The holiday resort of Cappelle-la-Grande (population 8,000) is located a few kilometres south of Dunkirk on the French North Sea coast, not far from the border with Belgium.
The Open was first organised in 1985 and is the largest chess tournament in France with up to 600 participants.
Over 500 amateurs and professionals took part in this year's Cappelle la Grande Open, which celebrated an impressive 40th anniversary from 2 to 8 March.
The tournament was played over nine rounds according to the Swiss system with a time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves and 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds/move. The prize pot amounted to 12,000 euros, of which 2,000 euros went to the winner.
Almost 20 grandmasters took part, of whom Abhimanyu Puranik from India topped the starting list with a 2618 rating.
Abhimanyu Puranik lived up to his role as favourite and won the tournament with 7½ points and a better tiebreak score than Lorenzo Lodici.
After four rounds, three players still had a perfect score: GM Abhimanyu Puranik (India, 2618), IM Anatole Vlachos (Greece, 2479) and IM Alberto Barp (Italy, 2449).
In round 5, Puranik managed yet another win, against Anatole Vlachos. After three draws, the Indian scored a win over Ryosuke Nanjo from Japan in the final round.
Lorenzo Lodici achieved the same number of points by beating Gopal. Alberto Barp also had a good chance of winning the tournament before the final round. However, he lost his last game against Allessio Valsecchi and finished in third place with the best tiebreak score among the players with 7 points.
Of the almost 520 players, the host country counted with 330 representatives. Over 100 chess enthusiasts from nearby Belgium made the journey to the neighbouring country.
| Pl | Nom | Elo | Cat. | Pts | Tr. | Perf | Bu. | |
| 1 | g | PURANIK Abhimanyu | 2618 F | SenM | 7½ | 46½ | 2686 | 57½ |
| 2 | g | LODICI Lorenzo | 2558 F | SenM | 7½ | 44 | 2613 | 53½ |
| 3 | m | BARP Alberto | 2449 F | SenM | 7 | 48 | 2623 | 59 |
| 4 | m | LAMARD Guillaume | 2483 F | SenM | 7 | 46 | 2574 | 57 |
| 5 | g | IDANI Pouya | 2609 F | SenM | 7 | 44 | 2561 | 55 |
| 6 | m | TARHAN Adar | 2432 F | CadM | 7 | 43½ | 2544 | 53½ |
| 7 | g | PACHER Milan | 2393 F | SenM | 7 | 43 | 2506 | 52½ |
| 8 | g | VALSECCHI Alessio | 2490 F | SenM | 7 | 42 | 2511 | 52 |
| 9 | m | BOYER Mahel | 2415 F | JunM | 7 | 42 | 2503 | 52½ |
| 10 | m | EUGENE Floryan | 2422 F | SenM | 7 | 41 | 2381 | 50½ |
| 11 | f | KANOV Nikola | 2424 F | CadM | 7 | 39½ | 2388 | 49½ |
| 12 | m | NANJO Ryosuke | 2346 F | SenM | 6½ | 44½ | 2478 | 53½ |
| 13 | m | BOGDANOV Egor | 2409 F | SenM | 6½ | 43½ | 2359 | 53½ |
| 14 | g | DEGRAEVE Jean-Marc | 2455 F | SepM | 6½ | 43 | 2445 | 53½ |
| 15 | m | LUCAS Arthur | 2341 F | SenM | 6½ | 43 | 2388 | 53 |
| 16 | g | FIRAT Burak | 2439 F | SenM | 6½ | 42½ | 2394 | 52 |
| 17 | f | SAMANI Yamac | 2378 F | SenM | 6½ | 42½ | 2362 | 51½ |
| 18 | m | GIREL Joseph | 2486 F | JunM | 6½ | 42 | 2415 | 52½ |
| 19 | g | NIKOLOV Momchil | 2453 F | SenM | 6½ | 42 | 2397 | 51½ |
| 20 | g | RIFF Jean-Noel | 2401 F | SenM | 6½ | 41½ | 2406 | 51½ |
