Fressinet Wins French Championship
After such a great start of 5.5/6 it could hardly go wrong: GM Laurent Fressinet won the French Championship in Nimes on Thursday, finishing on 8.5/11. Second came GM Etienne Bacrot, a point behind, followed by GM Romain Edouard who scored half-a-point less.
Nino Maisuradze won the women's section with 9.0/11.
Starting with 5.5/6 gave Fressinet the comfortable option to consolidate, and cruise to his second French title. And that's basically what he did, if you look at the results: draws in rounds 7, 8 and 9, another win and another draw.
Fressinet clearly went into safe mode in the second half. An example is his round 9 game, which saw an interesting opening:
In the penultimate round, Fressinet was helped somewhat as his opponent blundered in an equal position:
With one round to go, Fressinet was a point ahead of Etienne Bacrot, the top seed with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave playing in St. Louis. A tie for first was still possible, but what to do as Black against that mega-solid 5.Re1 line?
French Championship 2014 | Final Standings
| # | Name | Rtg | Perf | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | Pts | SB |
| 1 | Fressinet,L | 2708 | 2793 |  |
½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 8.5/11 | |
| 2 | Bacrot,E | 2720 | 2713 | ½ | |
1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7.5/11 | |
| 3 | Edouard,R | 2680 | 2680 | ½ | 0 | |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7.0/11 | |
| 4 | Gharamian,T | 2657 | 2650 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 6.5/11 | |
| 5 | Bauer,C | 2658 | 2618 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | |
1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 6.0/11 | 31.00 |
| 6 | Cornette,M | 2533 | 2628 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | |
0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 6.0/11 | 29.75 |
| 7 | Degraeve,JM | 2566 | 2625 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | |
½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6.0/11 | 27.25 |
| 8 | Dorfman,I | 2571 | 2593 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | |
1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 5.5/11 | 28.75 |
| 9 | Maze,S | 2565 | 2594 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | |
1 | 1 | 1 | 5.5/11 | 22.50 |
| 10 | Sokolov,A | 2556 | 2425 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | |
½ | 1 | 3.0/11 | 13.00 |
| 11 | Chabanon,JL | 2485 | 2431 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | |
1 | 3.0/11 | 12.00 |
| 12 | Roser,K | 2400 | 2289 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
1.5/11 |
The top group was just one of a total of eight tournaments played at the same time. There was also the women's championship, the veterans' championship for players older than sixty, an open tournament that served as a qualifier for 2015, and four more open groups.
The festival, which included about 750 chess players in total, took place in Nimes, a city in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of southern France.
Earlier report
