Abhimanyu Puranik wins 40th Cappelle la Grande Open

by André Schulz
3/16/2024 – With more than 500 participants, the Capelle-la-Grande Open is the largest open tournament in France. First held in 1985, it celebrated its 40th edition this year. Indian grandmaster Abhimanyu Puranik won the 9-round Swiss open. Italian grandmaster Lorenzo Lodici collected as many points as the tournament winner, but had a worse tiebreak score. | Photos: Official website

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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.

Puranik, Abhimanyu26181–0Nanjo, Ryosuke2346
40th Cappelle Open 2024
Cappelle-la-Grande08.03.2024[Schulz,A]
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 The Mikenas Variation avoids the Nimzo-Indian Defence. d5 4.cxd5 Ein anderer Weg ist 4.e5 d4 5.exf6 dxc3 6.bxc3 Qxf6 7.d4 e5 7...c5 4...exd5 5.e5 Ne4 6.Nf3 Nc6 The alternative is 6...Bf5 7.Bb5 Be7 8.Qa4 8.0-0 0-0 9.d3 Nxc3 10.bxc3 Bd7 11.Rb1 b6 12.Re1 Na5 13.Bxd7 Qxd7 14.e6 fxe6 15.Qe2 Bf6 16.Ne5 Bxe5 17.Qxe5 Rae8 18.Qg3 c5 19.Qg4 Qf7 20.Rb2 e5 21.Rbe2 e4 22.h4 Re6 23.dxe4 Rxe4 24.Rxe4 Qxf2+ 25.Kh2 dxe4 26.Rxe4 Qf5 27.Qe2 Nc6 28.Re6 Qd5 29.Re8 h6 30.Bf4 Kh7 31.Re3 Kg8 32.Re8 Nd8 33.Bb8 Nc6 34.Bf4 ½-½ Carls,C-Bogoljubow,E GDSB-ch01 (Grossdeutscher SB) (ch-26) Bad Pyrmont 1933 (6) 8...Nc5 Perfectly okay for Black is 8...Nxc3 9.Bxc6+ bxc6 10.Qxc6+ 10.bxc3 10...Bd7 11.Qxc3 0-0= 9.Bxc6+ Kf8 10.Qc2 bxc6 11.d4 Ne6 12.Ne2 12.0-0 c5 13.dxc5 Bxc5 14.Rd1 c6 15.Na4 Be7 16.Qxc6 Bd7 17.Qc2 Rc8 18.Nc3 Bc6 19.Be3 Qc7 20.Rac1 d4 21.Nxd4 Qxe5 22.Nce2 Bb7 23.Qxc8+ Bxc8 24.Rxc8+ 1-0 Bobotsov,M-Kozma,J Reggio Emilia-09 1966/67 (4) 12...c5 13.0-0
With the uncastled black king, White has some advantage. 13...c4 14.Be3 h5 15.Nd2 h4 16.f4 h3 17.g3 g6 18.f5 gxf5 19.Qxf5 Ng5 20.Qg6 Threatens Bxg5 and mate. Rg8 21.Qh6+ Rg7 21...Ke8 22.Qc6+ Bd7 23.Qxd5+- 22.Bxg5 Bxg5 23.Qh8+ Rg8
Time for the decisive blow. 24.Rxf7+ Kxf7 25.Qh7+ Ke6 25...Rg7 26.Rf1++- 26.Qxh3+ Ke7 27.Qh7+ Ke6 28.Rf1 Qe8
28...Be3+ 29.Kh1 Rf8 30.Qg6+ Kd7 31.e6+ Ke7 32.Qg7++- 29.Rf6+ 29.Rf6+ Bxf6 30.Nf4#
1–0

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.

Final standings

Pl Nom Elo Cat. Pts Tr. Perf Bu.
1 g PURANIK Abhimanyu 2618 F SenM 46½ 2686 57½
2 g LODICI Lorenzo 2558 F SenM 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 44½ 2478 53½
13 m BOGDANOV Egor 2409 F SenM 43½ 2359 53½
14 g DEGRAEVE Jean-Marc 2455 F SepM 43 2445 53½
15 m LUCAS Arthur 2341 F SenM 43 2388 53
16 g FIRAT Burak 2439 F SenM 42½ 2394 52
17 f SAMANI Yamac 2378 F SenM 42½ 2362 51½
18 m GIREL Joseph 2486 F JunM 42 2415 52½
19 g NIKOLOV Momchil 2453 F SenM 42 2397 51½
20 g RIFF Jean-Noel 2401 F SenM 41½ 2406 51½

...519 players

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André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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