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The two GM norms: IM Quentin Louiseau, who also won the tournament, IM Sagar Shah
For a 2600+ performance you have need two things: consistency and luck. I was lucky enough to play against all the top four seeds of the tournament. Surely, this was a fortunate fact as I could have faced much lower rated opponents. But I also played consistently making three draws and beating Vladimir Burmakin. There were two things that I did differently in this tournament.
I made sure to get away from Facebook and Whatsapp for seven days of the tournament. By not checking the updates and messages it kept my mind free to focus on much more important things and not getting tired by dwelling on what other people have to say.
Before I left my room for the playing hall, I made sure that I would solve ten minutes of tactical problems. Of course there are many books or databases for that, but I really loved working on the new interactive website that ChessBase has come up with. The problems were not too difficult, but that was exactly what I needed. The fact that you earn rating points for every correct move and lose them for incorrect ones keeps you on your toes. As my friend IM K. Ratnakaran from India, once told me, “solving light problems just before the round helps you to avoid tactical mistakes in the first few minutes of the game as you have already got your brain working!”
But of course mistakes are unavoidable no matter how hard you try. But, it is simply an inexplicable feeling when one of your mistakes actually becomes a wonderful concept and helps you win the game! Unable to understand what I just said? Have a look at my second round game of the event.
Pl | Ti. | Nom | Elo | Pts | Tr. | Perf | Bu. |
1 | m | Loiseau Quentin | 2415 | 7 | 45½ | 2644 | 56 |
2 | g | Gharamian Tigran | 2647 | 7 | 45 | 2653 | 56 |
3 | g | Demuth Adrien | 2515 | 7 | 45 | 2602 | 54½ |
4 | g | Chatalbashev Boris | 2541 | 7 | 45 | 2564 | 55½ |
5 | g | Zhigalko Andrey | 2586 | 7 | 43 | 2577 | 52½ |
6 | g | Burmakin Vladimir | 2585 | 7 | 42½ | 2549 | 53 |
7 | f | Martynov Pavel | 2376 | 7 | 40 | 2422 | 47½ |
8 | m | Sagar Shah | 2436 | 6½ | 45½ | 2608 | 55½ |
9 | m | Le Quang Long | 2405 | 6½ | 41½ | 2418 | 50 |
10 | m | Van Foreest Jorden | 2519 | 6½ | 40½ | 2385 | 49½ |
11 | m | Dourerassou Jonathan | 2414 | 6½ | 40 | 2364 | 48 |
12 | m | Bailet Pierre | 2519 | 6 | 45 | 2495 | 55½ |
13 | g | Maiorov Nikita | 2563 | 6 | 43 | 2449 | 53 |
14 | m | Terrieux Kevin | 2439 | 6 | 43 | 2412 | 52 |
15 | g | Karpatchev Aleksandr | 2466 | 6 | 43 | 2411 | 52½ |
16 | g | Naumkin Igor | 2445 | 6 | 43 | 2360 | 53½ |
17 | m | Shirazi Kamran | 2385 | 6 | 42 | 2427 | 51 |
18 | f | Di Nicolantonio Lucas | 2414 | 6 | 41½ | 2401 | 51½ |
19 | g | Manolache Marius | 2498 | 6 | 41½ | 2378 | 49½ |
20 | Midoux Sebastien | 2315 | 6 | 40 | 2303 | 48 | |
21 | Guezennec Franck | 2231 | 6 | 38½ | 2195 | 47½ | |
22 | Van Foreest Lucas | 2312 | 6 | 38 | 2289 | 46 | |
23 | g | Strikovic Aleksa | 2526 | 6 | 37½ | 2329 | 46 |
24 | f | Bannink Bernard | 2267 | 6 | 36½ | 2201 | 44 |
25 | Frederic Clement | 2231 | 6 | 35½ | 2122 | 43 | |
26 | Majhi Ankit | 2178 | 6 | 32 | 2070 | 38 |
Eighth: The author of this report had a great tournament and made his second GM norm
IM Le Quang Long (picture above, with a kibitzer who seems to say, “Son, you need to study your classics!”) finished ninth in the event. He is the brother of the world famous grandmaster Le Quang Liem. Long currently studies in France, and is doing his PhD in Nanotechnology. He came to the tournament only as a vacation but performed very well, beating GM Boris Chatalbashev who finished fourth.
The talented Dutch IM Jorden Van Foreest (2519) had a mediocre event, finishing tenth
The photographer of this report and WIM elect Amruta Mokal won
the prize for the best woman player at the event [picture by Ronald Flou]
GM Marius Manolache from Romania wasn’t at his best but featured
in two of the games annotated by the top finishers in our previous article
GM Igor Naumkin from Russia
Naumkin is one of the very few professional players in the world who do not carry a laptop to the tournament. He doesn’t prepare for his games and plays on his excellent positional judgement that he has acquired over the years.
GM Alexander Karpatchev, the early leader of the tournament with
4.0/4, found the going tough in the second half as he scored 6.0/9
IM Kamran Shirazi from France
Kamran was born and spent nearly 35 years of his life in Iran. He then shifted to USA and stayed there for twelve years. Once, when he came on a vacation to Paris, he fell in love with the city to such an extent that he left USA for good and made Paris his permanent residence! He has also worked in the movie ‘Searching for Bobby Fischer’ where he played the role of a grandmaster playing a game of blitz with the hustlers on the street. He already has three GM norms and had reached a live rating of 2499.1. At the age of 62 he still plays very strong chess and is trying to become a grandmaster.
The style quotient was quite high at the Lucopen
That’s true passion for the game
Fascinated by the wooden pieces
Building the bridge or the Lucena position in the rook endgame was found way back
in 1634 by Alessandro Salvio, but it has stood the test of time and now it is
one of the most important positions that should be known by every chess player.
The most comfortable seat to watch the games
The organiser of the event, Serge Weill, was lively, friendly and
made the players feel extremely comfortable with great hospitality
At the end of the last round a huge book shop was set up with titles from almost every publisher
Pandatabase (see this Facebook page) was a novelty at this event
Pandatabase was a project introduced by one of the students at the event. The score sheets were such that they could be read by a scanner. So if you wrote your games in decent handwriting and submitted the games, the score sheets would be scanned and the games would be directly uploaded on the website, with some analysis as well!
However, there were a few technical difficulties. The handwritings of all the players were not so great and the machine couldn’t pick it up so well, and also the notation had to be in French. So the normal English notation of K for the king and Q for the queen would not be read. Yet, this seemed like a pretty interesting innovation. We promise you a full report in the near future.
The players were treated to some delicious macaroons at the end of the event
A number of beautiful cathedrals adorn the streets of Lille
La Statue du General Faidherbe at the Republic Square
The Palace of Fine Arts (Palais des Beaux-Arts) in Lille
There were a few streets in Lille which were closed for vehicles. That meant that you
could enjoy walking on these cobbled streets as you indulged in window shopping…
….or you could just sit outside a typical café and enjoy the atmosphere
There was also a zoo near the playing venue, with exotic species like the Red Panda …
… or this white owl
Pictures by Amruta Mokal
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