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Paris Hôtel de Ville at 200 meters of the venue of the festival
Paris is the most visited city in the world and not only that, it is also becoming more and more the city for chess! With almost 50 chess clubs in Paris intra-muros it is not easy to find another place with a higher density.
Lutèce Echecs is one of the oldest chess clubs of the capital and the biggest in France. His main office is located near of the Hôtel de Ville in the fourth district. Every year Lutèce Echecs organizes his traditional Festival of Marais. Le Marais is situated in the heart of Paris and it is one of its most lively area.
The playing hall for the Open Tournament with 120 players in the ballroom
The 7th Chess Festival of Marais was held between the 29th April and the 1st of May in the elegant Town Hall of the fourth Parisian district. This event knew a new record of players with more than 450 competitors from 22 countries in nine tournaments (an International Open for players with a rating below 2200, an international rapid tournament and seven junior tournaments) and two team matches. Open to all, from the young beginner to the strong professional, about 1500 spectators visited the festival in this three-day weekend. Since two years this festival reached a new dimension, not only popular, but also international.
The best chess players from Paris schools in the “Masters” tournament
Alexey the youngest participant well coached by Svetlana and IM David Housieaux
The novelty of this year was the creation of the Grand Prix of Paris which met a large success with 130 participants in 3 categories. Organized in partnership with the committee of the Parisian chess clubs directed by his president Yves Lamorelle, those tournaments select the best young players from Paris. They will integrate an elite team to participate in international competitions.
First Round of the first Grand Prix Poussins (9 to 11 years old)
Girls power: three of them in the four first places!
In the even more cosmopolite Open tournament with ten first players from seven different countries, Baroudi Hanchour was the winner and shared the first place with Anatole Vlachos with 5.5/6.
Nice playing conditions for the players
Chess is an universal game enjoyed by all
94 players in the international rapid tournament in the wedding hall
The last day the festival peaked with a Rapid tournament where 8 Grand Masters and 27 titled players participated. Very disputed until the last minutes before the prize giving, it was finally Azeri GM Namig Guliyev who won with 6/7. He shared it with one of the best young French talents GM Jules Moussard, the Champion of Paris 2016. French IM Anthony Bellaiche made too a great performance also at 6/7.
Liza Vigna beware under her nice smiling hides a dangerous tactician!
Start of the last round: GM Jules Moussard (white) vs GM Konstantin Landa (black) and behind GM Daniel Fridman (white) vs GM Jean-Luc Chabanon (black)
Board 1 of the final round: high tension in the queens ending between the favorite from Ukraine GM Sergey Fedorchuk (white) and the winner from Azerbaijan GM Namig Guliyev (black)
Final prize giving with the President of the French Federation Bachar Kouatly (in the center), Yves Lamorelle (at the mike) and the young players of the Lutèce Echecs team, finishing first this season and accessing next year in the Top16, the premier league of the French team championship.
Congratulations once again to Florence and Catherine to work the snack bar with success those three days!
The 8th edition of the Festival du Marais will be the 30-31 March and 1st of April 2018 so we hope to see you next year for ne w records!
Final Standings Open
Final Standings Rapid
Page of the festival
Lutèce Chess Club website
Julien Lamorelle
Director of the festival
Photos Philippe Durand
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