Many surprises in Aix-les-bains

Dmitry Jakovenko was the biggest seed to lose today, but many others failed to win. A really unusual series of results that will leave many household names playing catch up in the 12th European Individual Championship.

Board	Seed	Title/Name	Country	Rating	-	Seed	Title/Name	Country	Rating
1	1	GM Peter Svidler	RUS	2730	½-½	199	IM Helgi Dam Ziska	FAI	2432
2	200	IM Guillaume Sermier	SUI	2428	0-1	2	GM Ian Nepomniachtchi	RUS	2729
3	3	GM David Navara	CZE	2722	½-½	201	IM Vincent Colin	FRA	2427
4	202	GM Alexander Potapov	RUS	2425	½-½	4	GM Nikita Vitiugov	RUS	2720
5	5	GM Dmitry Jakovenko	RUS	2718	0-1	203	IM Artem Smirnov	RUS	2425
6	204	IM Mert Erdogdu	TUR	2423	0-1	6	GM Fabiano Caruana	ITA	2716
7	7	GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek	POL	2711	½-½	205	IM Roser Kevin	FRA	2423
8	206	IM Kevin Terrieux	FRA	2422	½-½	8	GM Baadur Jobava	GEO	2707
9	9	GM Francisco Vallejo Pons	ESP	2707	½-½	207	IM Serghei Vedmediuc	MDA	2422
10	208	IM Jovanka Houska	ENG	2419	0-1	10	GM Aleksey Dreev	RUS	2697
11	11	GM Laurent Fressinet	FRA	2693	½-½	209	IM Bragi Thorfinnsson	ISL	2417
12	210	IM Beat Zueger	SUI	2417	0-1	12	GM Emil Sutovsky	ISR	2692
13	13	GM Viktor Laznicka	CZE	2688	½-½	211	IM Sven Telljohann	GER	2415
14	212	FM Hagen Poetsch	GER	2415	½-½	14	GM Judit Polgar	HUN	2686
15	15	GM Arkadij Naiditsch	GER	2683	1-0	213	IM Matthias Roeder	GER	2414
16	214	IM Gabriel Battaglini	FRA	2413	0-1	16	GM Luke McShane	ENG	2683
17	17	GM Sergei Zhigalko	BLR	2680	1-0	215	IM Vasily Nedilko	UKR	2413
18	216	IM Christophe Philippe	FRA	2409	½-½	18	GM Alexander Riazantsev	RUS	2679
19	19	GM Sergei Rublevsky	RUS	2678	1-0	217	IM Erik Zude	GER	2409
20	218	IM Kamran Shirazi	FRA	2403	0-1	20	GM Alexander Motylev	RUS	2677

There were no White wins on the top fourteen boards!

Here are some photos from the first round.

Dieter-Liviu Nisipeanu (chessanytime)

Emil Sutovsky (chessanytime)

Stuart Conquest (Chessanytime)

Viktorija Cmilyte (chessanytime)

Will there be a Russian champion this year? Four out the top five are from the strongest (in depth) chess country in the world.

On board three, David Navara is the top non-Russian and Judit Polgar (14th seed) is the World's strongest woman.

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