C'Chartres Échecs win French Team Championship for third year in a row

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
6/24/2026 – C'Chartres Échecs won the French Team Chess Championship for the third year in a row, claiming the 2026 Top 16 title on home ground in Chartres. After a demanding group stage, the defending champions were flawless in the upper pool and sealed first place with a final-round win over Aix-en-Provence. Marseille Échecs completed the podium, while four clubs were relegated to Nationale I. | Photo: French Chess Federation
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A third victory in a row, at home

C'Chartres Échecs retained the French Team Championship title after winning the 2026 Top 16 tournament, held at Chartres City Hall from 4 to 14 June. Playing on home ground, the club claimed its third consecutive national title and finished the competition as the only unbeaten team. Aix-en-Provence took second place, while Marseille Échecs completed the podium.

The event brought together the 16 strongest clubs in France. The teams were divided into two groups for the first seven rounds, with matches played over eight boards at classical time control: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment from move one. The top four teams from each preliminary group advanced to the upper pool, where the national title was decided. The remaining teams entered the lower pool, with the bottom four relegated to the next division.

The group stage produced some pressure for the main contenders. Chartres, Asnières le Grand Échiquier and Aix-en-Provence all reached the upper pool despite being tested during the opening phase. Clichy Échecs 92, the most decorated club in the history of France's elite team competition, missed out on the upper pool and had to fight for survival in the lower section.

Final standings - Pool stage

Pool A
Pl. Equipe Pts j. d. p. c.
1 C'Chartres Echecs 19 7 16 20 4
2 Marseille Echecs 18 7 15 23 8
3 T H F - Saint Quentin 17 7 3 17 14
4 Mulhouse Philidor 17 7 5 17 12
5 Clichy Echecs 92 12 7 -1 11 12
6 Tremblay-En-France 12 7 -1 16 17
7 Metz Fischer 10 7 -8 12 20
8 Lesparre-Medoc 7 7 -29 4 33
Pool B
Pl. Equipe Pts j. d. p. c.
1 Aix-En-Provence 18 7 12 22 10
2 Asnieres - le Grand Echiquier 17 7 16 24 8
3 Cannes Echecs 16 7 11 19 8
4 Grasse Echecs 16 7 1 14 13
5 Chalons-En-Champagne 15 7 9 22 13
6 Vandoeuvre Echecs 13 7 -3 15 18
7 Strasbourg 10 7 -8 11 19
8 Poitiers-Migne Echecs 7 7 -38 2 40

Scoring system:

  • Teams get 3 points for a win, 2 points for a draw and 1 point for a loss.
  • Only decisive games are counted for each match score (i.e. eight draws lead to a 0-0 score). These scores are reflected on the final three columns of the table above: d=difference, p=wins, c=losses.

Pranesh M, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Asnieres - le Grand Echiquier) playing white against Pranesh M (Cannes Echecs) in round two - draw | Photo: French Chess Federation

Abhimanyu Puranik, Bassem Amin

Abhimanyu Puranik (Mulhouse Philidor) defeated Bassem Amin (Clichy Echecs 92) with the black pieces in round six | Photo: French Chess Federation

All games - Pool A

All games - Pool B

Chartres led after the preliminary phase with 19 points after seven rounds, though their campaign was not without setbacks. The defending champions conceded two drawn matches in Pool A, against Tremblay-en-France and Marseille Échecs. Once in the upper pool, however, they produced a perfect final phase, beating Cannes Échecs in round eight, Grasse Échecs in round nine and Asnières le Grand Échiquier in round ten.

The title was decided in the final-round match against L'Échiquier du Roy René of Aix-en-Provence, who were only one point behind the leaders before the encounter. Chartres won the closely contested match by a 2-1 score and finished alone in first place with 31 points.

The winning squad included Raunak Sadhwani, Rauf Mamedov, Vasyl Ivanchuk, Maxime Lagarde, Laurent Fressinet, Daniel Dardha, Gata Kamsky, Timothé Razafindratsima, Namig Guliyev, Deimanté Daulyte-Cornette, Victor Stephan and Élise Tomasi.

French Team Chess Championship 2026

C'Chartres Échecs | Photo: French Chess Federation

Aix-en-Provence confirmed its progress in the competition by improving on last year's podium finish. The team, which included Jorden van Foreest, Pavel Eljanov, Frederik Svane, Ivan Cheparinov, Étienne Bacrot, Marc'Andria Maurizzi, Yannick Gozzoli, Marco Materia, Mahel Boyer, Pavel Govciyan, Andreea Navrotescu and Natacha Benmesbah, remained in contention until the final round and finished second.

Marseille Échecs gained one place compared with the previous year and took third place ahead of Asnières le Grand Échiquier. Their squad included Aydin Suleymanli, Jaime Santos Latasa, Pouya Idani, Pierre Laurent-Paoli, Augustin Droin, Joseph Girel, Simon Lamaze, Rémy Degraeve, Gabriel Flom, Inès Bernard and Juliette Cornileau.

French Team Chess Championship 2026

Aix-en-Provence | Photo: French Chess Federation

French Team Chess Championship 2026

Marseille Échecs | Photo: French Chess Federation

In the lower pool, Clichy Échecs 92 secured first place and retained its Top 16 status. Châlons-en-Champagne, Vandœuvre Échecs and Tremblay-en-France also stayed in the top division. Metz Fischer, Strasbourg, Lesparre-Médoc and Poitiers-Migné Échecs finished in the relegation places and will play in Nationale I next season.

The 2026 edition was the fifth time Chartres hosted the Top 16. The result confirmed C'Chartres Échecs' position as the leading club in the French championship, as the team added another title to its victories in 2024 and 2025.

Final standings

Upper pool
Pl. Equipe Pts j. d. p. c.
1 C'Chartres Echecs 31 11 14 19 5
2 Aix-En-Provence 28 11 11 18 7
3 Marseille Echecs 26 11 4 16 12
4 Asnieres - le Grand Echiquier 25 11 5 13 8
5 Grasse Echecs 25 11 -11 8 19
6 Cannes Echecs 24 11 2 16 14
7 Mulhouse Philidor 22 11 -13 9 22
8 T H F - Saint Quentin 21 11 -12 7 19
Lower pool
Pl. Equipe Pts j. d. p. c.
1 Clichy Echecs 92 24 11 18 22 4
2 Chalons-En-Champagne 23 11 10 23 13
3 Vandoeuvre Echecs 22 11 9 18 9
4 Tremblay-En-France 21 11 9 23 14
5 Metz Fischer 19 11 11 22 11
6 Strasbourg 16 11 -7 10 17
7 Lesparre-Medoc 14 11 -19 6 25
8 Poitiers-Migne Echecs 11 11 -31 3 34

Scoring system:

  • Teams get 3 points for a win, 2 points for a draw and 1 point for a loss.
  • Only decisive games are counted for each match score (i.e. eight draws lead to a 0-0 score). These scores are reflected on the final three columns of the table above: d=difference, p=wins, c=losses.
  • Points for the pool stage are included in the final standings.

All games - Upper pool

All games - Lower pool

Links

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Topics: French Team Championship 2026, French Top 16
Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
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