Feller is already French Blitz champion and will be part of the French Olympic squad going to Khanty Mansiysk in September.
There were 11 GMs playing in the Fide open where the average rating of the 74 players came to 2356. An indication of the relatively high strength in depth of the tournament.
Here was the situation after eight rounds.
| Seed | Title and Name | Rating | Country | Points |
| 1 | GM Sebastien Feller | 2611 | FRA | 7.5 |
| 2 | GM Tigran Gharamian | 2650 | FRA | 6,5 |
| 3 | IM S.P Sethuraman | 2513 | IND | 6,0 |
| 4 | IM B.Adhiban | 2483 | IND | 5,5 |
| 5 | GM Alberto David | 2622 | LUX | 5,5 |
| 6 | GM Yuri Solodovnichenko | 2558 | UKR | 5,5 |
| 7 | IM Lorin A R D'Costa | 2456 | ENG | 5,5 |
| 8 | IM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit | 2492 | IND | 5,5 |
| 9 | GM Zhu Chen | 2476 | QAT | 5,5 |
| 10 | GM Abhijit Kunte | 2521 | IND | 5,5 |
When we have the final standings we'll be able to update this table, noting that Feller drew in the ninth round with Solodovnichenko to ensure first place alone.
In the B-tournament it was worth noting that 10-year-old Fahim Mohammad (already rated 1808) began with 8/8 performing at 2422, or there abouts! A name to watch out for.
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