Carlsen left frustrated with playing conditions at Grenke after draw against Keymer: 'Felt like no oxygen was getting to my head'

World number one Magnus Carlsen was not happy with the playing conditions at the Grenke Chess Freestyle Open where he had to settle for a draw against Vincent Keymer on the penultimate day of the tournament on Sunday.

Carlsen drew against Russian Grandmaster Alexey Sarana early in the day and then had to repeat the same result against German Grandmaster Keymer. The draw helped Keymer maintain his lead at the top of the standings in Grenke. Before the draw, he had defeated Hans Niemann to take the lead.

Carlsen frustrated with Grenke weather

The Norwegian was up a pawn when he shook hands with Keymer. The evaluation bar considered it an equal position at the time of the draw. The German had put Carlsen under pressure in parts of the game but the world number one did miss a chance to win late in the match.

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Carlsen complained after the result that the temperature inside the playing hall was too high for him.

Commenting to the Norwegian channel TV2, Carlsen said: “Now it's sunny outside, and it’s f*****g one million degrees in the playing hall. It didn’t feel like there was any oxygen getting to my head at all."

He said that due to the conditions, he even considered resigning from the game at one point.

"I’m insanely lucky I didn’t lose the game. At one point, I even considered just resigning because I was so damn fed up," Carlsen said.

Keymer led the field with 6.5 points with two rounds remaining, both of which take place on the final day of the tournament on Monday. Russia's Sarana, India's V Pranav and France's Maxime Vachier-Lagrave were half-a-point behind Keymer. Carlsen was joint third with nine more competitors.

The Grenke Chess Freestyle Open serves as a qualifier for the FIDE Freestyle Women's Chess World Championship 2026 and the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship 2027. It is a nine-round Swiss with a time control of 90+30 for the entire game, with a prize fund of over 200,000 euros.