Yuri Vovk wins 25th Cappelle-la-Grande

25th Cappelle-la-Grande

The tournament was organised by the Echiquier Cappellois Chess Club and took place at the Palais des Arts et des Loisirs in the town of Cappelle-la-Grande, which is located near Dunkerque and Belgium. It was a nine-round open that went from Saturday, February 28th to Saturday, March 07, with 611 players (102 GMs and 78 IMs) from 60 different countries.

Cappelle-la-Grande is located near Dunkerque at the northernmost tip of France

The playing hall in Cappelle

New time control

The organisers of Cappelle once again experimented with a new rate of play, the “Decreasingly Accelerated System”, for their tournament. The logic behind the system is as follows: electronic clocks are now available and adjournments have fallen into disuse, leaving organisers with two options:

• a “mechanical” rate of play in which each player is allotted a maximum period of time. The chief advantage is that the organisers can predict when the round will end and the playing venue be vacated. The disadvantages are the stress resulting from time scrambles (and any reconstructions of the moves of the game) or players exceeding the time limit, as well as the possibility that draw claims under Article 10.2 will force the arbiter into an area which is, ethically speaking, outside his competence.

• an ”electronic” rate of play in which players receive an initial amount of time which is increased by a fixed amount after each move. This reverses the advantages and disadvantages. Most players and arbiters prefer this system as it seems more just. But it can give the arbiters problems when one or more games is extended indefinitely (going on one or two hours, or even longer, than the other games).

Starting with an “electronic” rate of play, one must therefore find a way to ensure that after a certain duration the longest games will not continue more than a few more minutes. The Cappelle solution is to reduce drastically the additional time added after a certain number of moves (fewer than one game in a hundred will be affected). The rate of play chose was as follows:

• 100 minutes plus 30 additional seconds per move for the first forty moves and then
• 30 minutes plus 30 additional seconds per move for the next forty moves and then
• 10 additional seconds per move from move 81
• Players must keep score for the first 80 moves.

The above means that a 40 move game cannot last longer than (100 + 20) x 2 = 240 minutes or four hours. For an 80 move game one must add (30 + 20) x 2 = 100 minutes (one hour 40 minutes) with a total duration of five hours 40 minutes, which would be increased by 20 seconds for each additional move. It would need a 140 move game to exceed six hours of play. This retains the advantages of both types of rate of play without leading to any obvious disadvantages.

Cappelle la Grande 2009 – final standings (6.5/9 or higher)

Click for table with 6.0/9 and higher (77 of 611 players) or for the full cross table.

Player portraits by Dominique Primel

The surprising winner with 7.5/9: GM Yuri Vovk, Elo 2545, perf. 2814

Third: GM Marat Dzhumaev, UZB, 2529

Place five and a GM norm for IM Davit Jojua from Georgia, 2484

Place seven for GM Tamaz Gelashvili from Georgia, 2622

Place eight and a GM norm for IM Jon Ludwig Hammer, NOR, 2532

Tenth: GM Nijdat Mamedov from Azerbaijan, 2607

13th: GM Eduardas Rozentalis, LTU, 2590

18th: GM Alexander Zubarev, UKR, 2566

Place 19 for GM Yuri Solodovnichenko, UKR, 2571

23rd: GM Manuel Leon Hoyos, MEX, 2542

25th: GM Fidel Corrales Jimene, CUB, 2586

29th: GM Alexandr Kharitonov, RUS, 2537

33rd: Alexander Graf, GER, 2644

49th: GM Todor Todorov, BUL, 2507

50th: GM Vladimir Baklan, UKR, 2627

52nd: IM Amon Simutowe, ZAM, 2485

66th: GM Stanislas Savchenko, UKR, 2571

81st: IM Malkhaz Sulashvili, GEO, 2444

84th: GM Mikhail Ulibin, RUS, 2511

99th: GM Vasile Sanduleac, MDA, 2432

100th: GM Jan Plachetka, SVK, 2406

104th: IM Oleg Spirin, RUS, 2438

110th: IM David Housieaux, FRA, 2419

111th: GM Mark Hebden, ENG, 2522

112th: IM Kruttika Nadig, IND, 2367

115th: WIM Veronika Schneider, HUN, 2304

135th: WIM Vita Chulivska, UKR, 2335

145th: WGM Katerina Matseyko, UKR, 2268

155th: GM Igor Naumkin, RUS, 2501

183rd: IM Lyubka Genova, BUL, 2231

201st: GM Heikki Westerinen, FIN, 2362

215th: WGM Myroslava Hrabinska, UKR, 2277

232nd: FM Margarida Coimbra, POR, 2096

259th: Klaudia Kulon POL, 2251 (with IM norm)

277th: WIM Angela Dragomirescu, ROU, 2220

278th: WGM Alyona Goreskul, UKR, 2270

Links Official tournament site All games in zipped PGN (collated by Mark Crowther for TWIC) The most important games were broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse the PGN games.