Career
Hempel showed remarkable aptitude for the game at a young age - by age three she could watch a game of chess and replay it from memory, and by age four she was playing competitively at the Youth Center in Flensburg. By the age of five, Hempel was the top junior player in Flensburg. On her sixth birthday, Hempel performed the impressive feat of scoring 9.5-2.5 in a four-hour simultaneous exhibition.
She also played six games of simultaneous blindfold chess.
When she was eight years old, Hempel continued to give simultaneous exhibitions, some of which were broadcast on television As an adult, Hempel attended business school in Kiel and worked for a bank for a time.