Yannick Gozzoli takes traditional Cap d'Agde Trophy

by Romain Edouard
11/10/2018 – Since 1994, the Mediterranean seaside resort Cap d'Agde has organised a set of wide-ranging chess tournaments. This year, four classical events, a rapid tournament and a blitz VIP meeting were in the menu for those interested. The main attraction was the "Grand Prix", which was won by Yannick Gozzoli, who edged Jules Moussard by half a point. The ever-focused Gozzoli (2612) took home 17 rating points and 3.000 Euros. ROMAIN ÉDOUARD sent us a full pictorial report from Occitania. | Pictured: Yannick Gozzoli | Photos: Pierre Textoris

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A capital of chess

The 16th Cap d'Agde International Chess Meeting took place from October 25th to November 3rd. More than 800 players, of whom 45% were aged under 20, took part in the various tournaments organised at the Communal Centre of Social Action (CCAS) holiday centre of Cap d'Agde. 

The "Cap d'Agde Trophy" was created in 1994. The first tournament was a round-robin (all-play-all) restricted to U25 players, with the winner getting the chance to face Anatoly Karpov in a match. The first Trophy was won by Boris Gelfand, followed in later years by a star-studded cast:

1994 Gelfand   2010 Ivanchuk
1996 Karpov   2012 Karpov
1998 Karpov   2013 Bacrot
2000 Gurevich   2014 Karpov
2002 Gelfand   2015 Fressinet
2003 Anand   2016 Bacrot
2006 Radjabov   2017 Yuffa
2008 Nakamura      

In fact, Magnus Carlsen participated twice, in 2006 and 2008, but could not win the Trophy! Perhaps it would be a different story nowadays.

From the second edition in 1996 (at the time, the tournament took place every two years), a new formula was launched — the championship was played between 16 players with a rapid time control. That formula did not change for 20 years. After Anatoly Karpov had taken part in every single edition, in 2012 the tournament was re-named the "Karpov Trophy".

Anatoly Karpov

In 2018, due to a lack of sponsors, the organisers changed the format, focusing their efforts on the Grand Prix (the highest open section). 22 nationalities were represented, with 50 titled players participating, including 23 GMs and 14 IMs. A unique tournament when it comes to the atmosphere: just go through the selection of photos at the bottom of this article and in the gallery above.

Communal Centre of Social Action in Cap d'Agde

Four classical tournaments took place in this edition:

  • Le Grand Prix, for players with a rating higher than 1950. The tournament was won by French GM Yannick Gozzoli (7½/9), followed by Jules Moussard (7/9), also from France, and the Ukrainian GM Martyn Kravtsviv (7/9). A longer standings table is presented at the end of the report.
  • Le Tournoi du Cavalier, for players in the 1650-2000 rating range. Julien Jehan, Nathan Gautier and Hugi Piar finished in the first three places.
  • Le Tournoi de l'Avenir, for players rated under 1700. Rabah Benbellil, Charles-Henri Albouy and Michel Arcusa were the top finishers.
  • L'Open "Fil Rouge", for unrated and under 1700 players without official club membership. Alain Schermesser, Gilles Garde and Paul Bedrossian were the winners.

Moussard

Jules Moussard scored 7 points

GM Martyn Kravtsiv, from Ukraine, the highest rated player in the tournament

The closing ceremony

Besides the 90+30 classical events, a rapid tournament and a VIP blitz event took place, with most of the higher-rated players participating. The results:

Morning rapid event

  1. Vladimir Onischuk (UKR) 7/8
  2. Mladen Palac (CRO) 6,5/8
  3. Sergey Fedorchuk (UKR) 6,5/8

VIP blitz tournament

  1. Yannick Gozzoli (FRA) 7,5/9
  2. Jules Moussard (FRA) 7/9
  3. Christian Bauer (FRA) 6,5/9

GM Vladimir Onischuk won the rapid section

The most beautiful game of the tournament was Sergey Fedorchuk's victory over Harutyun Barseghyan. Enjoy!

 

A few more combinations that appeared in the daily tournament bulletin (in French):

 

A different show every night — simul by Romain Edouard on Monday

Blindfold game by Christian Bauer

...and both GMs facing each other in a self-commentated show

Music and smiles, a tradition in Cap d’Agde

Final standings - Grand Prix (top 20)

Pl   Name Elo Pts Bu. Perf
1 g
GOZZOLI Yannick
2612 F 54 2763
2 g
MOUSSARD Jules
2579 F 7 52½ 2676
3 g
KRAVTSIV Martyn
2654 F 7 52½ 2676
4 g
KOLLARS Dmitrij
2540 F 7 51½ 2646
5 m
KHADEMALSHARIEH Sarasadat
2431 F 7 49½ 2577
6 g
BELLAHCENE Bilel
2502 F 7 49½ 2575
7 g
PALAC Mladen
2548 F 7 48 2574
8 g
SHCHEKACHEV Andrei
2517 F 55 2571
9 f
DI NICOLANTONIO Lucas
2376 F 48½ 2504
10 g
FEDORCHUK Sergey A.
2607 F 6 54½ 2558
11 g
SUMETS Andrey
2575 F 6 53½ 2542
12 g
VAISSER Anatoly
2504 F 6 51½ 2492
13 g
MALAKHATKO Vadim
2552 F 6 51 2532
14 g
ONISCHUK Vladimir
2623 F 6 50½ 2510
15 g
ZELCIC Robert
2508 F 6 50 2433
16 g
DAVID Alberto
2561 F 6 49½ 2509
17 g
STRIKOVIC Aleksa
2490 F 6 48½ 2443
18 g
NAUMKIN Igor
2405 F 6 48 2433
19 m
VAREILLE Francois
2432 F 6 47½ 2366
20 m
EDEN James
2272 F 6 47 2445

Final standings - Tournoi du Cavalier (top 20)

Pl   Name Elo Pts Bu. Perf
1  
JEHAN Julien
1991 F 51 2306
2  
GAUTIER Nathan
1928 F 8 54½ 2201
3  
PIAR Hugo
1707 F 48 2144
4  
MOLANO LAFUENTE Ismael
1941 F 7 52 2028
5  
JARRETON Herve
1942 F 50½ 1968
6  
TOUMI MOHAMED-JAD
1614 F 50 2006
7  
PASCAL Jonathan
1816 F 49½ 1934
8  
BERTHELOT Nathan
1943 F 49 1976
9  
GATTEGNO Laurent
1934 F 48 1980
10  
DAUPHIN Thomas
1986 F 47½ 1947
11  
VENARD Gautier
1887 F 44 1921
12  
NOIR Mathys
1827 F 43 2018
13  
ADRIAN Leopold
1933 F 42 1949
14  
GAULT Emmanuel
1798 F 39½ 1957
15  
CARRILLO Jesus
1964 F 6 50½ 1966
16  
BAUDIN Vincent
1743 F 6 48½ 1998
17  
ROMAS Lionia
1821 F 6 48 1944
18  
MANET Eric
1899 F 6 44½ 1909
19  
CANDELOT Clement
1911 F 6 44½ 1884
20  
DIDIER Eric
1855 F 6 43½ 1865

Correction November 11: Jules Moussard scored 7 points not 7½ as originally stated. Gozzoli, therefore, won clear first, not on tiebreak.

Links


Romain Edouard (peak rating of 2702) has been part of the French National Team since 2011. As a teenager, he notably won a gold medal in the European U16 Championship in 2006, and silver medals in the Europe and World Championships under 18 in 2007. Since becoming a GM at 17, he has won numerous international events, including the 2012 Al Ain Open, the 2014 Dubai Open and the 2015 World Open, among others. He is a regular columnist, the Editor-in-Chief of Thinkers Publishing and he recently published two ChessBase courses about Winning Chess Strategies.

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