Aronian
against French students
Report by Olivier Macard
On June 2–3, Ernst & Young France organized its now traditional chess
tournaments between the best French universities and “Grandes Ecoles”.
The winning teams earn the right to play in a clock simul against an invited
GM, who this year was no other than Levon Aronian, the world's second highest
ranked chess player.
The team of Normale Sup Ulm, the winner of the tournament. In the background
Levon Aronian and Olivier Macard, Ernst & Young partner and organizer of
the event
As in the previous year the tournament was dominated by the team of Normale
Sup Ulm, who just conceded a single draw, against the second placed team in
the tournament, Telecom Bretagne, in the fourth round. After seven round the
teams that had qualified for the simul were namend. The Ernst & Young/ Sciences
Po team, which had qualified for the simul, in a gesture of fair play gave its
place to Centrale Paris. These are the teams that faced Aronian:
- Ens Ulm 1
- Telecom Bretagne
- University Paris 1
- Ens Lyon
- Telecom management
- Ens Ulm 2
- Ensiee 1
- Centrale Paris
The average level of the teams was actually quite strong, many players being
rated above 2100.
The Ernst & Young people, or how to combine work with your hobby…
At 2:30 pm on Sunday, a smiling Aronian, in an elegant black suit and pink
shirt, arrived at Tower First, EY premices, in Paris. During the prize giving
before the simul, he was told that the students had defeated Almira Skripchenko
the previous year by a large score: –5, +2, =1. But Aronian said confidently
that he was not to be afraid, as he himself shared the same score against Almira.
Olivier Macard, Partner at EY and organizer of the tournament, then told the
audience that none of the grandmasters invited so far had managed to score 8-0.
The tone was set…
The team of Telecom Bretagne, yet unaware of their future outstanding performance
Aronian and the qualified teams went for the simul in the “Cube”,
a technology room normally designed for interactive presentations, while the
spectators could follow the games in a room with a breathtaking view over Paris.
Live commentary was provided by Jean-Claude Moingt, former French Federation
president, and Eric Birmingham, the chess trainer who kick-started Maxime Vachier-Lagrave's
career.
A relaxed Aronian starting the simul
The super-GM started the simul very convincingly, putting pressure on every
board and playing aggressively. His speed of play was astonishing: after 45
minutes of play, Aronian had spend a mere five minutes of his own time…
So everybody thought that things would end quite quickly, and that the closing
cocktail would be held at tea time, But the team of Telecom Bretagne found unexpected
resources and, patiently, managed to turn the situation in their favour. And
when the audience saw that Aronian had his white bishop shut out behind his
pawns, and a black rook arrived in a1, combined with a bishop on b7 and a queen
in c6, aiming at g2, many understood that the Armenian Super-GM would not have
fun on board two. As a matter of fact, after several attempts to save the position,
he resigned, to the great joy of Telecom Bretagne, who had their revenge over
Ulm1.
Aronian trying to save the only game where he was worse. Black rook on d2,
bishop
on b7, queen on c6 – well, quite a burden for g2 and the white queen…
In the final count Aronian won seven games and lost one. After the event he
congratulated Telecom Bretagne for their strong play. He was asked when, during
the game, he had felt that things were going wrong, to which he answered that
Ra1 had been the signal that the game could end badly.
Aronian commenting the games. In the background a view of Paris from E&Y
premises
The event was closed with a cocktail (finally!) which saw a smiling Aronian
spend time answering the questions of the students and signing autographs. A
repeat will take place in 2013, and it will be the 20th edition of the EY tournament.
Quite an anniversary, and obviously something special to think about…
All the games of the clock simul to replay
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