Grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won the European Blitz Chess Championship 2012 that was held on 14th December at The Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, Poland.
435 players from European federations (FIDE Zones 1.1 to 1.10) competed in the 11 double-round Swiss event with the time control G-3’+2”.
Vachier-Lagrave finished clear first with 18,5/22 points, leaving the silver medalist Gabriel Sargissian a full point behind. The French won ten mini-matches and made a 1-1 tie only with GM Zaven Andriasian.
Vladislav Tkachiev took the bronze medal with 17 points. After losing 0-2 early in the tournament against the local FM Kacper Drozdowski, Tkachiev picked up the pace and with a series of wins broke through to the third place.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Final standings:
1. GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime FRA 2749 – 18,5
2. GM Sargissian Gabriel ARM 2666 – 17,5
3. GM Tkachiev Vladislav FRA 2647 2659 – 17,0
4-8. GM Bukavshin Ivan RUS 2632, GM Dreev Aleksey RUS 2696, GM Romanov Evgeny RUS 2538, GM Ragger Markus AUS 2603 and GM Istratescu Andrei FRA 2654 – 16,5
9-10. GM Andriasian Zaven ARM 2629 and GM Tomczak Jacek POL 2558 – 16,0
11-26. GM Fridman Daniel GER 2667, GM Petrosian Tigran L. ARM 2628, GM Kempinski Robert POL 2599, GM Socko Bartosz POL 2571, GM Edouard Romain FRA 2633, GM Stupak Kirill BLR 2561, GM Dziuba Marcin POL 2602, GM Moranda Wojciech POL 2559, GM Riazantsev Alexander RUS 2705, GM Turov Maxim RUS 2562, GM Le Roux Jean-Pierre FRA 2569, GM Stocek Jiri CZE 2557, GM Swiercz Dariusz POL 2580, GM Kulaots Kaido EST 2581, GM Mitoń Kamil POL 2626 and GM Zezulkin Jurij POL 2436 – 15,5 etc
The prize fund was provided by Metlife Amplico.
