Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Moussard Misses Win
Jules Moussard (born 16 January 1995) is a French GM. He is the only player who has won the French youth championships in every age category. In 2002, he won the title in the French under-8 championship. He finished first in the under-10 category 1n 2005 . In the under-12 he won the title in 2006. The year 2009 in Paris he won the French under-14 championship. In 2012, he won the title in the under-18 category. And finally, in 2015 he won his last French youth championship in the under-20 section.
Moussard’s style of play is very aggressive fighting permanently for the initiative. His tactics radar is always on, as we saw in his game against Gukesh in round 4 of the London Chess Classic, 2022. In that game, Gukesh had a winning position but overlooked a trick that led to a self-mate.
Today’s game had a similar outcome but the victim was Moussard himself. The game corresponds to round 6 in the same tournament. Moussard played against the veteran English GM Michael Adams. The French player overwhelmed his opponent and obtained a crushing attack. But then he suffered a sudden chess blindness blundering away the game in only one move.
A heartbreaking defeat this time for Moussard. This defeat was especially painful because in case of winning, Moussard would have taken the lead of the tournament.
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