Hikaru Nakamura wins Cap d'Agde

Eighth Cap d'Agde Rapid Chess Tournament

This event took place from October 26 to November 1 2008 in Cap d'Agde, a seaside resort belonging to the town of Agde. It is one of the largest leisure ports on the French Mediterranean. The event was a closed rapid chess tournament in two groups, with the winners playing in quarter-finals, semi-finals and then finals.

As previously reported the following eight players qualified for the second stage of the tournament.

The quarter-finals

The semi-finals

US grandmaster Nakamura knocked out the 12th World Champions in the semis

Vassily Ivanchuk vs Magnus Carlsen in the semi-finals (Ivanchuk won)

The finals

Hikaru Nakamura faces Vassily Ivanchuk in the final

Nakamura,Hikaru (2704) - Ivanchuk,Vassily (2786) [E15]
Trophee CCAS FRA Finale Cap Agde FRA (14.2), 01.11.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qc2 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Bg2 0-0 8.0-0 c6 9.Bf4 d5 10.Nbd2 Nbd7 11.Rfc1 c5 12.Qa4 Bb7 13.Ne5 cxd4 14.cxd5 Nxe5 15.Bxe5 Bxd5 16.Qxd4 Bc5 17.Bxf6 Bxd4 18.Bxd8 Rfxd8 19.Bxd5 Rxd5 20.Rc2 Rad8 21.Rac1 h6 22.Nf3 Bf6 23.e4 R5d7 24.b3 g5 25.h3 Kg7 26.Kf1 Bd4 27.b4 Bf6 28.Ke2 h5 29.g4 hxg4 30.hxg4 Be7 31.a3 a5 32.bxa5 bxa5 33.a4 Bd6 34.Rd1 Be7 35.Rxd7 Rxd7 36.Ne5 Rd4 37.Rc4

At this point Black decides to trade rooks and finds himself in an endgame that Nakamura wins convincingly: 37...Rxc4 38.Nxc4 Bb4 39.Ne5 Bc3 40.Nc6 f5 41.Kd3 Be1 42.f3 Kf6 43.Kc4 fxe4 44.fxe4 Bd2 45.e5+ Kf7 46.Kc5 Ke8 47.Kd6 Kf7 48.Nd8+ Ke8 49.Nxe6 Bb4+ 50.Kd5 Bd2 51.Ke4 Ke7 1-0.

Video reports from Europe Echecs

All videos and pictures by courtesy of the French chess magazine Europe Echecs

Links Official Cap d'Agde web site All games in PGN Europe Echecs web site The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse the PGN games.