
French
Chess Championships 2011
The French Chess Championship is taking place from the 14th to the 27th of
August 2011. The venue is the University of Caen, a town located two hours north-west
of Paris, just 15 km inland from the English Channel. Caen is known for its
historical buildings built during the reign of William the Conqueror, who was
buried there, and for the Battle for Caen – heavy fighting that took place
in and around Caen during the Battle of Normandy in 1944, destroying much of
the town.
Caen (pronounced kɑ̃
– with the French nasal) has a long and stormy history. In 1346 King Edward
III of England led his army against the city and sacked it, killing 3,000 of
its citizens and burning much of the merchants' quarter. The city was later
captured by Henry V in 1417 and treated harshly for being the first town to
put up any resistance to his invasion.
The Caen skyline facing the Saint-Pierre Church – photo Wikipedia,
scroll to view full panorama.
The University of Caen was founded in 1432 by John of Lancaster, First Duke
of Bedford. By 1438 it had five faculties, and the foundation was confirmed
by the King of France Charles VII in 1452. On July 7, 1944, the university was
totally destroyed by aerial bombing. Reconstruction began in 1948. The new university
was inaugurated in 1957.
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In the French Championship Laurent Fressinet must defend his title against
a strong field, including Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Etienne Bacrot. The rate
of play is 40 moves in 90 minutes, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the
game, with a 30 seconds increment after every move, starting from move one.
There is a delay in the Internet broadcast, which is intended to prevent organised
cheating. We are gratified to see that some organisers are taking heed and implementing
the very simple
procedure which inconveniences nobody but gives the players a sense of security
that was hitherto lacking. Incidentally not a single spectator on the Playchess
server registered that the moves were coming a little later than they had been
played in Caen. One of the reasons that these measures have been implemented
is because you-know-who is playing. But more about that in a separate report.
GMs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Andrei Istratescu started with 4.0/6. Both drew
their round seven games (with black) and now lead together, half a point ahead
of Fressinet, Bacrot and Edouard.


Round three: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave beat Hicham Hamdouchi in 41 moves

Romanian GM Andrei Istrăţescu leads (with Vachier-Lagrave) after seven
rounds

The reigning French champion Laurent Fressinet

Second seed Etienne Bacrot

Fressinet vs Bacrot in round three was a 70-move fighting draw

Bauer vs Feller in round three, a game that ended after 28 moves in a draw
In the women's section the current champion Sophie Milliet is leading after
five rounds with a full point more than her nearest rival.

Andreea Bollengier vs Sophie Milliet in round four was won by Black in 41
moves