Aix-les-Bains: The second round

Aix-les-Bains (in eastern France near the Alps) was bathed in sunshine today for the second round of the European individual Championship. The most notable surprises on the top boards were Fabiano Caruana losing with White to Alexander Kovchan, and Sebastian Mazé downing Sergei Zhigalko.

Here are the top twenty boards.

Board Seed Title/Name Country Rating Points - Seed Title/Name Country Rating Points
1 2 GM Nepomniachtchi Ian RUS 2729 1 1-0 111 GM Popov Valerij RUS 2565 1
2 6 GM Caruana Fabiano ITA 2716 1 0-1 113 GM Kovchan Alexander UKR 2563 1
3 10 GM Dreev Aleksey RUS 2697 1 ½-½ 115 GM Zherebukh Yaroslav UKR 2560 1
4 12 GM Sutovsky Emil ISR 2692 1 ½-½ 117 GM Stefansson Hannes ISL 2557 1
5 114 GM Hovhannisyan Robert ARM 2560 1 ½-½ 15 GM Naiditsch Arkadij GER 2684 1
6 16 GM McShane Luke J ENG 2683 1 ½-½ 119 GM Sedlak Nikola SRB 2556 1
7 116 GM Maze Sebastien FRA 2559 1 1-0 17 GM Zhigalko Sergei BLR 2680 1
8 118 GM Swiercz Dariusz POL 2557 1 ½-½ 19 GM Rublevsky Sergei RUS 2678 1
9 20 GM Motylev Alexander RUS 2677 1 1-0 121 GM Shimanov Aleksandr RUS 2550 1
10 120 GM Rogozenco Dorian ROU 2553 1 ½-½ 21 GM Volokitin Andrei UKR 2677 1
11 22 GM Sargissian Gabriel ARM 2676 1 ½-½ 123 GM Grandelius Nils SWE 2547 1
12 24 GM Grachev Boris RUS 2675 1 1-0 125 GM Manolache Marius ROU 2546 1
13 122 GM Cornette Matthieu FRA 2548 1 ½-½ 25 GM Inarkiev Ernesto RUS 2674 1
14 26 GM Moiseenko Alexander UKR 2673 1 1-0 129 IM Gozzoli Yannick FRA 2543 1
15 124 GM Mastrovasilis Athanasios GRE 2547 1 0-1 27 GM Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter ROU 2673 1
16 28 GM Kobalia Mikhail RUS 2672 1 1-0 131 GM Sanikidze Tornike GEO 2542 1
17 126 GM Markos Jan SVK 2546 1 ½-½ 29 GM Bologan Viktor MDA 2671 1
18 30 GM Nielsen Peter Heine DAN 2670 1 1-0 133 GM Gritsak Orest UKR 2539 1
19 128 GM Antal Gergely HUN 2545 1 ½-½ 31 GM Mamedov Rauf AZE 2667 1
20 32 GM Georgiev Kiril BUL 2666 1 ½-½ 135 GM Le Roux Jean-Pierre FRA 2538 1

Today's selection of photos:

Arman Pashikian (chessanytime)
Ivan Sokolov (chessanytime)
Anatoly Vaisser, World Veteran's Champion (chessanytime)
Natalia Zhukova (chessanytime)

Here are some rules, one of the most controversial being 'Zero Tolerance' for later-comers. One just has to be at the board at the beginning of the round!

The championship is an 11-round Swiss and the rate of play: 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one.

The Prizes:

The first 25 share 113,700 € and there will be 15 special prizes totaling 6 300 € for the best 'performance minus rating' achievements.

1 20 000 €
2 15 000 €
3 11 000 €
4 8 000 €
5 7 000 €
6 6 000 €
7 5 500 €
8 5 000 €
9 4 500 €
10 4 000 €

down to 25th (1000 Euros).

The top 'special' prize will be 1 000 €.

Rounds 1 to 7 start 3 pm (local time).

Tuesday the 29th is the rest day.

Then rounds 8 to 11, again at 3pm.

For more information go to:Official site


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