Nicolas is a Process Engineer at Cryostar and an International Chess Master.
It’s well known that in chess you always have to be several moves ahead if you hope to win the game. “Chess is the art of analysis, it’s 99% tactics, knowing when to strike and when to dodge, a passion that goes back to childhood”.
Checkmate!
Nicolas has been a club player since the age of nine and has an impressive record of achievement: he is currently ranked 51st in France (out of approximately 50,000 licensed players in France) and 1399th in the world out of some 300,000 internationally ranked players in the world.
Our talented player has been one of the 123 french International Masters since 2007. He has also achieved some of the requirements to be an International Grandmaster and has participated in many international competitions, winning several titles. Among his most memorable events were the Under-16 World Championship in Spain in 2000 and the European Club Cup in 2022 where his Riehen team finished 25th out of 70. He also had the opportunity to play in an official match against former world champion Boris Spassky, famous for his world championship match against the American Bobby Fischer in 1972.
“I have been playing in Switzerland for the club Riehen, a suburb of Basel, since 2014. This last season 2022, we finished third in the championship (behind Luzern and Zurich) and I was the best individual player in the Swiss championship in all categories with a score of 7 points in 8 games. I also participated with the Riehen club in the European Club Cup in Austria at the beginning of October 2022 where the World Champion Magnus Carlsen was also present, a memorable experience!”.
“Innovation is at the heart of my mission”
Nicolas, originally from Nancy, is a graduate of the National School of Chemical Industries (ENSIC). After a first job in the Paris region, he chose Cryostar and moved to Alsace. He has been a Process Engineer for 10 years in the LNG Marine Business Unit.
“I really like the Cryostar culture, which is built on values close to those of chess. Taking up challenges is one of these values. Each competition is a new challenge with new opponents. In my job, the daily challenges are also very motivating. I carry out industrial projects for LNG carriers, the large ships that transport liquefied natural gas. I have a global function, I am the architect on these projects for international clients, and innovation is at the heart of my mission. For example, I file several patents every year.
The Alsatian culture also contributed to bringing Nicolas to Cryostar. “I came to Alsace because I appreciate its local rigor and good organization, and I have Swiss roots going back five generations, as my family came from Therwil, a suburb of Basel”.
The common qualities to win chess and perform in his job as Process Engineer are, according to him, concentration, anticipation, planning, innovation and memory.
“Memory, both in chess and in work, is a central skill, innovation is not only the ability to have new ideas but also the ability to use past experience to generate continuous improvement”.
