The Grenke Chess Festival is an annual chess event held in the German cities of Karlsruhe and Baden-Baden and sponsored by Grenke AG. The Grenke Chess Classic was a strong closed tournament first held in 2013, which featured many of the world's top players. Since 2016, an Open tournament has been held concurrently, with the winner qualifying for the subsequent Classic tournament. In 2020, the Festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It returned in 2024 after a five-year hiatus, with the Classic tournament featuring a new rapid time control (45+10). In 2025, the Classic tournament was discontinued, and a new Grenke Freestyle Chess Open was announced in partnership with the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. In 2026, the Freestyle Open became a qualification path for the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship, following the discontinuation of the Grand Slam Tour.
