An important rapid chess tournament is currently taking place at the French resort of Cap D’Agde. The 16 participants were divided into 2 groups, the top four from each groups going forward to the knockout stages.

Among the numerous young stars who participated in the French rapid chess event, the name of former World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov stood out. The former chess champion has cut down his activity in recent years, and he managed only 50% in group B. However he qualified for the quarter finals by beating the 14-year-old Chinese prodigy Yifan Hou in a special playoff, and then he surprised the group A winner, Fabiano Caruana and beat him in a blitz decider.

He was joined at the semifinals by world blitz chess champion Ivanchuk (who beat Radjabov in blitz), Carlsen (who beat Bu-Xiangzhi) and Nakamura (who defeated Vachier-Lagrave). Karpov’s run was interrupted in the semi final by the American Hikaru Nakamura. The two favorites, Ivanchuk and Carlsen, were paired in the other semifinal. Ivanchuk won, and in the final he will try to add another trophy to his splendid list of wins in 2008. However, his opponent is a very original and talented player, specializing in blitz chess.

In another rapid chess playoff tournament, held in Moscow on October 28, Peter Svidler was crowned for the 5^th time as the champion of Russia, scoring 3/4 ahead of Jakovenko 2.5 and Alekseev 0.5. Those three shared the first place in the Russian chess championship which ended about two weeks ago.