GRENKE Chess Classic Baden-Baden2.2.2015 - 9.2.2015

Etienne Bacrot

Name: Etienne Bacrot
Age: 31
Nationality: French
World ranking: No. 39

Etienne Bacrot’s rating of 2711 puts him in the world top 40. Since the 2005/6 season the 31-year-old French player has represented OSG Baden-Baden in the Bundesliga, but he qualified for the 2015 GRENKE Chess Classic by winning the Elo Open which was held alongside the first edition in 2013.

Seven-time French Champion Etienne Bacrot was a true prodigy. He won the World U10 and U12 Championships and in 1997 became the youngest grandmaster in history at the age of only 14 years and 2 months. Two years later he was the youngest ever French Champion and proved it was no accident by winning the title for each of the next four years. Bacrot truly came of age when he reached the world Top 10 as a 21-year-old in 2005. In the same year he beat Vladimir Kramnik on his way to third place at the Dortmund supertournament and won the Karpov Tournament in Poikovsky in a field that included Alexander Grischuk and Peter Svidler. He couldn’t quite maintain that pace, though he continues to show glimpses of his class, including winning the 2009 Aeroflot Open, the 2011 Poikovsky Tournament and two more French Championships.

Etienne Bacrot has been one of the top performers on the French national team for years. In 2001 and 2013 he helped France to silver medals in the European Team Championship, while in 2005 they took bronze. Bacrot starts the 2015 GRENKE Chess Classic as an outsider, but due to his vast experience and talent he’s unlikely to be a pushover for any of the players.