Vincent Keymer commented on Magnus Carlsen’s recent performance. Keymer believes that Magnus can still perform at a highest level, and thinks that Carlsen relies too much on his class.

Vincent Keymer

Vincent Keymer

Germany's No. 1

“I still think that Magnus is an extremely strong player. And I do believe that if he put more focus and work back into chess, he could still perform at an extremely high level.

What we see now is that, I guess, he’s a bit out of practice. He doesn’t work on chess as much and fully relies on his class. Even though there’s a lot of class to display, it’s not always enough to play so well.

I guess that’s the reason that I’m seeing, but of course I could be wrong about that.”

Magnus Carlsen finished 4th at Norway Chess 2026, losing 4 games and winning 3. At the FIDE World Rapid Team Chess Championship 2026, Carlsen lost 4 games in a row, lost 28.8 points in the live Rapid rating, and dropped to 2803.2. Carlsen currently has the lowest rating since FIDE introduced Rapid ratings in 2012.

Credit: Lennart Ootes