IM Mahel Boyer (FRA) and GM Iniyan Pa scored an unbeaten 7.5/9 each at 41st Cappelle la Grande Open 2025. Mahel won the tournament due to better tie-breaks GM Raja Rithvik R and GM Pranesh M were placed third and fourth respectively IM Muthaiah Al scored 6.5/9 to finish tenth The seven-day nine round Rating Open tournament was organized by L'Echiquier Cappellois at Palais des Arts et des Loisirs in Cappelle la Grande GM Pranesh M won the 8th Cappelle la Grande Rapid Open 2025 GM Karthik Venkataraman finished second in that event It will be mentioned in detail in a separate report Details Official site Tournament details We have launched the ChessBase India App. Check out this amazing resource! Android for now - Download the app now Follow Tweets by @ChessbaseIndia ChessBase India is proud to be the official partner of chessbase.com reporting on events in India Like our Facebook page for more Indian chess updates The all new ChessBase Premium Account which gives you access to ten amazing online ChessBase services like PlayChess Become a part of the ever-growing ChessBase India Youtube Channel. Subscribe now and stay update with our awesome video content.  Hyderabad: Telangana Grandmaster (GM) Raja Rithvik secured third place with a bronze medal at the prestigious Cappelle International Chess Championship 2025 finishing with an appeal to 533 top players from 26 countries: USA Rithvik is pursuing engineering at KL University He currently trains at RACE Chess Academy under local coach N Rama Raju and is being coached online by Alexander Goloshchapov from Ukraine This adds further to Rithvik’s accolades including a silver medal at the Laplagne International Chess Championship in France in 2024 a silver at the National Blitz Championship and a bronze at the National Rapid Championship has congratulated him while listing down his past victories from National GM Raja Rithvik has become internationally acknowledged as one of the earthly rising chess talents in India This next leg took place February 13 - February 20 in the small town Cappelle-la-Grande While the tournament did not exactly have the star power of Gibraltar with several dozen countries represented by the participants "50 Pays" -- the tournament flier expected around 50 nations to be represented The tournament continued its tradition of being one of the largest and strongest opens all year and was one of the most professional and best organized events I've ever played in Top seed GM Gata Kamsky ended up taking clear first place with 7.5/9 After being nicked for two draws in the first four rounds Kamsky won four games in a row before drawing the last round to clinch his first place finish when he showed the power of the two bishops in a nice endgame grind against GM Mikhail Gurevich It started well with an upset draw against Vovk but then I lost in Round 2 to GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev and drew Round 3 against a lower ranked master In Rounds 4-6 I won three games in a row against players rated around 2100 followed by a loss to GM Tigran Gharamian which effectively killed my norm chances for the event I slipped up and drew a winning endgame in the final round which would have given me 6/9 and excellent chances for the Top U2400 prize My current roommate and travel buddy, NM Thomas Riccardi, had a more successful event. He came in quite underrated at 2086 and pulled off a series of upsets to finish with 5/9. Despite a last round loss he still managed to win the Top U2100 prize on tiebreaks! I have to say he had excellent help with his preparation. Now taking place is the 2016 Cannes Chess Festival I'm currently on 2/3 heading into the fourth round tomorrow Kamsky is playing here and is once again the top seed. If we wins this one Championship with at least two tournament wins in 2016 The 31st edition of the most famous open tournament in France is currently taking place in the north part of the country The event is famous because of the enormous amount of players it attracts and also the huge amount of titled players Despite the prize pool being only of a decent size the organizers go out of their way to make sure that every titled player is treated very well and welcome in Dunkerque/Cappelle la Grande ventured to this tournament and brings us some beautiful photographic impressions He likes to call himself Hoenie-Bee and he speaks Dutch he is an Australian bird but was born in South Africa and was actually brought to Belgium from Indonesia.. The organizers have learned much after organizing the event 30 times Everything is written down and in schedule from the buses the pick up the players in their hotels in Dunkerque (a 10-15 minute bus ride from Cappelle la Grande) to the meal menu With so many players it is a big pairings list.The organizers have it in both styles: alphabetical and according to the number of points Alexander Fier was happy to play yours truly as I was completely out of it...but came back later on In between rounds of lunch - game: chatting The Swedish player could not make an appearance Li Chao from China started as the top seed Sandro Mareco came all the way from Argentina or more than likely he simply stayed after playing Gibraltar Playing on the first bords means playing on the podium My friend and very good player: Irina Bulmaga going from high 2500 to mid 2600 in a series of European events.. He hopes to have the same string of success this year The usual queue for lunch; I must say the French are very efficient and the food is good I just wonder how it is possible to drink before the game? and if the beer is much more consumer friendly The tournament is currently playing its seventh round after six games these are the top standings: With three rounds still left to go anything can happen especially when there are so many people tied for first and another bunch with only half a point less Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games The games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs The GRHYD project has a key role in the strategy of the Hauts-de-France region’s 3rd industrial evolution represented by its ENGIE Lab CRIGEN research center linked up with 10 other partners: AREVA H2Gen Patrice Vergriete (Mayor of Dunkirk and President of the Dunkirk Urban Community) Léon Devloies (Mayor of Cappelle-la-Grande and Vice President of the Dunkirk Urban Community) Isabelle Kocher (Chief Executive Officer of ENGIE) and Fabrice Boissier (Managing Director of ADEME) have inaugurated in Cappelle-la-Grande (Nord department) the first Power-to-Gas demonstrator in France in the presence of the partners involved in the project tests the injection of hydrogen into the region’s natural gas distribution grid to meet residents’ needs in terms of heating This innovative initiative is earmarked for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020 GRHYD is a tangible illustration of the Hydrogen Plan The demonstrator receives the support of the French state as part of the Future Investments Program run by ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency) and accredited by the Tenerrdis competitive industry cluster Its inauguration marks the start of the demonstration with the injection of the first hydrogen molecules into the local natural gas grid at a level of 6% to begin with (and up to a maximum of 20%) for supplying the 100 households and the health center’s boiler in the “Petit Village” district of Cappelle-la-Grande The aim of this two-year phase is to validate the technical and economic relevance of converting electricity into a new gas via a combination of hydrogen and natural gas Power-to-Gas is a solution for the future for transforming electricity from renewable energy into hydrogen gas this energy can be stored and transported in the natural gas grid And it has enormous potential: ADEME assesses the potential energy of hydrogen produced from electricity via Power-to-Gas in France by 2035 at around 30 TWh per year By helping to bring about the emergence of a new way of recovering and storing renewable energy the demonstrator exemplifies the hydrogen plan launched June 1 2018 by Nicolas Hulot [French Environment Minister] and the importance of scaling up the business sector in France The country benefits from cutting-edge industrial players right across technologies where the demonstrators are essential The innovative aspect of the GRHYD project lies in the rates of incorporation for injecting hydrogen into gas distribution grids compared with those of other projects: hydrogen injection into gas grids is also being tested in Fos-sur-Mer and other European countries such as in Germany and soon in the United Kingdom 1st Power-to-Gas demonstrator in France / 11 partners / budget of 15 million euros / 5 years of study authorization and demonstration / 3 containers installed containing cutting-edge technologies: one for electrolysis and one for injection into the hydrogen grid / 100 homes and the health center boiler supplied by a new gas made up of hydrogen and natural gas * GRHYD (Gestion des Réseaux par l’injection d’Hydrogène pour Décarboner les énergies [grid management through the injection of hydrogen for energy decarbonization]) You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience GM Abhimanyu Puranik launched a devastating attack on IM Ryosuke Nanjo's (JPN) kingside in the final round Black had no other choice but to take it 18...gxf5 19.Qxf5 Ng5 20.Qg6 Rg8 21.Qh6+ Rg7 22.Bxg5 Bxg5 23.Qh8+ Rg8 24.Rxf7+ a fantastic sacrifice to continue the relentless attack Kxf7 25.Qh7+ Ke6 26.Qxh3+ Ke7 27.Qh7+ Ke6 28.Rf1 Qe8 29.Rf6+ and Nf4# is unstoppable Undoubtedly this is the best game of Abhimanyu from the tournament Details Tournament details Donate they say 'I will lose the ball' which is a great starting point for explaining why you need to include as many pieces in the attack as possible 'I score and we win,' shrugging his shoulders Being unable to explain even the basics of chess theory to him I took consolation in the fact that life as a top-flight footballer is probably not all bad..." Grandmaster Preparation: Attack and Defence Find more information on the official website.  A famous grandmaster and coach has turned 50.  The 2011 Capelle-la-Grande Open featured more than 550 players and after nine hard fought rounds it was 21st seed Grzegorz Gajewski of Poland (pictured receiving his award) who took clear first with an excellent score of 7.5 points Gajewski's crucial final round final round win is shown below along with two other memorable tactical encounters that occurred during this huge Open Swiss event and Alexander Ipatov representing Spain finished half a point behind the winner while top seed Krishnan Sasikiran was another half a point back among a large pack with 6.5 points The videos at the official website offer a nice impression of the event; a typical example is shown below (with interviews in French) Picture and video from the official website you know he has hopped on the bullet train On the fifth day of 38th Cappelle la Grande Open Nihal demolished GM Daniel Dardha (BEL) and IM Anatole Vlachos (GRE) While the Belgian was unable to assess the intensity of Nihal's attack correctly the Greek just sacrificed his pawns and imploded in the Dutch defense Nihal is in the lead with IM Vladislav Bakhmatsky (UKR) They will face each other in the penultimate round in a virtual final where a win moves Nihal that much closer to the championship Nihal Sarin both of his sixth and seventh round games It means Nihal has won five games in-a-row after starting the event with two draws A win against IM Vladislav Bakhmatsky (UKR) in the penultimate round will not only complete his double hat-trick but also make him sole leader of the tournament Nihal Sarin got a promising position against GM Daniel Dardha (BEL) Black needed to play 17...Bxd2 18.Qxd2 and then go h4 The subtle difference lies in the fact that 17...h4 18.Bxb4 Rxb4 can be met with 19.Qxc6 Qxc6 20.Rxc6 hxg3 21.Rb6 and White keeps the position from falling apart 19.g4 seems to have created a prime target for Black Nihal made the practical decision of taking it with his bishop it is still difficult for White to defend White can defend only one between f2 and h3-pawn Although, it would not have made a major impact in the outcome 26.Kh2 Nxf2 27.Qxh4 Nd3 28.Rf1 Rxe3 Black might be down by an exchange which he sacrificed however the initiative and two pawns as a compensation is more than enough for him to convert his advantage into a win IM Anatole Vlachos (GRE) made a couple of incorrect pawn breaks in Dutch against Nihal Sarin 12...b5 is an ambitious pawn sacrifice as Black does not get much compensation for it 13.cxb5 d5 14.Ne5 Bxe5 15.dxe5 Rf7 16.Qd2 Qe8 17.Bd4 Nihal showed that he does not need to be bothered about defending the pawn as the activity of the pieces is far more important The straw that broke the camel's back for Black would be 23...f4 Nothing went in Black's way throughout the game This final attempt did not help his cause either 24.exf4 gxf4 25.gxf4 Qf8 26.Rg3+ Kh8 27.Bh3 and White won the game in another five moves a WGM and 6 WIMs are taking part in this tournament organized by L'Echiquier Cappellois The event is taking place at Palais des Arts at Cappelle la Grande The nine-round Swiss league had a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment for the first 40 moves then 30 minutes + 30sec/move for the rest of the game Details Details Details Official site Seven players headed into the final round with a score of 6.5/8 Two decisive results on board no.4 and 8 allowed them to catch up with the rest Nihal had a short 21-move draw against the eventual champion IM Vladislav Bakhmatsky (UKR) in the penultimate round Nihal pushed too hard for an advantage against GM Martin Petrov (BUL) in the final round Unfortunately for White it does not work as there is not enough compensation for the sacrificed knight 13...dxc3 14.Bxc3 Nxb3+ 15.axb3 e5 is how the game continued a WGM and 6 WIMs took part in this tournament organized by L'Echiquier Cappellois Details Details 12 Indians are playing at the Cappelle La Grande tournament in France We have some of the top guys like Sasikiran Lalith Babu who are all on 4.0/5 and also fiery talents like 11-year-old Nihal Sarin who beat his first grandmaster of his chess career With four rounds to go the tournament is very interestingly poised and we can look forward to a strong Indian finish The Cappelle La Grande International tournament is being held from the 13th to the 20th of February in the northern region of France This tournament holds special importance to Indian fans as 12 of our players have made their way to play in this famous open event GM Jules Moussard (FRA) scored an unbeaten 7.5/9 to win 4th La Plagne Masters (>1950) 2024 GM Prraneeth Vuppala and IM Bala Chandra Prasad Dhulipalla scored 7/9 each They were placed second to fifth according to tie-breaks respectively WGM-elect Sakshi Chitlange scored 5.5/9 to earn her second IM-norm The total prize fund of Masters was €16000 The seven-day nine round Rating Open tournament was organized by Cercle d'Échecs du Bassin Annemassien in La Plagne GM Koustav Chatterjee and GM Mitrabha Guha were two more Indians to make a top ten finish They scored 6.5/9 each to be placed ninth and tenth respectively Setumadhav Yellumahanthi scored an unbeaten 8/9 to win the Ascension (1650-2000) event He finished a full point ahead of the rest The total prize fund in Ascension was €5500 GM Mitrabha Guha scored an unbeaten 8/9 to become the winner in the Blitz event He also finished a full point ahead of the rest IM Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh scored 7/9 to be placed third A total of 184 players including 17 GMs a WGM and 4 WIM took part from 22 countries across the world in this seven-day nine round Masters (>1950) tournament It was organized by Cercle d'Échecs du Bassin Annemassien in La Plagne The time control of the event was 40 moves in 90 minutes + 30 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move.  Details A total of 87 players took part from 22 countries across the world in this seven-day nine round Ascension (1650-2000) tournament It was organized by Cercle d'Échecs du Bassin Annemassien in La Plagne The time control of the event was 40 moves in 90 minutes + 30 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move Details A total of 76 players including 2 GMs and 5 IMs took part from 11 countries across the world in this one-day nine round Blitz Open tournament The time control of the event was 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment per move Details Official site Anurag Mhamal of Goa was the best performer among the Indians at the Capelle la Grande Open 2016 held in France Twelve Indians were participating in this strong French Open that was held from 13-21 February and collectively 11-year-old Nihal Sarin scored the first IM-norm of his career Circa August 2015: It was the National Challengers Championship in Nagpur and Anurag Mhamal was among the leaders after winning a spectacular game in round eight things looked rosy for him as he stared at an opportunity to qualify for the prestigious National Premiers What followed was a disaster that left him stranded in no man’s land the story was no different – he was leading the Keshabananda tournament comfortably only to falter towards the finish and life had been a wee bit frustrating for Anurag “I used to focus on the ‘what ifs’ after making a hash of critical games and that was affecting my results,” says Anurag A slight shift in his mindset was the need of the hour and this already yielding him gains Anurag delivered his career-best performance finishing fourth at the strong Capelle la Grande Open 2016 Indians performed reasonably well; nevertheless there was always a feeling that we could have achieved much more Check the complete standings here Photos, unless mentioned, are taken by Alexandre Feryn for the official website Indians at Cappelle La Grande 17/02/2016 - 12 Indians are playing at the Cappelle La Grande tournament in France Top seed IM Pierre Villegas (MNC) scored an unbeaten 7.5/9 to win 35th Summer Open of the City of Cannes 2024 He finished a half point ahead of the rest. Nikhil M scored sole 7/9 to finish second 9-year-old CM Marc Llari (FRA) scored 6.5/9 to finish third Nikhil's sole loss of the event was against the eventual winner The seven-day nine round Rating Open A (>1900) tournament was organized by Romuald De Labaca at Palais des Victoires in Cannes WIM Chandreyee Hajra is the sole other Indian taking part in the event A total of 19 players including an IM and a WIM took part from five countries across the world in this seven-day nine round Rating Open A (>1900) tournament It was organized by Romuald De Labaca at Palais des Victoires in Cannes, France from 22nd to 28th July 2024 The time control of the event was 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move.  Details Official site Tournament details is a civil engineer and also pursuing his aim of becoming a GM He is an IM and scored his second GM norm at the Capelle La Grande 2020 in France Nubair was rock solid as he won four of his games and drew five to reach a score of 6.5/9 he will remember the event for his amazing game against GM Ivaljo Enchev After just ten moves you already had four queens on the board This was quite an amazing scene as both players had to be extremely accurate in order to take the game to its logical conclusion but it was only after both sides missed quite some brilliant variations In this article we invite you to test your chess with the Civil Engineer is now 22 years old. He is rated around 2440 and has two GM norms the second one was achieved just a couple of days ago at the Cappelle La Grande tournament in France What makes Nubair's achievement unique is the fact that he has always tried to maintain his chess and education He could have very well progressed faster at chess but he chose to finish his engineering course and is now a civil engineer. He finished his engineering just last year and is now devoting all his energy towards his GM title One of the most exciting games of the tournament for Nubairshah Shaikh was his seventh round win over GM Ivaljo Enchev What made the game unique was the fact that by move no.10 both of the players had two queens on the board We invite you to solve the four positions given below and see if you can crack all of them If you would like to work on your calculation and become better at it we recommend the two part series by IM Robert Ris the second one is Extreme Calculation Training 14-year-old Aarav Dengla scored an unbeaten 7/9 to win 97th Championnat du Grand Paris Masters 2024 The teenager finished a full point ahead of the field Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi scored an unbeaten 6/9 to secure second place He also earned his second IM-norm in the process GM Andrei Shchekachev (FRA) finished third scoring 5.5/9 while Aakash defeated Andrei in the final round The tournament was organized by Ligue IdF des Echecs at Lycee Blanche de Castille in Villemomble Aarav earned his first and third IM-norms at the very same event in 2022 and 2023 Vinodh Kumar Balaguru scored 6.5/9 to finish second in Open A IM Aarav Dengla (2381) had a relatively slow start 2.5/5 he scored 3.5/4 in the last four rounds to become a clear champion For the first time in the tournament's 97-year-old long history the tournament was moved out of Paris due to 2024 Paris Olympics It was held at Lycee Blanche de Castille in Villemomble About 250 players participated combining Masters Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi (2305) scored 6/9 performed at 2472 to earn his second IM-norm drew with GM Bilel Bellahcene (ALG) and the eventual champion Vincent Schmit (FRA) and Vinodh Kumar Balaguru Vincent won the tournament due to better tie-breaks and Vinodh was placed second A total of 18 players including three GMs and four IMs took part from eight countries across the world in this eight-day nine-round Swiss League Rating Open A (>2200) tournament It was organized by Ligue IdF des Echecs at Lycee Blanche de Castille in Villemomble The time control of the tournament was 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment Details Details Official site Tournament details