Fressinet Beats Karpov In Final, Wins Cap d'Agde Rapid

Laurent Fressinet won the 13th edition of the annual rapid tournament in Cap d'Agde, France. The French GM beat none other than Anatoly Karpov in the final.

The Mediterranean seaside resort of Cap d'Agde is not a bad place at all to spend some time at the end of October. Anatoly Karpov is among a group of chess players who enjoys the French sun (and Languedoc-Roussillon wines!?) every year.

The 12th World Champion keeps on coming back for some chess as well, and since 2012 the tournament is in fact called “Anatoly Karpov Trophy.”

The rapid event had the following eight participants this year: GMs Laurent Fressinet (France, 2702), Tigran Gharamian (France, 2654), Romain Edouard (France, 2636), Anatoly Karpov (Russia, 2628), Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine, 2549), Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine, 2528), Marie Sebag (France, 2496) and WGM Zhansaya Abdumalik (Kazakhstan, 2390).

The tournament started with a double round robin, so 14 rounds in total, at 25 minutes plus 10 seconds increment. Each day only two rounds were played, so this part lasted a week. The first four would go to a playoff stage.

The double round-robin in action. | Photo courtesy Capechecs/Europe-Echecs.

The results wasn't surprising: all four 2600+ grandmaster made it to the next stage. Top seed Fressinet finished first, and was joined by Karpov, Edouard and Gharamian.

After a decent 4.5/7 and an even better 5.0/7 in the second half, Karpov finished on the same score as Fressinet — the only player who beat him, with a simple but nice two-move tactic:

4th Karpov Trophy | Preliminary Group | Final Standings

#	Name	Rtg	Perf	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Pts
1	Fressinet,Laurent	2702	2685		½1	½½	½½	10	½½	11	11	9.5/14
2	Karpov,Anatoly	2628	2694	½0		½½	½½	½1	½1	11	11	9.5/14
3	Edouard,Romain	2636	2665	½½	½½		1½	½½	½0	11	11	9.0/14
4	Gharamian,Tigran	2654	2562	½½	½½	0½		01	1½	½½	½½	7.0/14
5	Sebag,Marie	2496	2558	01	½0	½½	10		½0	½1	½½	6.5/14
6	Muzychuk,Anna	2549	2527	½½	½0	½1	0½	½1		0½	0½	6.0/14
7	Muzychuk,Mariya	2528	2450	00	00	00	½½	½0	1½		½1	4.5/14
8	Abdumalik,Zhansaya	2390	2439	00	00	00	½½	½½	1½	½0		4.0/14

In the semi-final, Fressinet defeated Gharamian 1.5-0.5. The second game, a 6.h3 Najdorf, was basically decided by Black's slightly weaker king:

The other semi-final was more tense. After playing two draws, Edouard and Karpov exchanged two wins so the score was still equal! In the 3+2 blitz games Karpov managed to win both. Here's the first:

Here's a video by Europe-Echecs with footage from the semi-finals:

The final started with two draws as well, and so the players went on to blitz. Many older fans would have liked to see Karpov win, to add another to his impressive list of tournament victories.

In 2012 and 2014 he was in fact victorious, but this year it wasn't meant to be, despite reaching winning positions in both blitz games. Here's the first:

Karpov and Fressinet shake hands at the start of one of their games. | Photo courtesy Capechecs/Europe-Echecs.

In the second blitz game something similar happened. Fressinet was just a little bit more fresh, and Karpov failed to decide the game with little time on the clock.

In 2013 the 12th world champion lost the final to Bacrot, and now to Fressinet. Apparently in 2016 it's Karpov's turn again!

The playing hall was designed beautifully, set up like an amphitheatre. | Photo courtesy Capechecs/Europe-Echecs.