Perfect Potkin In Euro Championships

With round five of the European Individual Championships in Aix-les-Bains still in progress, Vladimir Potkin of Russia is already assured of the sole lead on a perfect score of 5/5.

Potkin crushed co-leader Boris Savchenko in just 24 moves in round five (see game below).

Potkin, currently ranked #95 in the world (Elo 2653) worked as a second in the recent Wijk Aan Zee tournament for the reigning European Champion Ian Nepomniachtchi. He has also been a second to his friend, the 2011 Amber winner Lev Aronian.

Lev Aronian and Vladimir Potkin (picture: Chessbase)

The top seed at the championships, Peter Svidler, has conceded three draws already for a modest 3.5/5 score.  Top woman player Judit Polgar is faring slightly better with a score of 4/5.

The format of the competition (recently previewed here) is an 11-round Swiss, with over 400 players taking part, including over 160 GMs and 9 players rated over 2700 Elo!

The prize fund is a respectable €120,000, with the winner taking home €20,000. The top 23 finishers will qualify to take part in the 2011 Chess World Cup.

The action starts every day at 3pm local time in France (29 March is a rest day), with the final round on 2 April.

Games, results and live coverage are available at the official website.