Éric Prié (), born 14 March 1962 in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, is a French
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
player,
International Grandmaster
Grandmaster (GM) is a title awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Once achieved, the title is held for life, though exceptionally it ha ...
since 1996, currently playing for
Montpellier
Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...
Échecs. He won the title of
French Champion in 1995 and of
Paris Champion in 1982, 1983, 1992 and 1996. He was part of the French team in the
29th,
31st, and
32nd Olympiads
An olympiad ( el, Ὀλυμπιάς, ''Olympiás'') is a period of four years, particularly those associated with the ancient and modern Olympic Games.
Although the ancient Olympics were established during Greece's Archaic Era, it was not unti ...
.
On the March 2011 FIDE list, Prié has an Elo rating of 2508, ranking 737th in the world and 26th in France.
Chess Activities
In the French Chess Federation
Prié is an FFE trainer and teacher to trainers. He was the national technical director of the French federation from September 1998 to October 2001, then national trainer to the young players until July 2005. As such, he was one of the trainers of
Étienne Bacrot
Étienne Bacrot (; born 22 January 1983) is a French chess grandmaster, and as a child, a chess prodigy.
He competed at the Candidates Matches in 2007 and won the Aeroflot Open in 2009. He passed 2700 FIDE rating in 2004 and in January 2005 ...
,
Laurent Fressinet
Laurent Fressinet (; born 30 November 1981 in Dax) is a French chess grandmaster. He is a two-time French Chess Champion.
Career
He won the French Chess Championship in 2010 and 2014. In 2012 he finished second in the European Individual Chess ...
,
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (; born 21 October 1990), often referred to by his initials, MVL, is a French chess grandmaster who is the reigning World Blitz Chess Champion. With a peak rating of 2819, Vachier-Lagrave is the seventh-highest r ...
and
Marie Sebag.
Blindfold Play
Prié is considered France's top blindfold player. He gave many
simultaneous exhibitions without seeing the board, against up to 16 opponents.
Verses
Prié wrote several texts in verses, some of which related to chess, such as those dedicated to the young French player Jules Moussard and the former president of the
French Chess Federation, Jean-Claude Loubatière.
The Prié Attack
Prié gave his name to an
opening
Opening may refer to:
* Al-Fatiha, "The Opening", the first chapter of the Qur'an
* The Opening (album), live album by Mal Waldron
* Backgammon opening
* Chess opening
* A title sequence or opening credits
* , a term from contract bridge
* , ...
, the Prié Attack (
ECO D00,
Closed Game) : 1.d4 d5 2.a3 (diagram). He explained
that this move prevents Black from playing the useful move Bb4 and, in some variations, prepares the b2-b4 pawn advance. The latter idea is akin to playing a
Slav Defense, Chebanenko Variation (also called Chameleon Variation), with reversed colors. Other move orders
transpose into this system, e.g. 1.d4 e6 2.a3 d5.
This opening addresses the problem of excessive theoretical preparation among high-level chess players by playing a sane but unusual system, which forces Black to think from the start of the game instead of reciting moves learnt by heart. Prié reached that goal by successfully playing his opening against amateurs, but also against titled players.
Notable Game
The following game was played by Éric Prié against British
GM Glenn Flear
Glenn Curtis Flear (born 12 February 1959 in Leicester, England) is a British chess grandmaster now living in Montpellier, France. He is the author of several books, some on chess openings and some on the endgame.
He was awarded the Internatio ...
in 2005, in
Lattes.
1.d4 d5 2.a3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nbd7 4.Bf4 g6 5.h3 Bg7 6.e3 0–0 7.Nbd2 b6 8.c3 Bb7 9.Qb3 Ne4 10.Rd1 Nxd2 11.Rxd2 e5 12.dxe5 Qe7 13.Be2 Nxe5 14.Nxe5 Bxe5 15.Bxe5 Qxe5 16.0–0 Rfd8 17.Rfd1 Rd6 18.Bf3 Rad8 19.Qa4 a5 20.c4 c6 21.cxd5 cxd5
Black now has an isolated central pawn, but he cannot use the c and e columns. Moreover, White can efficiently blockade this pawn, which is thus a weakness for Black.
22.Rd4 Qe7 23.Rc1 Qd7 24.Qxd7 R8xd7 25.Rcd1 f5 26.g4 fxg4 27.hxg4 h6 28.Kg2 Kf7 29.Kg3 Rd8 (diagram)
30.e4!!
In spite of appearance, it turns out that the d5-pawn is not sufficiently protected.
30...Ke6 31.exd5+ Bxd5 32.Bxd5+ Rxd5 33.Re1+ Kf6 34.Rf4 Kg5 35.Rf7 Rd3+ 36.f3 R8d5 37.Re6 h5 38.Rff6 hxg4 39.Rxg6+ Kf5 40.Kh4!!
Threatening Rgf6 mate.
40...Kf4 41.Rgf6+ Rf5 42.fxg4 Rxf6 43.Rxf6+ Ke4 44.Rxb6 1–0 (Black resigns).
References
External links
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*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prie, Eric
1962 births
Living people
Chess grandmasters
French chess players
Chess theoreticians
Chess coaches
Sportspeople from Paris