Lagarde, Guichard bag French national titles in thrilling finale

by Dhananjay Khadilkar
8/27/2019 – The 2019 French Championships concluded on Sunday in Chartres, capital of the Eure-et-Loir department. Both the open and women's categories were decided on tiebreaks. In the end, Pauline Guichard got her second consecutive national title after taking down six-time champion Sophie Milliet, while Maxime Lagarde became French champion for the first time after beating Laurent Fressinet in the blitz phase of the play-offs. DHANANJAY KHADILKAR reports. | Photo: Fédération Française des Échecs
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Championnat de France 2019

Maxime Lagarde and Pauline Guichard were crowned French champions following a thrilling conclusion to the Championnat de France at Chartres on Sunday. While this was Lagarde's maiden national title, Guichard made it two in a row after winning her first championship last year. Both emerged victorious after beating Laurent Fressinet and Sophie Milliet respectively in tiebreaks. 

In the ninth and final round of the classical format, the joint leaders in both categories produced identical results. While Lagarde beat Yannick Gozzoli, Fressinet got the better of Sebastien Maze to end up on six points. On the women's side, Milliet cruised to a win over Cyrielle Monpeurt while Guichard had to fight hard against Nino Maisuradze to claim a full point. Both Milliet and Guichard ended the tournament on seven points.

Key games from Round 9 - Both categories

 
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1.e4 0 e6 0 2.d4 0 c5 0 3.Nf3 7:47 cxd4 0 4.Nxd4 3 Nc6 25 5.Nc3 3 Nf6 14 6.g3 37 Bb4 5:49 7.Bg2 30 0-0 0 8.0-0 41 d6 43 9.Nxc6 9:57 bxc6 7 10.e5 56 dxe5 16:02 11.Bxc6 13:28 Ba6 2:30 12.Qxd8 1:01:58 Raxd8 0 13.Bb5 0 Bxb5 6:41 14.Nxb5 0 a6 4 15.a3 0 Ba5 2:51 16.Na7 0 Bc7 14:30 17.Nc6 0 Rd7 0 18.c4 0 Rc8 7:08 19.b4 0 Bd6 6:26 20.b5 0 axb5 7:45 21.cxb5 0 Nd5 6 22.a4 0 Rb7 0 23.Ba3 0 Bc7 4:45 24.Ne7+ 0 Nxe7 1:30 25.Bxe7 0 Bb6 6 26.Rfc1 0 Ra8 7:05 27.Bc5 0 Ba5 0 28.Bd6 0 f6 1:26 29.Rc6 0 Rd8 16 30.Rac1 0 Rdd7 3:36 31.Ra6 0 Bb6 4 32.Rc6 0 Bd4 0 33.b6 10:30 Kf7 11 34.Bc7 0 Rd5 4:05 35.Ra8 0 e4 2:51 36.a5 0 Rf5 20 37.Bf4 0 e5 1:02 38.Be3 0 Bxe3 29 39.fxe3 0 Rd7 9 40.Rc7 0 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Milliet,S2397Monpeurt,C21711–02019B4594th FRA-ch Women 20199.2
Guichard,P2405Maisuradze,N22031–02019A3694th FRA-ch Women 20199.3
Fressinet,L2625Maze,S25541–02019A4894th FRA-ch 20199.2
Lagarde,M2626Gozzoli,Y26141–02019A2394th FRA-ch 20199.3

Maxime Lagarde, Laurent Fressinet, Pauline Guichard, Sophie Milliet

All set for the play-offs | Photo: Official site

The women's title was determined at the end of the two rapid tiebreak games. Guichard won the first encounter with the black pieces and managed to draw the second with white to emerge victorious.

Guichard said she was lucky to have won this year's championship. "Of course, I am very happy. But it was a bit difficult as I didn't play very well. In three games, I was in losing positions. I managed clear wins in only two [out of the five] games that I won. It's a bit weird as I don't know why I played so bad. Last year, I played much better. [This year] I was very lucky", she remarked. 

Tiebreak games (Women's section)

 
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1.e4 0 e5 0 2.Nf3 0 Nc6 0 3.Bb5 0 Nf6 4 4.0-0 0 Nxe4 4 5.Re1 2 Nd6 2 6.Nxe5 2 Be7 4 7.Bf1 2 0-0 21 8.d4 56 Nxe5 24 9.Rxe5 0 Bf6 40 10.Re1 1 Re8 3 11.Bf4 9 Rxe1 12.Qxe1 1 Ne8 2:14 13.Nc3 11 d6 1:58 14.Nd5 1:07 Be6 0 15.Nxf6+ 5 Qxf6 5 16.Qd2 0 Qg6 51 17.d5 20 Bf5 8 18.c4 7 Nf6 1 19.f3 43 h6 29 20.Re1 6 Re8 8 21.Rxe8+ 15 Nxe8 2 22.Qb4 2 Bd3 13 23.Qxb7 1:17 Bxf1 5 24.Kxf1 1 Qd3+ 0 25.Kf2 1 Qxc4 1:02 26.Be3 2:11 Qc2+ 1 27.Kf1 15 Qd1+ 27 28.Kf2 1 Qc2+ 4 29.Kf1 1 Nf6 0 30.Qxa7 23 Qb1+ 12 31.Ke2 1:08 Qxb2+ 2 32.Bd2 1 Qe5+ 35 33.Kd1 27 Nxd5 12 34.a4 4 c5 0 35.a5 38 c4 7 36.a6 5 c3 6 37.Qb8+ 2 Kh7 5 38.a7 0 Qd4 12 39.Qb1+ 5 g6 1 40.Qa2 9 Qg1+ 7 41.Be1 3 c2+ 8 42.Kxc2 13 Qxg2+ 2 43.Kb3 0 Qxf3+ 5 44.Kc4 0 Nb6+ 0 45.Kb5 1 Na8 7 46.Bg3 10 Qb7+ 11 47.Kc4 2 d5+ 4 48.Kd4 3 Nb6 1 49.Be5 11 Qc6 0 50.Bb8 6 h5 7 51.Qf2 3 Kg8 7 52.Qf4 7 Qc4+ 4 53.Ke5 2 Nd7+ 2 54.Kd6 3 Qxf4+ 0 55.Kxd7 0 Qa4+ 6 56.Kc7 1 d4 3 57.Kb7 1 d3 2 58.Bf4 2 Qxf4 3 59.a8Q+ 1 Kh7 0 60.Qa2 3 d2 7 61.Qd5 6 Kg7 5 62.Qb3 31 Qd4 10 63.Qd1 3 Qb4+ 9 64.Kc6 2 Qc3+ 0 65.Kd5 7 Qc1 1 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Milliet,S2397Guichard,P24050–12019C6794th FRA-ch Women 201910.1
Guichard,P2405Milliet,S2397½–½2019A3794th FRA-ch Women 201911.1

Pauline Guichard, Sophie Milliet, Andrea-Cristina Navrotescu

Pauline Guichard, Sophie Milliet and Andrea-Cristina Navrotescu are the top three finishers | Photo: Official site

Final standings (Women)

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All games (Women)

 
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The open title went down to the wire. It was Laurent who had gained an upper hand by winning the first rapid game with the black pieces. However, in the must-win second game, Lagarde stormed back to level the score. The title was eventually decided in the second of the two blitz games, the first of which ended in a draw. Lagarde scored a smooth win and claimed his first national title.

Lagarde termed the tiebreak as incredible. "I feel very happy and completely exhausted. There was so much pressure", he told me. About his comeback in the must-win rapid game after losing the first, Lagarde said he had been in similar situations in other tournaments. "I was still focused. I was going to give it everything as I had nothing to lose", he concluded.

Tiebreak games (Open section)

 
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1.b3 g6 2.Bb2 Nf6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 c5 5.Bg2 d6 6.c4 A05: Réti Opening: 1 Nf3 Nf6 e5 7.Nc3 7.0-0 0-0 8.Nc3 Nc6 9.d3 Rb8 10.Nd2 a6 11.a3 Bg4 12.h3 Bd7 13.b4 cxb4 14.axb4 Nxb4 15.Ba3 a5 16.Rb1 b5 17.Nxb5 d5 1/2-1/2 (30) Artemiev,V (2691)-Grischuk,A (2772) Huaian 2017 7...Nc6 8.d3 The position is equal. 0-0 9.Nd2 Be6 10.Nde4 Ne8 11.Nd5 f5 12.Nec3 Nf6 13.Qd2N Predecessor: 13.a3 13...Qd7 14.e3 Ne7 15.f4 Bxd5 16.cxd5 exf4 17.exf4 b5 18.0-0 Rae8       Black is pushing. 19.d4 b4 20.Na4 c4 And now ...c3 would win. 21.Qxb4 cxb3 22.axb3 Nexd5 23.Qc4 Qf7 24.Rfe1 Ne4 25.Rac1 Re7 26.Ba3 Rc7 27.Qd3 Rxc1 28.Rxc1 Ndf6 29.d5 a5 ...Qa7+ is the strong threat. Of course not 29...Nxd5?! 30.Bxe4 fxe4 31.Qxe4= 30.Nb6 30.Bxe4 fxe4 31.Qb5 30...Rb8? 30...Qa7! 31.Rc6 a4!       32.bxa4 Rb8 31.Rc8+ 31.Rc6!= 31...Rxc8 32.Nxc8
32...Qb7! 33.Qc4 33.Bxe4 Nxe4 34.Qc4 33...h5 34.Bxe4 Nxe4 35.Kg2 Nd2 35...Qb8 36.Qd3= Qxb3 37.Qxb3 Nxb3 38.Bxd6       Endgame KBN-KBN Bf8 39.Be5 39.Bxf8!= was the only way to keep the balance. Kxf8 40.Nb6 39...Nc5 Black should play 39...a4 40.d6 Nc5 40.Nb6! Kf7 41.Kf3 a4 Strongly threatening ...a3. 42.d6?       42.Bb2= and White is okay. 42...a3-+ 43.d7 Be7 44.Bd4 Hoping for Bxc5. Nb3 45.Bc3 a2 46.Nc4 Ke6 47.Ne5 a1Q 48.Bxa1 Nxa1 49.Nxg6 Kxd7 50.h3 Nc2 51.g4 Nd4+ 52.Ke3 Bf6 Weaker is 52...fxg4 53.hxg4 Bf6 54.gxh5= 53.gxh5? 53.gxf5 Nxf5+ 54.Ke4 53...Ke8 54.Kd3 Kf7 55.Kc4 Kg7 55...Ne2 56.Ne5+ Bxe5 57.fxe5 Nf4 56.Kd5 Kh6 57.Ne5 Ne2 Threatens to win with ...Bxe5. 58.Ke6
58.Nd3 Bc3 59.Ke6 58...Bxe5! 59.fxe5 f4 Black mates. 60.Kd6 f3 61.e6 Nd4 Accuracy: White = 40%, Black = 57%. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Lagarde,M2626Fressinet,L26250–12019A0594th FRA-ch 201910.1
Fressinet,L2625Lagarde,M26260–12019A8594th FRA-ch 201911.1
Fressinet,L2625Lagarde,M2626½–½2019A8094th FRA-ch 201912.1
Lagarde,M2626Fressinet,L26251–02019C2994th FRA-ch 201913.1

Maxime Lagarde, Laurent Fressinet, Jules Moussard

Maxime Lagarde, Laurent Fressinet and Jules Moussard on the podium | Photo: Official site

Final standings (Open)

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Dhananjay is a Paris based journalist and a chess enthusiast. While he enjoys playing the game, he is more fascinated by the drama and history associated with it.

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