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Wednesday, 16 April 2008 |
 Although vice-World Champion Viktor Korchnoi has settled down in Switzerland many years ago, the game of chess has never become very popular in the country. Yannick Pelletier, nominated by the city of Montreux (host city of the 4th Grand Prix event in April 2009), was the first to challenge the pattern.
Yannick Pelletier was born September 22, 1976 in Biel, Switzerland, where he lived until October 2007. Then he moved to Montpellier, France. In 1996 he graduated from Biel's high school (Latin-English) and then decided to become a professional chess player.
Pelletier was three-time Swiss individual champion, won four times the Swiss team championship with his team SG Biel, and has played regularly with the Swiss national team in many international events.
He earned his Grandmaster in 2000. In 2001, 2002, 2006 and 2007 he won the Zurich Open, the last edition was a shared first place. In 2003 he won the Bürgenstock open.
With his team Werder Bremen he won the 2005 Bundesliga, and with his team Clichy he won the French Teams Championship in 2007.
Pelletier's character is a perfect fit: he is not only talented but also hard working and self-critical. He both calculates precisely and has a good feeling for more quiet phases of the game. His technique is very clean. The likeable Pelletier speaks several languages fluently, amongst them Russian.
Although he's certainly not one of the favorites in this field, the fighter Pelletier will not be beaten easily. A good performance would bring tremendous pride to his hometown Biel, as well has host city Montreux. Pelletier's girlfriend is a strong chess player too: WGM Sophie Milliet.
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