Bischwiller dominate French Team Championship

A commanding performance

After taking silver in 2016 and 2017 behind Clichy, Bischwiller repeated their perfect performance from three years ago — back then, they also scored eleven match victories to finish first. This year, however, they were not even in danger of losing the lead in the final round, as they had already secured the title two days earlier. In a highly competitive league, it will be hard to repeat this feat in coming years.

Bischwiller, the new French champions | Photo: French Chess Federation

They probably owe their success to a highly flexible line-up, as no less than four members of the team played on first board at some point in the tournament. Maxim Rodshtein was the one who received this responsibility the most, and he did not let the team down, getting four wins — all with Black — and seven draws. 

Arkadij Naiditsch played on first board in the most important match of the tournament, against Clichy. However, he spent most of the event on boards 3-5, where he was able to show he can beat lower rated players with his usual uncompromising style. The Azeri gathered no less than seven wins to finish on 8½/11. His final streak of four consecutive victories included a flashy 24-mover against Yuri Solodovnichenko:

My best games in the Sicilian by Alexei Shirov

On this DVD, Shirov focuses on his most outstanding achievements in the Sicilian, a personal selection combining highest chess quality with aesthetic pleasure. His lectures are designed to not only explain the different opening lines, but also to present interesting and sometimes perplexing ideas and sacrifices in the middlegame.

A key feature of the French Team Championship is the fact that the teams must include a French female player in their line-up. Therefore, having a good player in this post — usually the eighth board — tends to be crucial. And Nino Maisuradze proved to be up to the task for Bischwiller this year. Just like Naiditsch, she scored 8½/11, losing only to Pauline Guichard, who, by the way, managed to outscore everybody in the event with an outstanding 10/11.

Guichard "led" Clichy from the last board and was vital for their final second place. The defending champions did not have it easy, however, as they only took silver thanks to a final round loss by Bois Colombes. Besides Guichard, their most stable player was Russian GM Pavel Tregubov, who achieved an undefeated 7/11 score. 

Pauline Guichard and Alexandra Kosteniuk | Photo: French Chess Federation

As mentioned, third place went to Bois Colombes. They had finished fifth last year, but found in Viktor Laznicka and Jan-Krzysztof Duda a good pair of leaders to take home the bronze. The latter, Duda, is having a great year, as he won the Polish Championship and became the best-rated junior player in the world. In round seven, he defeated the strong Ukrainian GM Pavel Eljanov:

The English Opening Vol. 1

Williams main teaching method behind this set of two DVDs is to teach you some simple yet effective set ups, without the need to rely on memorising numerous complicated variations.

It is worth mentioning that the highest rated player in the field, David Navara, also had a great performance. He won six, lost one and drew four games for a gain of 7.1 rating points. His team, Mulhouse, finished sixth, but played an important role in the final round, as they were the ones that gave Clichy second place by defeating Bois Colombes.

Matthias Bluebaum and David Navara | Photo: French Chess Federation

We can only wait for next year's edition, when Clichy will most likely try to take back the trophy from the dashing Bischwiller squad.

Final standings

(Note that the French Team Championship awards 3 points for a win, 2 for a draw, 1 for a loss and 0 for a no-show)

All games

Power Play Vol.23 and 24

On this DVD, Grandmaster Daniel King offers you a repertoire for Black with the QGD and against the Catalan. The repertoire is demonstrated in 20 stem games, covering all White's major systems.

Links

• Official site (English)
• Official site (French)
• Bischwiller leads in French Team Championship