridman with a score of 7½/9. Fridman thus qualified for the next edition of the Grenke Chess Classic, which wasn't held until 2024.
2020–2023 The 2020 edition was cancelled on short notice due to
COVID-19 pandemic, which continued to prevent the event from being held in subsequent years until 2024.
2024 Classic The tournament returned in 2024 after a five-year hiatus. For the first time, the tournament was played in a
rapid time control (45+10) instead of the former classical time control. The format was also changed into a double
round-robin tournament (2 games with reversed colors against each player), followed by playoffs to decide places 1, 3 and 5. Magnus Carlsen won the tournament.
Open The 2024 open tournament (section A) was won by
Hans Niemann with a score of 8/9. Niemann thus qualified for the Grenke Chess Classic 2025. Since that edition was cancelled following the announcement of a new Freestyle open, he was invited to the
Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam to compensate for the lost invite. However, he
later withdrew from that event due to personal reasons.
2025 Freestyle Open The 2025 Freestyle (
Chess960) open tournament (section A) was won by
Magnus Carlsen with a perfect score of 9/9.
Parham Maghsoodloo finished second on tiebreaks and qualified for the
Las Vegas Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, since Carlsen had already qualified.
Open The 2025 regular open tournament (section A) was won by 17-year-old
IM Aswath S with a score of 8/9, who earned his maiden
grandmaster norm in the process.
Open The 2026 regular open tournament (section A) was won by
IM Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov on tiebreaks, who had tied for first with
Dominik Horvath and
Zeng Chongsheng on 8/9. ==References==