Four rounds have already been played at the huge French open in Cappelle La Grande. Ten players from nine different countries share the lead with 3.5 points.
Participants / Follow the games live
Israeli GM Maxim Rodshtein stepped up to the lead thanks to his victory with the white pieces against GM Marius Manolache on the fifth board. The victory was sentenced when Manolache missed a quite easy idea to get a perpetual check on move 29. After this mistake, Rodshtein converted his advantage with some precise moves.
Another player that joined the leaders today was Ukrainian GM Yuri Vovk. He defeated GM Gil Popilski with the black pieces. The game arrived to a rather equal rooks and bishops endgame. Popilski misplayed the position with some superfluous moves and Vovk took advantage to gain the full point at move 40.
The surprise of the day was the win of Chilean GM Mauricio Flores over the experienced GM Vladimir Burmakin. Flores used a solid strategy in the opening and obtained a strategic advantage thanks to his better light-squared bishop. After the exchange of queens, it was clear that the Chilean would eventually manage to capture the misplaced black pawns. Burmakin resigned on move 37.
The other six players that share the lead are IM Aleksandar Indjic – who drew with GM Aleksandar Kovacevic -, GM Alexei Fedorov, GM Renier Vasquez, GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan and Canadian young star GM Eric Hansen.
Standings after 4 rounds:
| 1 | m | INDJIC Aleksandar | 2502 | SRB | 3,5 |
| 2 | g | KOVACEVIC Aleksandar | 2563 | SRB | 3,5 |
| 3 | g | GUREVICH Mikhail | 2581 | TUR | 3,5 |
| 4 | g | RODSHTEIN Maxim | 2616 | ISR | 3,5 |
| 5 | g | FEDOROV Alexei | 2576 | BLR | 3,5 |
| 6 | g | VOVK Yuri | 2594 | UKR | 3,5 |
| 7 | g | VAZQUEZ IGARZA Renier | 2565 | ESP | 3,5 |
| 8 | g | TER-SAHAKYAN Samvel | 2563 | ARM | 3,5 |
| 9 | g | HANSEN Eric | 2557 | CAN | 3,5 |
| 10 | g | FLORES RIOS Mauricio | 2481 | CHI | 3,5 |
Too many ties.