The Top-12, the nickname for the finals of the French Club Championship Finals, is one of the strongest league tournaments in the World. Only the German Bundesliga and the Russian Team Championship can boast of having a stronger league than France, and the tournament is reaching its climax.

The Top-12 is nicknamed such because it is the last portion of a large process. From October until April thousands of players compete in different leagues all over France, with teams varying in size and compositions. The winners of the different regional events qualify for the Top-12.

Round Eight

Grasee 2 - 3 Montpellier
An extremely important match for these teams, as they are both in the red zone (in danger of descending out of the top 12), and a real heartbreaker for Montpellier. After obtaining a winning position, Krisztian Szabo (Grasse) got himself in hot water against Aleksander Mista. He missed a couple of clear wins, but he obtained an extra piece anyway. Szabo however made it very hard on himself and ended up even losing, giving the match to Montpellier!

Metz Fischer 1 - 1 Strasbourg
A match between two strong teams, and high stakes for both as well. One wants to get out of the red zone, while the other is fighting for third place. The win by Kevin Terrieux was offset by the victory of Vladimir Baklan. An even match throughout.

Vandoeuvre 0 - 4 Bois Colombes
Thing simply did not go well for Vandoeuvre. Two quick draws in the third and seventh board started the match with peace, but after the time control the duel went very south for Vandoeuvre. Christian Bauer drew first blood, followed by Pauline Guichard, and only moments afterwards two more wins by Sebastien Maze and Alexander Ipatov. A 4-0 landslide victory for the Paris region team. Bois Colombes will face the tough Bischwiller next, and they need the confidence boost given by this win.

Samy Shoker from Egypt playing for Bois-Colombes

Bischwiller 2 - 1 Mulhouse Philidor
The two teams from the Alsatian region of France played each other (the eastermost region, if you are wondering), and it was a very narrow victory for Bischwiller! They took a quick 2-0 victory with wins by Jean-Pierre Le Roux and Etienne Bacrot, but a victory by Andrei Sokolov brought things to 2-1. One last game remained: Mathilde Choisy (Mulhouse) pushing against Maisuradze. However she let her chances go and after 106 moves a draw was signed: Bischwiller retains their perfect score.

A draw for Bischwiller's star Romain Edouard (at least this tournament)

Two draws in the top two boards

Bacrot won another decisive game

Chalons-en-Champagne 2- 3 Evry Grand Roque
The first win was Sophie Milliet's against Camille de Seroux, a big rating gap brought victory for Evry. Paul Velten and Ivan Sokolov won for Chalons, but by then it was too late, two wins by Evry allows them to still fight for podium position.

Sophie Milliet's win was very important for the final result

Poitiers-Minge 0-8 Clichy
The top rated team faced the lowest rated in the tournament, and it showed. A complete sweep of 0-8 for Clichy keeps their hopes for first alive.

Standings After Round Eight

Note: Teams receive 3 points for winning, 2 for drawing and 1 for losing a match.

Replay Games

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Photos from the official website

Schedule

Links Official tournament site The games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess 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 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.