The GRENKE Chess Festival is easily my favorite event on the calendar, and returning for my third time this year only confirms it. With 3,658 participants in 2026, it has solidified its spot as the world’s largest open tournament. Beyond the scale, what keeps me coming back is the impeccable organization and a vibe you simply won’t find anywhere else.
Comparing this to the 2024 edition, a few changes stood out. I stayed at Motel One through an organizer-provided discount, which was a great call the hotel is just a three-minute walk from the playing hall. I was also pleased to see the introduction was done in both German and English this year, one of my past suggestions to the organizers! Another suggestion is receiving pairings via WhatsApp/SMS, maybe from another edition.
The festival now features six different tournaments: three classical and three Freestyle Chess (Chess960). In Freestyle, pieces on the back rank are randomized, making it impossible to rely on opening preparation. The organizers are pushing this format hard, and the prizes for Freestyle are significantly higher. Each category is based on rating: A for 2000+ Elo, B for under 2000, and C for under 1600. I played in the Classical B Open, which was massive, over 1,500 people in my section alone!
The schedule was grueling: two rounds a day (at 10 AM and 4 PM) with a 90-minute + 30-second increment time control. That’s eight hours of chess a day! I started with a bang, winning my first three games, especially impressive since my second and third opponents were over 100 Elo points stronger than me. However, the intensity caught up in rounds 4 and 5, where I lost to two 1900+ players. I was winning round 5 until a late-game blunder cost me the point. I finished with a solid 4.5/9, and considering 8 of my 9 opponents were rated at least 100 points above me, I was thrilled to gain 15 Elo points.
With a performance rating of 1863, this was my best result since the pandemic. But more importantly, it was a much-needed break. For five days, the rest of the world disappeared, and it was just me and the board.
One funny highlight: the Schwarzwaldhalle venue borders the Karlsruhe Zoo. At one point, people visiting the zoo went from watching animals in cages to peering through the windows at a huge hall where 2,500 people were locked in deep thought over chessboards!
Five years ago, when I played in the Grenke chess tournament, I said to myself that if I had the chance, I would like to return to play this tournament in Karlsruhe. Years passed, and the Grenke Open was canceled until this year because of COVID-19 and some other reasons. This year, it was announced on short notice that the event would happen again. It is impressive what the organizers managed to do in less than two months!
The atmosphere of thousands of people playing chess simultaneously differentiates Grenke Chess Festival from other tournaments worldwide. These people range from the best players to absolute beginners, mainly from Germany and other countries.
At the start of the previous edition of the tournament, there were about 2000 players, but this year, after five years of pause, around 2600 players joined, making Grenke the biggest chess tournament in the world. This happened because the popularity of chess has been rising since the Queen Gambit series.
The festival consists of 4 different tournaments. The classic tournament had only 6 players, among the best in the world. The Open A tournament is open for players with an ELO rating above 2000. The B open is for players below 2000, and the C open is for beginners with less than 1600 ELO FIDE. All the open tournaments were 9 rounds played for 5 days: one round on Thursday, March 28th, and then 2 rounds daily for the next 4 days.
According to some statistics, were 935 players in the A-open, 1177 in the B-open, and 500 in the C-open. One interesting fact is that if the number of rounds is smaller than log2(n) -1, where n is the number of participants, you can end up with more than one player having a maximum number of points at the end of the tournament, which makes it hard to establish a winner. For example, in tournament B, log2 (1177) – 1 > 9 (number of rounds), but fortunately, there was just one winner with 8.5 out of 9.
The main playing hall
I played the B open with an ELO rating of 1857. I scored 5.5 out of 9 games: 5 wins, 1 draw, and 3 losses. Two of my losses were against players above 1900, including the last winner of the B tournament. The third lost game was against a lower-rated player in a completely won material and positional position. I guess I just relaxed too soon and blundered one piece and the game. I ended up at position 244 from 1177, which was better than my initial ranking of 303. As a result, I lost 3 ELO rating points. For comparison, 5 years ago, I was rated 1874 and made 6 points out of 9, losing 9 rating points and finishing 109 out of 797 players. The overall result was better last time, but the rating performance was better this time. This is possible when you play against people with higher ratings.
Overall, I am happy with my result because I don’t spend time preparing for chess.. Five years ago, I was more serious about training and playing than I am now. You can’t make progress in chess if you don’t work on it.
Part of the tournaments B and C area
Some sensation from the tournament was the draw obtained in round 2 by a junior Romanian FIDE master against the 9th player in the world, Arjun Erigaisi ( also the rating favorite of A-open). The winner of the classic chess tournament was Magnus Carlsen, the best player in the world. The winner of the A-open was Hans Moke Niemann, known in the chess world for the trial against Magnus Carlsen.
Some recommendations for people interested in participating in future editions. The playing venue is great, the space and the conditions are perfect. They have wooden boards and pieces for everyone ( they needed more than 1300 boards and pieces this time). The tables are big, the chairs are good, you have enough space during the game. The only downside is the noise. You can’t be silent in an ample open space with more than 1500 simultaneously. This was not a problem for me, but I saw some players wearing earplugs. This recommendation is good for people who can’t focus because of noise. Don’t come to Grenke if this is your first tournament. The reason is that 4 days with double rounds means intensively playing chess for 7-8 hours each day. It may be like running a marathon by an untrained person.
Excellent conditions to play chess in Karlsruhe
I also have some recommendations for the organizers: Send SMS/WhatsApp messages to players with the pairings for the next round. Make some announcements in English, not only in German.
The chess world has changed a lot in the last five years. Now, all the top tournaments have live coverage on YouTube, with Grandmasters covering the games. Recently, players of different strengths have come to play in tournaments with tools, stream their games online, and have someone else comment live on them. For me, this is useful as I can learn more from the games of a 2000 ELO-rated player (close to my level) than I can learn from 2700+ players.
I would happily return to this tournament because of the unique positive vibe and energy.
As in this article, I compared this edition with the one five years ago and chose to end with a song on this theme.
Adrian Matei's blog 
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