French Championship: Yannick Gozzoli leads with 3.0/4

by Johannes Fischer
8/17/2016 – The French Championship 2016 can boast of a strong field, even though Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Etienne Bacrot do not take part. But the nine Grandmasters and the one International Master who play a for the title do have an average Elo of 2587. With a rating of 2677 Laurent Fressinet is top seed but after four rounds GM Yannick Gozzoli leads with 3.0/4. Half a point behind follow three players with 2.5/4 each, among them Jean-Francois Jolly, the lowest-rated player in the field.
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The small town of Agen, host of the French Championships 2016, has about 35,000 inhabitants, lies between the big cities of Bordeaux and Toulouse.

Opening ceremony

The first four rounds saw a number of surprises. One of them is the strong start of Yannick Gozzoli. With a rating of 2573 Gozzoli did not belong to the favorites but with two wins and two draws he is sole leader after four rounds. Even more surprising is the result of Jean-Francois Jolly, the only International Master in the field, and with an Elo of 2371 much lower rated than his nine 2500+ colleagues.

After a first round draw with Black against Tigran Gharamian Jolly defeated Christian Bauer in round two in a game that was not free of errors but exciting to watch:

 
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1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Be3 e6 5.Nd2 Bb4?! A relatively rare line. Black brings the bishop to the queenside and - theoretically at least - has more room for maneuver on the kingside. However, the black-squared bishop might be missed as a defender. 6.c3 Ba5 7.Be2 Nd7 8.f4 Nh6N A new move but in the further course of the game the knight never fully recovers from starting the game on the rim. 9.h4 f6 10.g4 Bg6 11.h5 Bf7 12.Bd3 fxe5 13.fxe5 Black's unusual treatment of the opening does not really convince. His pieces appear to be scattered and lack harmony. However, if Black manages to coordinate his pieces he might be able to exploit the weaknesses in White's position. c5 14.a3 Rc8 15.Nh3 cxd4 16.cxd4 Qc7 17.0-0 0-0 18.Nb3 Bb6 19.Rc1 Qb8 20.Rxc8 Qxc8 21.Qe2
White is better: he has a space advantage and Black's pieces lack coordination. White now tries to convert his positional advantages into something more tangible by building up an attack on the black king. 21...Qd8 22.Bg5 Qe8 23.Bb1 A human move. The engines prefer the straightforward 23.Bxh6! gxh6 24.Qe3 Kg7 25.Bb5 White is ready to give up his bishops to win a pawn. One possible line is Rg8 26.Qf4 a6 27.Bxd7 Qxd7 28.Qf6+ Kf8 29.Qxh6+ with a winning advantage for White. 23...Kh8 24.Nf4 Bg8 25.Kg2 Nf7?! Trying to reduce White's pressure by exchanging pieces with 25...Bd8! looks more natural than the contorted knight-move. 26.Bh4 Nh6 The knight returns to h6... 27.Kh3 Bd8 28.Qe1 Nf7 ...but again grows restless and returns once more to f7. 29.Bxd8 Nxd8 30.Qh4 Threatening the devastating Ng6+... Nf7 ...which brings black's knight back to f7 to keep an eye on h6. 31.g5 Qe7 32.Rg1?
Missing the chance to finish the game with a tactical shot: 32.Ng6+! hxg6 and now 33.Rxf7! and White wins. 32...Nfxe5 The unlucky knight sacrifices itself to give Black counterplay - which almost succeeded. 33.dxe5 Nxe5
34.Ng6+? Missing another tactical shot and spoiling the win. White wins with 34.Bxh7! Black cannot take the bishop. After Bxh7 34...Kxh7 35.g6+ 35.Ng6+ Black is mated or loses the queen. 34...Nxg6 35.hxg6 Rf3+ 36.Kg4 Qf8 37.Qh2
37...Rxb3? Another tactical mistake. 37...e5! exploits the precarious position of White's king and is winning. Black threatens 38...Be6+ and suddenly it is White who is helpless against the mating threats. 38.gxh7 Bf7? Probably both players were in time-trouble but it is Black who commits the last tactical mistake. After 38...Qf3+! 39.Kh4 Bxh7 40.g6 Qe3 threatening ...Qh6+, both sides have nothing better than a repetition of moves, e.g. 41.Kg4 Qf3+ 42.Kh4 Qe3 39.Rf1! Now White is winning again. g6 40.Qe5+ 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Jolly,J2361Bauer,C26201–02016B1291st ch-FRA 20162.2

Jean-Francois Jolly (left) at the start of his game against Christian Bauer

After a loss against Romain Edouard in round three Jolly - maybe warned or inspired by the many tactical oversights in his game against Bauer - defeated Matthieu Cornette in round four with a back rank combination:

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Be7 5.0-0 0-0 6.Re1 d6 7.c3 Kh8 8.h3 Nd7 9.d4 exd4 10.cxd4 Nb6 11.Bb3 d5 12.Nc3 dxe4 13.Nxe4 Bf5 14.Nc5 Rb8 15.Bf4 Nd5 16.Bg3 Bg6 17.a3 Bh5 18.Rc1 Bf6 19.Nxb7 Rxb7 20.Rxc6 Qd7 21.Rc5 c6 22.Ba4 Rc8
White to play and win. 23.Bxc6! After 23...Rxc6 White plays 24.Rxd5 and because of the back rank mate Black cannot take the rook - White is winning. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Jolly,J2361Cornette,M25811–02016C5591st ch-FRA 20164.2

Standings after round four

  Title Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pts. TB
1 GM Yannick Gozzoli     ½   ½ 1 1       3.0 / 4  
2 IM Jean Francois Jolly     1 1     ½   0   2.5 / 4 5.75
3 GM Christian Bauer ½ 0           1   1 2.5 / 4 3.50
4 GM Matthieu Cornette   0     ½     1 1   2.5 / 4 3.50
5 GM Laurent Fressinet ½     ½   ½   ½     2.0 / 4 4.50
6 GM Sebastien Maze 0       ½   ½     1 2.0 / 4 2.25
7 GM Tigran Gharamian 0 ½       ½       ½ 1.5 / 4 2.50
8 GM Adrien Demuth     0 0 ½       1   1.5 / 4 2.00
9 GM Romain Edouard   1   0       0     1.0 / 3  
10 GM Sebastien Feller     0     0 ½       0.5 / 3  

Games of rounds 1-4:

 

 

 
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1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 c6 6.e3 Nf6 7.Bd3 e5 8.Ne2 e4 9.Bb1 0-0 10.Ng3 Qa5 11.Bd2 Qa6 12.cxd5 cxd5 13.f3 Re8 14.Rf1 Nc6 15.fxe4 Bg4 16.Qb3 Na5 17.Qa2 dxe4 18.Bc2 Rac8 19.h3 Be6 20.Qb1 Bc4 21.Rf4 Bd3 22.Nxe4 Bxc2 23.Qxc2 Nd5 24.Rf5 Nxe3 25.Bxe3 Nc4 26.Bf4 Qe6 27.Re5 Nxe5 28.dxe5 Qf5 29.g3 Rc4 30.0-0-0 Qxe4 31.Qxe4 Rxe4 32.Rd7 h6 33.h4 Rc8 34.Kd2 Rc6 35.Rxb7 Ra4 36.Rb8+ Kh7 37.Rb7 Kg6 38.h5+ Kxh5 39.Rxf7 Kg6 40.Re7 Rxa3 41.e6 Kf6 42.Rf7+ Kxe6 43.Rxg7 Rcxc3 44.Rxa7 Rxa7 45.Kxc3 h5 46.Kd3 Kf5 47.Ke3 h4 48.Bd6 h3 49.g4+ 0–1
  • Start an analysis engine:
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Edouard,R2647Cornette,M25810–12016D3191st ch-FRA 20161.1
Gharamian,T2637Jolly,J2361½–½2016C9591st ch-FRA 20161.2
Bauer,C2620Demuth,A25451–02016C7791st ch-FRA 20161.3
Maze,S2627Feller,S26021–02016C2691st ch-FRA 20161.4
Gozzoli,Y2573Fressinet,L2677½–½2016E2091st ch-FRA 20161.5
Gozzoli,Y2573Maze,S26271–02016E0491st ch-FRA 20162.1
Jolly,J2361Bauer,C26201–02016B1291st ch-FRA 20162.2
Fressinet,L2677Cornette,M2581½–½2016A0691st ch-FRA 20162.3
Demuth,A2545Edouard,R26471–02016A1091st ch-FRA 20162.4
Feller,S2602Gharamian,T2637½–½2016E2191st ch-FRA 20162.5
Edouard,R2647Jolly,J23611–02016A0791st ch-FRA 20163.1
Maze,S2627Fressinet,L2677½–½2016C4891st ch-FRA 20163.2
Gharamian,T2637Gozzoli,Y25730–12016B5191st ch-FRA 20163.3
Bauer,C2620Feller,S26021–02016C5091st ch-FRA 20163.4
Cornette,M2581Demuth,A25451–02016C5091st ch-FRA 20163.5
Maze,S2627Gharamian,T2637½–½2016B3091st ch-FRA 20164.1
Jolly,J2361Cornette,M25811–02016C5591st ch-FRA 20164.2
Gozzoli,Y2573Bauer,C2620½–½2016A4191st ch-FRA 20164.3
Fressinet,L2677Demuth,A2545½–½2016D3091st ch-FRA 20164.4
Feller,S2602Edouard,R2647½–½2016C1791st ch-FRA 20164.5

Apart from the top events there are a number of open tournaments...

... for young...

... and old.

Winners trophies

Christian Bauer and Adrien Demuth

Adrien Demuth (left) at the start of his game against Romain Edouard

Romain Edouard and Matthieu Cornette

Sébastien Feller

Sébastien Maze

Round 1: Tigran Gharamian and Jean-Francois Jolly at the start of their game

 

Photos: Tournament page

Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the 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 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
 
Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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