Bauer wins 2015 French Rapid Ch

The Russian GM Vladimir Dobrov won the 500 Euros first prize in the Blitz, but it was French number five GM Christian Bauer, playing in front of a home crowd, who finished the big winner of the weekend by winning the Rapid first prize of 1000 Euros, plus the 500 Euros bonus for French champion.

It was nice to see many strong female players fighting against the male grandmasters. The strongest French female player of all time GM Marie Sebag came to prepare for the next World cup. She won the top female prize in Blitz but had to concede the 400 Euro first place in the Rapid to Anastasia Savina.

Banner of the 13th edition

The trophy awaiting the 2015 French Rapid chess champion

The event saw 152 players show up for the Saturday blitz and 217 for the Rapid on Sunday

Fortunately it was possible to put everybody in the same room

Rows and rows of chess

Pairings were displayed on a giant screen which also served to show the top four games live

Players of all genders and ages fought in the same competition

Young, old, or disabled: chess is for everybody

In what other sport could you see this fight ??!!

Some stars such as Tkachiev and Fressinet had to fight to get back to first boards
after very early second round loss

In Nancy, one of the dreams of some participants over the last 13 years is to enter
the famous « circle », the top ten boards

Here the main (and giant) arbiter Eric Delmotte takes care of you

The 2015 edition enjoyed the participation of many charming and strong female players

Here French number five, Christophe Bauer had to concede a half point to WGM Doluhanova

WIM Andriasian against French number six, GM Tkachiev

The very friendly German IM Haub is apparently happy to face WGM Savina

The star among the women was GM Marie Sebag

As always in Nancy the spectators had many fights to follow after their own had ended

It was a comeback for the controversial Sebastien Feller who was allowed to play
because the tournament was not FIDE rated. In any case, his FIDE suspension after
the cheating story of 2010 will end in a few months.

Savina against top-seed of the week-end Laurent Fressinet

A very nice weekend for Christian Bauer who came in third in the blitz and first in the rapid

Fred Berend from Luxemburg had a fantastic blitz event, coming in sixth

Players milled around all boards, not just the top, to follow the action up close

A key clash between Bauer and Fressinet

A classic Parisian clash since Fedorchuk and Guliyev play each other almost every
weekend in the French capital

The best young player was German Lev Yankelevich here against Guliyev

The loneliness of endgame players

Poster of the soon-to-be-released "le Tournoi"

President of the French Chess Federation, Diego Salazar, was present

Here he is with Stephane Laborde, the author of a new refreshed edition of
bestseller book of Philidor, the great French player of 18th century

Joelle Mourgues, director of communication of the French Federation

Arbiters Cedric Paci and Eric Delmotte

The women's podium of blitz on Saturday evening

The final podium male and female of French Rapid championship on Sunday evening

Final blitz standings

Click for complete standings

Final rapid standings

Click for complete standings

Photos by Christophe Philippe