Biography of Etienne Bacrot

Name:	Etienne Bacrot
Year of birth:	1983
Country:	FRA
Title:	GM
(Current!?) Elo:	2700
Website:	-
On Fide playerlist:	yes
Biography	The leading French player is a textbook example of ‘how to become a chess professional’. Playing chess since he was 4 years old, the talented Bacrot first became a world champion by age 10, was quickly recognized as someone worth investing in, and the road up was almost obstacle free. He made his first breakthrough into the public eye, when he earned the right to play in the PCA rapid Grand Prix Paris in 1995. Promptly assigned to leading coaches, most notably GM Dorfman, the youngster was also exposed to plenty of competitive high-level chess. Annual matches against leading world GMs paved the way for Etienne’s rapid progress, and by the tender age of 14 and 2 months, he was already a GM himself. Since then, there was really no looking back, when his results got better and better, and his rating went through the roof. In 2004 he made headlines with his 100% score in the French team championships (11/11!). The same year, his already hefty 2660+ ELO took a boost and peaked well above 2700 – Etienne was the real deal. His debuts against the very top were quite encouraging: at both the Petrosian Memorial last year and Dortmund this year, Bacrot went +1 – clearing any doubts that he can swim with the sharks. He should fit right in at the Corus grand slam in January!
Tournaments:
Tournament (1) Final ranking Corustoernooi 2006, Grootmeester A groep, Round Robin 11