Joël Lautier is a French chess

Chess

Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

 grandmaster

International Grandmaster

The title Grandmaster is awarded to strong chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain....

 and FIDE Senior Trainer (2006).

Born in Canada, of French father and Japanese mother, Lautier is one of the strongest grandmasters from France. He won the 1988 World Junior Chess Championship

World Junior Chess Championship

The World Junior Chess Championship is an under-20 chess tournament organized by the World Chess Federation ....

 on tiebreak at Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

, and the French Chess Championship

French Chess Championship

The French Chess Championship is the annual, national chess tournament of France. It was officially first played in 1923after the formation of the Fédération Française des Echecs in 1921. The first unofficial national tournament was played in 1880, in the Café de la Régence, where further edition...

s in 2004 and 2005. He was the No. 2 French GM in 2005 after Étienne Bacrot

Étienne Bacrot

Étienne Bacrot is a French chess grandmaster and currently ranked number one in France.He started playing at 4; by 10 young Bacrot was already winning junior competitions and in 1996, at 13 years of age, he won against Vasily Smyslov...

.

Lautier first received world attention in 1986 in San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...

, when at age 13, he defeated both Sofia Polgar and Judit Polgár

Judit Polgár

Judit Polgár is a Hungarian chess grandmaster. She is by far the strongest female chess player in history. In 1991, Polgár achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 15 years and 4 months, the youngest person ever to do so at that time.Polgár was ranked No...

 to win the Under-14 World Championship. (Sofia and Judit tied for second.)

Slayer of world champions

Lautier is one of only three players (the others being Vassily Ivanchuk and Peter Svidler

Peter Svidler

Peter Veniaminovich Svidler is a Russian chess grandmaster.He is six-time Russian champion ....

) to have beaten every World Champion

World Chess Championship

The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....

 dating back to 1975 (Anatoly Karpov

Anatoly Karpov

Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once...

, Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov

Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....

, Vladimir Kramnik

Vladimir Kramnik

Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007...

, Alexander Khalifman

Alexander Khalifman

Alexander Valeryevich Khalifman is a Soviet and Russian chess Grandmaster of Jewish descent; he is also a former FIDE champion.When Khalifman was 6 years old, he was taught chess by his father....

, Viswanathan Anand

Viswanathan Anand

V. Anand or Anand Viswanathan, usually referred as Viswanathan Anand, is an Indian chess Grandmaster, the current World Chess Champion, and currently second highest rated player in the world....

, Ruslan Ponomariov

Ruslan Ponomariov

Ruslan Olegovich Ponomariov is a Ukrainian chess player and former FIDE World Champion.-Early career:Ponomariov was born in Horlivka in Ukraine. In 1994 he placed third in the World Under-12 Championship at the age of ten. In 1996 he won the European Under-18 Championship at the age of just...

, Rustam Kasimdzhanov

Rustam Kasimdzhanov

Rustam Kasimdzhanov is an Uzbekistani chess Grandmaster, best known for winning the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004. He was born in Tashkent, in the former Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic...

, and Veselin Topalov

Veselin Topalov

Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. He currently has the sixth highest rating in the world, and was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2010, losing the match 6½–5½....

).

He twice defeated Garry Kasparov with the black pieces, for example, in Linares

Linares chess tournament

The Linares International Chess Tournament , is an annual chess tournament, usually played around the end of February, takes its name from the city of Linares in the Jaén province of Andalusia, Spain, in which it is held...

 1994:

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4

Italian Game

The Italian Game is a family of chess openings beginning with the moves:The game's defining move is the White king's bishop's move to c4 in preparation for an early attack on Black's vulnerable f7-square. As such the game is typified by aggressive play, where Black's best chances are often...

 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. Bb3 h6 7. h3 a6 8. Nbd2 Be6 9. Bc2 Ba7 10. Qe2 Qe7 11. b4 d5 12. a4 b5 13. O-O O-O 14. axb5 axb5 15. d4 exd4 16. e5 dxc3 17. exf6 Qxf6 18. Nb3 Nxb4 19. Bb1 d4 20. Rxa7 c2 21. Rxa8 cxb1=Q 22. Rxf8+ Kxf8 23. Qxb5 Qxb3 24. Qb8+ Ke7 25. Qxc7+ Ke8 26. Bd2 Qd8 0–1

Other life

Lautier is one of the founders of the ACP (Association of Chess Professionals

Association of Chess Professionals

The Association of Chess Professionals is a not-for-profit organisation, the closest thing in existence to a trade union for professional chess players. According to Article 2 of its terms:-History:...

; www.chess-players.org). He served as president from 2004-05.

As of 2009, Lautier was no longer classifying himself as a chess professional, but working a business in Russia. He speaks fluent Russian.

Lautier was married to Woman Grandmaster Almira Skripchenko

Almira Skripchenko

Almira Skripchenko is a French chess player who has achieved the FIDE International Master and Woman Grandmaster titles...

, but is currently divorced.

External links

• Interview With GM Joel Lautier