Vandoeuvre Open

report by Marie Boyarchenko

The 4th edition of the Vandoeuvre Open took place from 26 to 30 December 2007 in a small French town situated in the Lorraine and attracted with its’ exceptional game conditions and a friendly atmosphere more than 100 players from 11 different countries. Among them you will recognize famous names. GM Christian Bauer was the top seeded player with ELO 2634. He was at the tournament with many countrymates, among which were IM Gozzoli, IM Marzolo, IM Haub, and IM Cossin. The Czech republic was represented by GM Petr Velicka. For Germany the top player was IM Tomas Henrichs and for Ukraine IM Okhotnik. Russia was there as well with the perspective young talent WGM Vera Nebolshina.

After series of surprising results, the event was won by the German IM Thorsten Haub with 7,0/9. He was closely followed by the French GM Vladimir Lazarev, who had the same score 6,5/9 but better tiebreak than IM Storostist, IM Marzolo, FM Vitoux, GM Velicka, GM Bauer, and IM Nikolov.

You can find the crosstable and standings at the official website

Anna Rudolf wins norms

From the first day on the players were surprised by the results of the young Hungarian girl Anna Rudolf (2293), who also represents the Vandoeuvre - Echecs club. Her win against the top seed Christian Bauer (2634) in round two was far to be the end of her fantastic performance as later on she was one of the favorites for the podium. Anna Rudolf was doing a great job and no one could believe she is taking down player after player. In the end Anna finished 9th and achieved both IM and WGM norms!

Besides Anna Rudolf, norms were won by Fionna Steil-Antoni (WIM norm), Benoit Taddei (IM norm) and Colombam Vitoux (IM norm). Congratulations!

Vera Nebolsina simul

The organizers of the tournament had prepared a nice surprise. They have prepared a simul with Vera Nebolsina (WGM, 2349), the U20 World Junior Champion. The final score of the simul - 3 draws and 17 wins.

The winner of the event IM Thorsten- Michael Haub and the president of the Vandoeuvre Club Gérard Simon

The game of round two: GM Bauer Christian – WFM Anna Rudolf, 0-1

IM Cyril Marzolo – WGM Vera Nebolsina

Many special prizes were given by the organizers

Marie Boyarchenko, Vera Nebolsina, and Anna Rudolf

When you’ll be searching for a tournament next December, then the Vandoeuvre Open should be one of the first candidates in your calendar without any doubt!

For further information and results visit the Vandoeuvre site http://vandoeuvre-echecs.com/