Vladimir Potkin alone on 5/5

Three players are on 4.5/5 half-a-point behind Vladimir Potkin. These are former European champion Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, Mircea-Emilian Parligras (both of Roumania) and the young French IM Anthony Wirig who has surprised many observers with his excellent play so-far.

Do you recognize the mystery man in the main photo? (answer below)

Here are the results from the top twenty boards.

Board Seed Title/Name Country Rating Points - Seed Title/Name Country Rating Points
1 43 GM Potkin Vladimir RUS 2653 4 1-0 71 GM Savchenko Boris RUS 2616 4
2 73 GM Ragger Markus AUT 2614 ½ - ½ 12 GM Sutovsky Emil ISR 2692
3 84 GM Reinderman Dimitri NED 2601 ½ - ½ 14 GM Polgar Judit HUN 2686
4 21 GM Volokitin Andrei UKR 2677 ½ - ½ 97 GM Guseinov Gadir AZE 2584
5 87 GM Parligras Mircea-Emilian ROU 2598 1-0 24 GM Grachev Boris RUS 2675
6 98 GM Mastrovasilis Dimitrios GRE 2584 ½ - ½ 26 GM Moiseenko Alexander UKR 2673
7 27 GM Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter ROU 2673 1-0 100 GM Kotronias Vasilios GRE 2583
8 28 GM Kobalia Mikhail RUS 2672 ½ - ½ 107 GM Zhigalko Andrey BLR 2571
9 170 IM Wirig Anthony FRA 2480 1-0 46 GM Korobov Anton UKR 2647
10 59 GM Iordachescu Viorel MDA 2626 ½ - ½ 151 GM Vaisser Anatoly FRA 2522
11 175 IM Bellaiche Anthony FRA 2472 ½ - ½ 3 GM Navara David CZE 2722 3
12 1 GM Svidler Peter RUS 2730 3 ½ - ½ 70 GM Ivanisevic Ivan SRB 2617 3
13 72 GM Azarov Sergei BLR 2615 3 ½ - ½ 4 GM Vitiugov Nikita RUS 2720 3
14 7 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw POL 2711 3 1-0 75 GM Stevic Hrvoje CRO 2611 3
15 9 GM Vallejo Pons Francisco SPA 2707 3 1-0 80 GM Papaioannou Ioannis GRE 2605 3
16 15 GM Naiditsch Arkadij GER 2684 3 ½ - ½ 90 GM Pantsulaia Levan GEO 2595 3
17 17 GM Zhigalko Sergei BLR 2680 3 1-0 82 GM Balogh Csaba HUN 2601 3
18 79 GM Hammer Jon Ludvig NOR 2606 3 1-0 18 GM Riazantsev Alexander RUS 2679 3
19 102 GM Halkias Stelios GRE 2579 3 ½ - ½ 20 GM Motylev Alexander RUS 2677 3
20 89 GM Nikolic Predrag BIH 2596 3 ½ - ½ 22 GM Sargissian Gabriel ARM 2676 3

The man in the main photo is Miso Cebalo, former World Veteran Champion and commentator here in Aix-les-Bains.

Today's photo gallery:

Kiril Georgiev (chessanytime)
Sébastien Mazé (chessanytime)
Vladimir Akopian (chessanytime)
Jovanka Houska (chessanytime)

The notable Russian players in the final photo below are (from left to right) Sergei Volkov (bronze medallist 2002 & 2008), Vladimir Potkin (current leader) and Ian Nepomniachtchi (2010 champion).

Getting ready for battle (chessanytime)

The previous champions:

Year Player Country
2000 Pavel Tregubov RUS (FRA)
2001 Emil Sutovsky ISR
2002 Bartolomej Macieja POL
2003 Zurab Azmaiparashvili GEO
2004 Vassily Ivanchuk UKR
2005 Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu ROM
2006 Zdenko Kozul HRV
2007 Vladislav Tkachiev KAZ (FRA)
2008 Sergei Tiviakov RUS (NED)
2009 Evgeny Tomashevsky RUS
2010 Ian Nepomniachtchi RUS

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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