Ljubljana Turtles Upset Marseille Migraines, Win Central Division

The "underdogs," the Ljubljana Turtles, handily defeated the Marseille Migraines in the PRO Chess League's Central Division championship. Many factors were important to their victory.

For starters, French number one and Migraines' team manager, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, started slowly out of the gate. He was only able to draw against Turtles' board four, Luka Skuhala, and in the final round, he was fortunate to be given a draw in a losing position by GM Luka Lenic. He did have the pleasure of playing a nice checkmating combination in this game.

Skuhala drawing Vachier-Lagrave (from a winning position no less) was an auspicious start for the Turtles.

Despite Vachier-Lagrave's tribulations, the real problems came on board three. GM Yannick Gozzoli has been on fire for most of the season, but the light went out in this match. His 0-3 start pretty much doomed the Migraines after only three rounds. Here is an amusing and quite sneaky first-round trap that he walked into.

The Gozzoli giveth, and the Gozzoli taketh away.

2018 PRO Chess League | Central Division Championship | Marseille Migraines vs Ljubljana Turtles

Migraines	Turtles	Luka Lenic	Jure Borisek	Matej Sebenik	Luka Skuhala	9.5
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave						3
Etienne Bacrot						3
Yannick Gozzoli						0.5
Marc Andria Maurizzi						0
6.5		3	2	2	2.5

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