Etienne Bacrot is a Chess Grandmaster from France with Elo ratings exceeding 2600 from FIDE, making him one of the best French chess players of all time.
Full Name: Etienne Bacrot
Title: Grandmaster (1997)
Place of birth: Lille, France
Born: January 22, 1983
Federation: France
Ratings
World ranking: 102
Rapid: 2720
Blitz: 2673
Classical: 2648
Peak rating: 2749 (November 2013)
Peak ranking No: 9 (January 2005)
Profiles
Biography
Etienne Bacrot is a French chess Grandmaster, born on January 22nd, 1997 in Lille France. Bacrot was 14 years and 2 months old when he earned the Grandmaster title in March 1997, putting him as the youngest player to hold the title till after Ruslan Ponomariov broke the milestone in December. Josif Dorfman was his former instructor. In the 1999 Kasparov vs the World tournament, Bacrot was among the four counselors on the world side. As of August 2022, Bacrot’s FIDE rating was 2648 while his Peak rating was 2749 as of November 2013. In his country, in 2004, Bacrot surpassed a FIDE rating of 2700, and in January 2005, he became the 1st French competitor to join the top ten. As of January 2005, he had a Peak ranking of number 9 while in August 2022, he ranked number 102 globally. Bacrot received a solo bronze medal as a reward for his play on the first board in the 37th Chess Olympiad in 2006, in addition to four medals at the World Team Tournament. With his Spouse, Nathalie Bonnafous, he has a son, Alexandre, and a daughter, Victoria.
The Beginning
Etienne Bacrot began engaging in chess competitions after attaining the age of 4 years. It did not take long for him to begin triumphing in junior tournaments and that began at age 10. Bacrot trounced Vasily Smyslov to emerge victorious in a contest that saw the two engage in a fierce showdown. The following year in March, Bacrot was awarded the Grandmaster title. Since then, the Grandmaster received major schedules to compete in tournaments in his country and also across the globe.
To begin with, Bacrot participated in multiple tournaments in his hometown of Albert against renowned players. He defeated 5-1, Vasily Smyslov, in 1996, beaten 4-2 by Viktor Korchnoi in 1997, won 3.5-2.5 against Robert Hubner in 1998, defeated 3.5-2.5 by Alexander Beliavsky in 1999, lost 4-2 to Nigel Short in 2000, shared 3-3 with Emil Sutovsky in 2001, defeated 3.5-2.5 Boris Gelfand in 2002, beat 3.5-2.5 Ivan Sokolov in 2004.
Extensively, as of 2022, Etienne Bacrot has competed in 2689 tournaments since he began playing in 1992. In these tournaments, Bacrot has won 1014, Drew 1213, and lost 462 hence attaining an average score of 60.26 percent. furthermore, Bacrot’s repertoire with White pieces includes; Queen’s Indian, 4.g3- 28 games, Nimzo-Indian defence- 27 games, Queen’s Indian defence- 27 games, and Queen’s Indian, 4.Nc3, main line- 26 games. on the other hand, Etienne Bacrot Repertoire with Black pieces includes; Ruy Lopez, Berlin defence, open variation- 76 games, Queen’s Gambit Declined Slav, 4.Nc3- 50 games, Ruy Lopez, Berlin defence- 35 games, and Queen’s Gambit Declined, 3.Nc3- 32 games.
Bacrot’s Last tournaments played span across three different countries and include;
TCh-AUT 2nd Mitte 2021-22- played on January 10th, 2021 in Austria. The average Elo rating of contestants was 2253. Bacrot was the runner-up with 8.5 points.
TCh-FRA Top 16 Haute 2022- held on June 16th, 2022 in France with the average Elo rating of players being 2517. Bacrot came seventh on tiebreak with a score of 3.0 points.
TCh-FRA Top 16 GpA 2022- held on September 6th, 2022 in France with the Average Elo rating of participants being 2383. Bacrot came in 9th place on tie break with a score of 4.5 points.
Bundesliga 2021-22- contest held on May 3rd, 2022 in Germany. The Average Elo rating of players was 2541. Bacrot placed 14th on a tie break with a score of 1.5 points.
Bacrot’s notable achievements
- Defeated 19 years old, Boris Gelfand, 3.5-2.5-, and 21-years old Ivan Sokolov 3.5-2.5.
- At the age of 16, Bacrot defeated Judit Polgár 3-1 in a quick game in Bastia, and at the age of 17, she matched Anatoly Karpov 3-3 in a rapid game.
- Picked up the Enghien-Les-Bains championship in 1997, beating out Viktor Korchnoi, who was 14 years and 4 months old at the time.
- Won the French Championships on eight occasions at age 16, hence being the youngest
- French victor ever, triumphing consecutively five of the trophies from 1999 to 2003, thereafter in 2008, 2012, and 2017.
- In 1999, Bacrot claimed the Lausanne Young Masters, defeating Ruslan Ponomariov in the decisive match.
- In 2003, he advanced to the quarter-finals of the World Rapid Chess Tournament in Cap d’Agde.
- In 2004, he won the French squad title with a score of 11 points out of 11 games.
- Captured the Petrosian Memorial with the global squad in 2004, finishing split for third place in solo performance.
- In 2005, he claimed the Karpov Poikovsky competition above of Viktor Bologan, Alexander Grischuk, Peter Svidler, and Alexey Dreev.
- Achieved 3rd place in the FIDE World Cup in 2005, knocking out Alexander Grischuk for bronze. This advanced him for the Candidates Championship of the 2007 FIDE World Chess Tournament from May to June 2007, but he would have progressed on rating regardless. He was knocked out of the Candidates in the initial set of games, falling 3.5-0.5 to Gata Kamsky.
- triumphed in the 2006 FiNet Chess960 Open with a score of 9.5 points out of 11 games.
- Picked up the French Tournament in 2008.
- Emerged victorious at the Aeroflot Open in 2009.
- Finished third in the 2010 Nanjing championship, trailing only Carlsen and Anand.
- Achieved victory in the 2011 Poikovsky Karpov competition with a score of 5.5 points out of 9 games, beating off Sergey Karjakin, Fabiano Caruana, and Dimitry Jakovenko.
- World finalist in the U10 age group.
- World finalist in the U12 age group.
- In Albert, he defeated Levon Aronian.
- International Master at the age of 12.
- At the age of 14, Grandmaster established a new milestone.
- Across every 2005 FIDE rankings, he was ranked ninth in the globe, having played 55 matches.
Bacrot’s achievements in team competitions
- Came second in 2001, third in 2005, and second again in 2021 at the European team chess championships with France.
- Nao chess club has won the French team championship and the European club championship several times.
- Did you like reading the chess profile of Etienne Bacrot? If you did, you might be interesting in reading other player profiles such as Bobby Fischer, Andrew Tang, and Rey Enigma.
Sources