Top 12: Bischwiller and Clichy still perfect

by Klaus Besenthal
6/26/2021 – The French Team Championship, also known as Top 12, is taking place in Châlons-en-Champagne. Only two teams have managed to score victories in the first two rounds: Bischwiller, with Markus Ragger and Etienne Bacrot on top boards, and the team from Clichy, led by Jorden van Foreest. | Photos: Official site

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Championnat de France 

Not all the registered top stars have played yet at the French Team Championship, which is nothing unusual in such team competitions. The best-known player who actually sat down at the board for a game was Veselin Topalov. The Bulgarian’s team, Chalons-En-Champagne, defeated C’Chartres Échecs in Round 2 — the former FIDE World Champion drew against Christian Bauer.

So far, the most dominating team has been Bischwiller. The team led by Markus Ragger, Etienne Bacrot and Arkadij Naiditsch defeated two clearly lower-rated teams by convincing scores of 6-0 and 5-0. The leaders will have a tougher task in round 3, when they will face Mulhouse Philidor, a squad led by Matthias Bluebaum and Grzegorz Gajewski.

In the first round, Bluebaum defeated Maxime Lagarde (C’Chartres Échecs). Lagarde tried a stormy attack, which Bluebaum refuted with a cool head:

 

Matthias Bluebaum had to settle for a draw against Thibault Fantinel (Elo 2380) in round 2

Standings after round 2

Decisive matches give 3 points to the winning team and 1 point to the losing squad, while a draw grants 2 points to each team. Only decisive games are considered for the board point calculation (draws are not included).

Pl. Equipe Pts j. d. p. c.
1 Bischwiller 6 2 11 11 0
2 Clichy Echecs 92 6 2 6 9 3
3 Grasse Echecs 5 2 4 7 3
4 Asnieres - le Grand Echiquier 5 2 3 6 3
5 Mulhouse Philidor 4 2 3 5 2
6 Vandoeuvre Echecs 4 2 0 5 5
7 Chalons-En-Champagne 4 2 -1 4 5
8 C'Chartres Echecs 4 2 -1 3 4
9 Villejuif 4 2 -3 5 8
10 Club 608 - Paris 2 2 -5 3 8
11 Echiquier de l'Erdre 2 2 -7 2 9
12 Agen 2 2 -10 0 10

All games

 

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Klaus Besenthal is computer scientist, has followed and still follows the chess scene avidly since 1972 and since then has also regularly played in tournaments.

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