Merz, Raphael

Raphael Merz, a 47-year-old German player, is rated 1587. He has held steady between 1550 and 1600 for 14 months. 25 rated games in the past year (≈13/year long-term). Recent standard appearances include grenke Chess Open 2026 B-Open, 5. Int. Baden-Badener Faschingsopen 2026 B-Gruppe, and 3e Festival International d'Annemasse - Tournoi Amateur. Also played 1 rapid (including 6eme open Maurice David d'Annemasse) and 1 blitz events (including 3eme Festival international d'Annemasse - Blitz) recently. He took a 32-month break between Mar 2020 and Dec 2022 (COVID-19 included). His peak of 1793 was reached at age 29 (Jul 2008).