Event Dispatch: Taking On a Chess Champion
MBA-MPH student Justin Kim ’26 played in a simultaneous chess exhibition against Vincent Keymer, one of the highest-rated players in the world. Photos by Keshan Chen ’27.
In this series, students answer quickfire questions about events across campus.
Event: Chess Simul with Vincent Keymer
Host: Program on Entrepreneurship
Location: Snyder Forum, Evans Hall
Date: April 21, 2026
What was the event? There were three parts to the event. First, there was a conversation with the founder of BASILISK, an esports company that sponsors players in games like chess and StarCraft II. Next, a grandmaster from Yale College played against Vincent Keymer, a member of BASILISK and one of the best chess players in the world. Afterwards, Keymer played a simultaneous exhibition with 15 lower-rated players.
Who showed up? For the simul, there were around 10 SOM students, three undergrads, and a couple staff and faculty members. There were also—I want to say 50 people in the audience? To be honest, I wasn’t paying a ton of attention because I was so focused on my game.
What happened? Vincent Keymer played against all of us simultaneously. Keymer was virtual, but the rest of us were in person at Evans. Skill levels ranged considerably. There were some people who were absolute beginners, and some who were master-level. I’d consider myself pretty solidly intermediate.
Best moment? To prepare for the event, I played one to two hours of chess every day for a couple weeks. I memorized a few different opening sequences—these are called “lines” in chess—and my goal was basically to not mess up the beginning. Vincent walked right into one of these sequences, so I had the first 12 moves totally memorized! I played perfectly up until that point. After that, my goal was to hold on for as long as I could. I played pretty solidly up until 25 moves.
Who should go next time? I think this is a great event for everyone—whether you play chess, are trying to learn, or have no idea how to play. A bunch of my friends came to support me because they saw how hard I was preparing for it. Most of them didn’t even know the rules of the game, but they found the event interesting and exciting anyway. It was really helpful that, for this chess simul, they had evaluation bars for each game, so you could tell who was winning.
