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The 14-year old Marc Andria Maurizzi has good chances to become the youngest grandmaster in the history of France. Until now, Etienne Bacrot holds this record. Bacrot was 14 years and two months old when he became Grandmaster. Marc Andria Maurizzi celebrated his 14th birthday on 16 May and would be a few weeks younger if he makes his final grandmaster norm at the tournament in Chartres.
Maurizzi started tournament chess at an early age and in 2017 and 2019 he won the European Youth Championships U10 and U12. When he 12 years and 2 months old, he became an International Master.
But at the GM tournament in Chartres Maurizzi got off to a false start. He drew his first two games and then lost an interesting game against Sophie Milliet – 1 out of 3. Maurizzi now had to get 5.5 points from the remaining six games to reach the 6.5 points necessary for a GM norm.
The first half of the tournament belonged to Sophie Milliet. The number four on the French women's ranking list – behind Marie Sebag, Almira Skripchenko and Pauline Guichard – started the tournament with 3.5/4 but then she lost her momentum. On the third day of play, Milliet recorded one defeat and one win, which was still enough to defend her lead. And on day 4 of the tournament she lost against Victor Stephan and drew against Alberto David.
David, the number one seed, now is ahead of Milliet. And then, of course, there's the young grandmaster-to-be. After his bumpy start, Maurizzi won both of his games on day 3 of the event and on day 4 he repeated this feat. His victims were Glenn Flear and Quentin Loiseau.
In the next round Maurizzi continued in similar fashion.
Power Play 21: A repertoire for black against the Anti-Sicilians
Accept the Morra Gambit with confidence. Tame the Grand Prix Attack. Put fear into the heart of every tedious 2 c3 player. You can make 1...c5 a dangerous weapon whether it's an open or closed Sicilian.
Maurizzi's current rating is 2489 but should he draw against Kamran Shirazi in the final round of the tournament he would have an Elo performance of 2641, and he would gain 15.4 additional rating points – enough to jump the 2500 mark and to get the title.
In the three matches, that are played in parallel to the tournament, all games on day four ended with a draw.
M. Lagarde 2.5-1.5 G. Kamsky
D. Daulyte-Cornette 2.5-1.5 A. Skripchenko
N. Guliyev 3-1 R. Edouard
