A great performance for the most exciting encounter of the year in rapid chess in France and the most well-endowed closed tournament at the moment. With the success achieved and the promise from the Grandmasters to return next year for the 2013 Masters, Jean-Philippe Dubois would like to expand the 2013 event by opening it to 100 players, including 5 SUPER Grandmasters from the Top 20 in the world in 2012, and involving all the Mayors of the Metropolis in chess where chess is taught in schools.
This invitation-only Masters, conceived and organized by the dynamic Nice-Alekhine Club and its President Jean Philippe Dubois, was endowed with €9,000 in prizes distributed among the 55 players by the English Football Sponsor, FxPro, in gratitude to Nice Alekhine Club for enabling Nice through its University to be a Triple Champion of FRANCE at the University level in 2009, 2010, 2011, a unique achievement in the annals of University Sports.
The Champions of FRANCE and GERMANY, the Super Grandmasters BACROT and NAIDITSCH (ranked in the World’s Top 20), accepted the invitation to this duel over the 54 squares, and Nice ALEKHINE decided to pit them against the best South American Rapid player, Brazilian Grandmaster Alexandr FIER, 24 years old, the European Champion and coach of the French Elites at the FFE, Russian Grandmaster Pavel TREGUBOV.
The lineup was completed by 8 National Champions, and 4 Grandmasters and Grandmaster Females, and all the best in Regional PACA Chess.
In the best of 9 rounds, Grandmaster FIER won with a decisive score of 8 points out of 9, winning 7 rounds and drawing 2, including a magical victory against Bacrot, who was the brilliant second in the 2012 Masters. Naiditsch, ranked highest in the Top 100, took the 3rd place ahead of Tregubov, who was very consistent despite limited training due to his multiple commitments with the French teams.
