Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
Each year, over 15 thousand players compete in varying league matches in teams of four, six, or eight players. The most successful teams will move up in division while the least successful will be moved to a lower one. The Top 12 represents the summit of this pyramid and is played over the course of eleven straight days at the end of the season.
The official poster
This year the competition is being held in the Ladoucette château (castle) in Drancy from
May 28 to June 7, 2016. A most suitable choice for the game of kings.
There are rules regarding the team composition as well as board choices, for example, each team must have at least one French player, one male and one female. At least four of the eight players in the teams must be European Union players residing in France, and no team can have more than three foreign players. Finally, if two players are over 100 Elo apart in a team, the higher rated must play on a higher board.
The entrance to the venue
The elegant interior with tables, chairs, banners and chess-themed paintings throughout
At the very top of the pecking order is Clichy with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on board one,
followed by Laurent Fressinet on board two. MVL's performance has been superb and he
is now the world no. 4 on the Live Ratings list with 2793.
If the teams are of varying strengths as expected, Elo is not everything. Consider that in round three, Bois-Colombes, one of the top teams but with only one player over 2660, held the impressive Clichy to a draw with three wins each. If any of the games was to be called decisive it was the win by Paraguayan grandmaster Axel Bachmann with black over Laurent Fressinet (2692 FIDE).
Laurent Fressinet - Axel Bachmann
A superb effort, yet in round six Bois-Colombes, made up of five grandmasters rated over 2600, was held to a draw by the relatively modest team of Vandoeuvres, whose lineup only has two players over 2500. It just goes to show that there are times when heart trumps Elo.
Heroes for a day, the team of Vandoeuvre showed its spirit of David as it brought down
the Goliath team of Bois-Colombes
A nice little video showing the feel and look of the competition by French Federation cameraman Vincent Vallet
Second seed David Navara from the Czech Republic
The third ranked player is Etienne Bacrot (right) with 2702 FIDE
The top female player is GM Marie Sebag
Each day the viewers are asked to vote on a 'Game of the Day' among the 48 games played. In round
five it was the win of Jean-Noel Riff (left) who won an 18 move miniature against Phillipp Schlosser.Jean-Noel Riff - Phillipp Schlosser
Matthieu Cornette and Christian Bauer show their good spirits
GM Igor Kovalenko (right) had a remarkable run last year and broke 2700
19-year-old Matthias Bluebaum is Germany's top-rated junior with 2633 FIDE
Norwegian GM Jon Ludvig Hammer gets ready for another day of competition
Brazilian grandmaster Alexandre Fier
The official site has also provided live commentary in YouTube in French, conducted by Sylvain Ravot, who
has brought guest commentators each day
Special mention must be made of the excellent site made for the compeittion at drancy2016.ffechecs.org that has included live commentary, regular good resolution photos in a gallery, and daily reports summarizing the results. They have even acquired a sponsor for the daily Best Game, which is voted on by the viewers. Kudos.
Standings after six rounds
| Rk | Team | Pts | Gms | d. | p. | c. |
| 1 | Bischwiller | 17 | 6 | 18 | 25 | 7 |
| 2 | Clichy | 17 | 6 | 16 | 22 | 6 |
| 3 | Nice Alekhine | 16 | 6 | 9 | 19 | 10 |
| 4 | Bois-Colombes | 14 | 6 | 12 | 22 | 10 |
| 5 | Saint-Quentin | 14 | 6 | 2 | 15 | 13 |
| 6 | Mulhouse Philidor | 13 | 6 | 0 | 16 | 16 |
| 7 | Vandoeuvre | 11 | 6 | 0 | 16 | 16 |
| 8 | E.C. Montpellier | 9 | 6 | -4 | 9 | 13 |
| 9 | C.E. Strasbourg | 9 | 6 | -10 | 8 | 18 |
| 10 | Chalons-En-Champagne | 9 | 6 | -7 | 11 | 18 |
| 11 | Drancy | 9 | 6 | -16 | 7 | 23 |
| 12 | Evry Grand Roque | 6 | 6 | -20 | 5 | 25 |
Click for match pairings and team composition
LinksThe games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
|
