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

• Rounds 1-6: Fabulous Fressinet in First Half French Championship