Vachier-Lagrave Wins Rapid Grand Prix
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won a strong rapid Grand Prix event in Nancy, France on the weekend of 28-29 April.
Nearly 200 players took part in a preliminary 9-round rapid Swiss qualification event on the Saturday, and remarkably despite an international field all seven qualifiers play for France! The time control was 15 minutes plus a 3 second increment.
The seven qualifiers were joined by invited guest, French GM Christian Bauer, for the second stage on Sunday which consisted of a series of knockout mini-matches at the same time control, with blitz tie-breaks (at 3 minutes plus 2 seconds) if needed.
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| # | Name | Nat | Pts | Perf |
| 1 | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | FRA | 7.5 | 2827 |
| 2 | Gharamian, Tigran | FRA | 7.5 | 2789 |
| 3 | Tkachiev, Vladislav | FRA | 7.0 | 2773 |
| 4 | Fressinet, Laurent | FRA | 7.0 | 2769 |
| 5 | Istratescu, Andrei | FRA | 7.0 | 2762 |
| 6 | Bacrot, Etienne | FRA | 7.0 | 2747 |
| 7 | Feller, Sebastien | FRA | 7.0 | 2741 |
| 8 | Sanikidze, Tornike | GEO | 7.0 | 2725 |
| 9 | Jankovic, Alojzije | CRO | 7.0 | 2722 |
| 10 | Nikolic, Predrag | BIH | 7.0 | 2702 |
| 11 | Andersson, Ulf | SWE | 7.0 | 2542 |
| 12 | Milliet, Sophie | FRA | 7.0 | 2538 |
| 13 | Agrest, Evgenij | SWE | 7.0 | 2527 |
| 14 | Donchenko, Alexander | GER | 7.0 | 2423 |
| 15 | Naiditsch, Arkadij | GER | 6.5 | 2590 |
| 16 | Shchekachev, Andrei | FRA | 6.5 | 2588 |
| 17 | Wirig, Anthony | FRA | 6.5 | 2518 |
| 18 | Ider, Borya | FRA | 6.5 | 2509 |
| 19 | Weber, Tom | LUX | 6.5 | 2402 |
| 20 | Budisin, Stanislav | SUI | 6.5 | 2275 |
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Maxime Vachier-Lagrave beat Laurent Fressinet in the final to take the €4,000 winners prize. Despite losing the first rapid game, Maxime won the second game and took the blitz match 2-0.
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The Nancy Grand Prix was the second in the series, with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave also having won the first Grand Prix in Port-Marly in January. There are three more rapid Grand Prix events in Aix-les-Bains (21-22 July), Villandry (6-7 October) and Bastia (dates tbc).
The current overall standings in the Grand Prix can be found here (pdf).
Video by Nadir Bounzouat the French Chess Federation website.
Picture from the Grand Prix's Facebook page. Official website here.
