Éric Prié

Éric Prié , born 14 March 1962 in Paris, is a French chess player, International Grandmaster since 1996, currently playing for Montpellier 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.

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, Laurent Fressinet, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 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

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 grandmaster Glenn Flear in 2005, in Lattes.

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.

30.e4!!

In spite of appearance, it turns out that the d5-pawn is not sufficiently protected.

Threatening Rgf6 mate.