Étienne Bacrot (; born 22 January 1983) is a French

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

grandmaster, and as a child, a

chess prodigy Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves no hidden information and no elements of chance. It is played on a square board consisting of 64 squares arranged in an 8×8 grid. The players, referred to ...

. He competed at the

Candidates Matches The Candidates Tournament (or in some periods Candidates Matches) is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chess's international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The win ...

in 2007 and won the

Aeroflot Open The Aeroflot Open is an annual open chess tournament organised through the joint efforts of the Chess Federation of Russia and the Russian Ministry of Sport with the sponsorship from the Russian flag carrier, Aeroflot. It is played in Moscow, ho ...

in 2009. He passed 2700

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...

rating A rating is an evaluation or assessment of something, in terms of a metric (e.g. quality, quantity, a combination of both,...). Rating or rating system may also refer to: Business and economics * Credit rating, estimating the credit worthiness ...

in 2004 and in January 2005 he became the first French player to enter the top 10. Bacrot won an individual bronze medal at the

37th Chess Olympiad The 37th Chess Olympiad (), organized by FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed ...

in 2006 for his performance on board one, as well as four medals at the World Team Championships.

Chess career

He started playing at age 4. By 10, Bacrot was winning junior competitions, and in 1996, at 13 years of age, he won against

Vasily Smyslov Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov (; 24 March 1921 – 27 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster who was the seventh World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidates Tournament, Candidate for the World Chess Championship on ...

. He became a Grandmaster in March 1997 at the age of 14 years and 2 months, making him the youngest person at the time to have held the title until

Ruslan Ponomariov Ruslan Olehovych Ponomariov (; born 11 October 1983) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was FIDE World Chess Champion from 2002 to 2004 and is the youngest holder of the title at the age of 18 years and 104 days, though the title was split ...

took the record that December. He was coached previously by

Josif Dorfman Josif (Josef, Iossif, Iosif) Davidovich Dorfman (born 1 May 1952, Zhytomyr) is a Soviet-French chess Grandmaster, coach, and chess writer. Tournament results Dorfman played in several USSR championships. In 1975, he took thirteenth in Yerev ...

. Bacrot served as one of the four advisors to the world team in the 1999

Kasparov versus the World Kasparov versus the World was a game of chess played in 1999 over the Internet. It was a , in which a World Team of thousands decided each move for the black pieces by plurality vote, while Garry Kasparov conducted the white pieces by himself. Mo ...

event. He has a son, Alexandre, and a daughter, Victoria, with Nathalie Bonnafous. In 2023 Bacrot took part in the

Chess World Cup The FIDE World Cup is a major chess event organized by FIDE, the international governing body. History Three different formats have been used: *In 2000 and 2002, it was a multi-stage tournament, with a group stage consisting of 24 players in fo ...

in Baku as the 52nd seed, making it to the fourth round after defeating Nay Lin Tun, Aleksandar Indjic and the 13th seed

Yu Yangyi Yu Yangyi (; born 8 June 1994) is a Chinese chess grandmaster. He qualified for the Grandmaster title at 14 years, 11 months and 23 days old in 2009. He is a three-time Chinese Chess Champion and the 2014 Asian Chess Champion. He was a me ...

from China, before losing to Indian GM

Vidit Gujrathi Vidit Gujrathi (born 24 October 1994) is an Indian chess grandmaster. Gujrathi attained the title of grandmaster in January 2013, becoming the 30th player from India to do so. He is the fourth Indian player to have crossed the Elo rating of 27 ...

. He, then, participated in the FIDE Grand Swiss 2023, where he scored 6,5/11 and was in contention for a top 2 finish until round 8 when he lost against

Fabiano Caruana Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an Italian and American chess grandmaster who is the reigning four-time United States Chess Champion. With a peak rating of 2844, Caruana is the third-highest-rated player in history. Born in Mia ...

after blundering in time pressure. In this strong tournament he beat Belgian GM

Daniel Dardha Daniel Dardha (born 1 October 2005) is a Belgian chess grandmaster. He won the Belgian Chess Championship in 2019 at age 13, becoming the youngest player to do so. Chess career In 2017, aged 12, he won the U-14 Blitz Chess Championship. He earn ...

, German GM

Niclas Huschenbeth Niclas Huschenbeth (born 29 February 1992) is a German chess grandmaster and a two-time German Chess Champion (2010, 2019). He played in the Chess Olympiads of 2008 and 2010. Chess career Huschenbeth won the German championship in 2010. He cam ...

and 2720-rated GM

, with a TPR of 2749. After the Grand Swiss, Bacrot played on board 1 for France in the

European Team Chess Championship The European Team Championship (often abbreviated in texts and games databases as ''ETC'') is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9. This more ...

scoring 4/8 as France finished in seventh place.

Annual hometown game

Bacrot has played several matches against prominent players in his home town of

Albert Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert Computers, Inc., a computer manufacturer in the 1980s * Albert Czech Republic, a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street mar ...

. In 1996 he beat

5–1, in 1997 lost to

Viktor Korchnoi Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi (, ; 23 March 1931 – 6 June 2016) was a Soviet (before 1976) and Swiss (after 1980) chess grandmaster (GM) and chess writer. He is considered one of the strongest players never to have become World Chess Champion. Bor ...

4–2, in 1998 defeated

Robert Hübner Robert Hübner (6 November 1948 – 5 January 2025) was a German chess grandmaster, chess writer, and papyrologist. He was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s. Chess career At eighteen, Hübner was joint winner of t ...

3½–2½, in 1999 lost to

Alexander Beliavsky Alexander Genrikhovich Beliavsky (, , ; also romanized ''Belyavsky''; born December 17, 1953) is a Soviet, Ukrainian and Slovenian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1975. He is also a chess coach and in 2004 wa ...

3½–2½, in 2000 lost to

Nigel Short Nigel David Short (born 1 June 1965) is an English Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, columnist, coach and commentator who has been the FIDE Director for Chess Development since September 2022. Short earned the title of grandmaster at the ...

4–2, in 2001 tied 3–3 with

Emil Sutovsky Emil Sutovsky (; born 19 September 1977) is an Israeli chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1996. Sutovsky is the FIDE CEO since 2022. Previously, he served as FIDE Director-General (2018-22). He was the president of th ...

, in 2002 beat

Boris Gelfand Boris Abramovich Gelfand (; born 24 June 1968) is a Belarusian-Israeli chess player. A six-time World Championship candidate (1991, 1994–95, 2002, 2007, 2011, 2013), he won the Chess World Cup 2009 and the 2011 Candidates Tournament, mak ...

3½–2½, and in 2004 (there was no match in 2003) won against Ivan Sokolov 3½–2½.

Notable results

*Eight times French champion (becoming at 16 years old the youngest French champion ever) with five in a row from 1999 to 2003 and then in 2008, 2012 and 2017. *Beat

at 19 years old 3½–2½ and Ivan Sokolov at 21 years old 3½–2½ in

. *Beat

Judit Polgár Judit Polgár (born 23 July 1976) is a Hungarian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, widely regarded as the Strong (chess), strongest female chess player of all time. In 1991, Polgár achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 15 years ...

3–1 in a rapid match at age 16 years old in

Bastia Bastia ( , , , ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest popu ...

, tied

Anatoly Karpov Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (, ; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, ⁣and politician. He was the 12th World Chess Champion from 1975 ...

in a rapid match 3–3 at 17 years old. *Won

Enghien-les-Bains Enghien-les-Bains () is a Communes of France, commune in the Departements of France, department of Val-d'Oise, France. It is located in the northern suburbs of Paris, from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Enghien-les-Bains is famous as a s ...

tournament in 1997 ahead of

doing his final GM norm at 14 years old and 4 months. *Won

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

young masters in 1999 beating

in final. *Qualified for the quarter-final of the world rapid chess championships in 2003 in

Cap d'Agde Cap d'Agde () is a seaside resort on France's Mediterranean coast. It is located in the commune of Agde, in the Hérault department within the region of Occitanie. Cap d'Agde was planned by architect Jean Le Couteur as part of one of th ...

. *Accomplished an 11/11 score in French team championship in 2004. *Won Petrosian memorial with the world team in 2004 with the tied 3rd individual performance. *Won Karpov Poikovsky tournament in 2005 ahead of

Viktor Bologan Victor (Viorel) Bologan (born 14 December 1971) is a Moldovan chess player and author. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1991. Career Bologan won the first two editions of the Poikovsky Karpov International Tournament, in 20 ...

Alexander Grischuk Alexander Igorevich Grischuk (born October 31, 1983) is a Russian chess grandmaster. Grischuk was the Russian champion in 2009. He is also a three-time world blitz chess champion (in 2006, 2012 and 2015). He has competed in five Candidates To ...

Peter Svidler Pyotr Veniaminovich Svidler (; born 17 June 1976), commonly known as Peter Svidler, is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster and commentator who is an eight-time Russian Chess Champion. Svidler has competed in three World Championshi ...

and

Alexey Dreev Alexey Sergeyevich Dreev (, also transliterated as Aleksey or Alexei; born 30 January 1969) is a Russian chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster by FIDE in 1989. Career While being a promising young chess talent, ...

. *Finished third at

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

Sparkassen in 2005. *Finished third at the 2005

world cup beating

for bronze. This qualified him for the Candidates Tournament of the

FIDE World Chess Championship 2007 The World Chess Championship 2007 was held in Mexico City, from 12 September 2007 to 30 September 2007 to decide the world champion of the game of chess. It was an eight-player, double round robin tournament. Viswanathan Anand won the tournament ...

in May–June 2007, although he would have qualified on rating anyway. However he was eliminated from the Candidates in the first round of matches, losing 3½–½ to

Gata Kamsky Gata Kamsky (; ; born June 2, 1974) is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster, and a five-time U.S. champion. Kamsky reached the final of the FIDE World Chess Championship 1996 at the age of 22, and reached a ranking of fourth in the world ...

. *Won the 2006 FiNet

Chess960 Chess960, also known as Fischer Random Chess, is a chess variant that randomizes the starting position of the pieces on the back rank. It was introduced by former world chess champion Bobby Fischer in 1996 to reduce the emphasis on opening prepa ...

Open with a 9½/11 score. *Won the 2008 French Championship. *Won the 2009

. *Third at the 2010 Nanjing tournament behind Carlsen and Anand. *Won 2011 Poikovsky Karpov tournament with 5½/9 ahead of

Sergey Karjakin Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin (born 12 January 1990) is a Russian chess grandmaster (chess), grandmaster and politician. A chess prodigy, he previously held the record for the world's youngest ever grandmaster, having qualified for the title a ...

, Dimitry Jakovenko.

Team results

*European team chess championship playing with France: 2nd in 2001, 3rd in 2005 and 2nd in 2021. *Many times French team champion and European club champion with Nao chess club.

Youth results

*World champion in under-10 years old category. *World champion in under-12 years old category. *Beat

Levon Aronian Levon Grigori Aronian (; born 6 October 1982) is an Armenian chess grandmaster who has represented the United States since 2021. A chess prodigy, he earned the title of grandmaster in 2000, at the age of 17. He is a former world rapid and blit ...

in a match in

. *IM at 12 years old. *GM at 14 years old setting a new record at that time.

Rankings

*Ranked No. 9 in the world in every 2005 FIDE list, playing 55 games.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bacrot, Etienne 1983 births Living people Sportspeople from Lille Chess Grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors French chess players World Youth Chess Champions