Henri Rinck Championship in Lyon

by ChessBase
4/6/2026 – Lyon Olympique Échecs, founded in 1905, is one of the largest chess clubs in France. From 8–19 April 2026 they are staging the Henri Rinck International Chess Championships. If you are able to attend, you can explore the 600m² club, which is like a chess museum. For those who can't, here are visual impressions of the club and some of the remarkable collections it houses.
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The Henri Rinck International Chess Championships takes place in Lyon' historic chess club, 5, Place du Marché, 69009 Lyon (Metro Line D, Valmy stop) from April 8-19, 2026. The press conference is scheduled for Thursday, 9th April, from 5 pm to 6 pm, and will be followed by simultaneous exhibitions from 6.15 pm to 8.30 pm, featuring champions from Sport Etude Echecs and ECAM LaSalle, Lyon campus.

Lyon Olympique Échecs celebrated its 120th anniversary in 2025, and currently has over 950 members – active adults ranging from ordinary employees to business executives, pensioners, young people from one of the 86 schools they work with, not to mention our international partners, clubs in India, China, Armenia, Germany, Italy, covering 21 countries across Europe and the world.

In the first tournament, 140 players from 14 nations have already registered. There are three tournaments: slow, rapid and blitz games. Over the twelve days there will be outdoor sessions with simultaneous exhibitions against champions, including the three-time French champion GM Christian Bauer, chess music and painting courses. On April 15 at 8.00 pm there will be an awards ceremony in the presence of Henri Rinck’s family.

Henri Rinck (1870–1952) was a legendary French chess composer and chemist, widely considered one of the founding fathers of the modern endgame study. He was incredibly prolific, publishing roughly 1,670 endgame studies during his career. He was a master of "light" positions (few pieces) and was particularly renowned for his studies involving two rooks.

Rinck remained dedicated to chess until the very end; he was famously buried with a copy of his final collection, 1414 fins de partie, tucked under his arm.

Pictorial impressions of Lyon Olympique Échecs

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60m The Two Knights

This entry into the 60 minutes series concentrates on the Modern variation of the Italian game where White opens the centre early : 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 d4 exd4 5 e5!. This line can be reached by various move orders, most frequently from the Scotch 3 d4 exd4 4 Bc4. It's a sharp variation and Grandmasters such as Evgeny Sveshnikov have used it frequently,with very good results. It's a perfect line for club players to adopt which is relatively easy to learn and which contains many traps. All the main responses are covered here, including 5...d5, 5...Ng4 and 5...Ne4 and the conclusion is that is is difficult for Black to equalize in a straightforward way. Problems are being posed, which over the board might prove tough to solve.