Not long ago I wrote that the young grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is quickly becoming a real threat to Etienne Bacrot's number one position in the French rankings. After winning the Paris Open, Maxime travelled to Hungary to catch first place at the Gy?ɬ?rgy Marx Memorial, virtually overtaking Bacrot!

The 6th Gy?ɬ?rgy Marx Memorial took place in Paks, Hungary from July 24 to August 4, 2008. Gy?ɬ?rgy Marx was a famous Hungarian physicist, known for his work on nuclear power and atomic theory. The tournament has become a traditional summer event, giving talented Hungarian players the opportunity to meet strong foreign grandmasters.

In this year's edition, Vachier-Lagrave was the only undefeated player, scoring 7/10 in this double round-robin. This brought him virtually on a 2703 rating, good for a 30th place in the world rankings, ahead of current French number one Bacrot.

Last year Viktor Korchnoi played in Paks, and this year Chess Experience was represented by GM Alexander Beliavsky. He played an excellent tournament as well, and as a result of the score of the first two players, the other four all lost ratings points.

[TABLE=339]

Below you'll find Maxime's games. In his second game against Stellwagen he was a bit lucky, as the Dutchman allowed his queen to be trapped, but luck is always with the winner of course.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, probably the new number one in France

Still going strong: 54-year-old Alexander Beliavsky (Slovenia)

Ferenc Berkes, Hungary's number four player (behind Leko, Polgar and Almasi)

Gabriel Sargissian, Armenia's number three (behind Aronian and Akopian)

Daniel Stellwagen, Holland's number four (behind I.Sokolov, Tiviakov and Van Wely)

Peter Acs, Hungary's number fourteen

Links:

• Official website
• Games in PGN