8/19/2026 – Étienne Bacrot and Sophie Milliet were crowned French chess champions, winning their ninth and seventh national titles, respectively. The 2026 edition of the French Championship took place from August 7 to 16 in Vichy and featured 16-player knockout competitions in the Open and Women’s sections, as well as several side Swiss tournaments. In the main events, if a match was tied after two classical games, a 2-game rapid tiebreak (15+10) was played, followed by a 2-game blitz tiebreak (5+3) and an Armageddon game if necessary. | All photos: Ambrose Ducable

8/16/2026 – The French Championship is taking place in Vichy from 7 to 16 August 2026. The competition follows a knockout format, with each match consisting of two classical games, followed, if necessary, by rapid, blitz, and Armageddon tiebreaks. Etienne Bacrot and Maxime Lagarde face off in the final match of the open, while Sophie Milliet and Pauline Guichard are the finalists in the women's chahmpionship. | Photo: Ambrose Ducable

8/12/2026 – The French Championship is taking place in Vichy from 7 to 16 August 2026. The competition follows a knockout format, with each match consisting of two classical games, followed, if necessary, by rapid, blitz, and Armageddon tiebreaks. Marc'Andria Maurizzi (Photo) and Yosha Iglesias, crowned champions in 2025, are still in contention to retain their titles. The first semi-final games begin on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m., with the second games taking place at the same time on Thursday. | Photos: Ambrose Ducable

8/20/2025 – The French Chess Championships are being held in Vichy from 15 to 24 August as part of a large chess festival featuring events for all levels, from national title matches to youth and amateur competitions. The Open and Women's Championships, organised as 16-player knockouts, have now reached the semifinals. In the Open, three veterans join 18-year-old Marc'Andria Maurizzi, while in the Women's, recent champions face ambitious challengers for a place in the final. | Photos: Nathalie Daubry / French Chess Federation

8/24/2024 – Hans Niemann and Etienne Bacrot scored 2 wins each (and signed 2 draws) in the rapid section of their match in Paris. Saturday will be the final day of action, with 12 blitz games scheduled to take place - each granting 1 point for the overall score of the match. At this point, Niemann has a 9-point lead over his French opponent. | Photo: Frans Peeters

1/2/2023 – Online chess with its short time controls has also led to a renaissance of romantic openings like the King's Gambit. After the moves 1.e4 e5 2.f4 gxf4 3.Nf3 Black is faced with a fundamental decision. Should one try to hold the extra pawn on f4 with g7-g5 at all costs? With little time on the clock and against a potential theory expert, this involves some risks. So should one instead focus less on the material but on development and good piece play? With 3...Ne7!? Sergey Grigoriants recommends the second approach in his article for CBM #211 The "Bacrot Variation" is of course no refutation of the King's Gambit, "but it is an excellent practical choice for Black". Take a look!

9/20/2021 – Etienne Bacrot went into this year’s World Cup without any expectations, including qualifying for the 2022 FIDE Grand Prix, a series of three tournaments that will serve as a qualifying route for the next Candidates. Understandably so, as the last time the French Grandmaster had played in a Fide Grand Prix was in 2013. "Based solely on my rating (2658), I could not have qualified for the Grand Prix. It’s crazy that I made it this time," Bacrot said on the sidelines of a rapid tournament that was held in Asniéres-sur-Seine near Paris on September 11 and 12. | Photo: Pascal Simon (Archive)

10/9/2019 – Today IM Merijn van Delft covers the latest on the Caro-Kann, featuring a win by Etienne Bacrot. The show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). Merijn is on-demand this week starting at 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT).

10/6/2018 – The excitement levels had gone off the charts for the final round of the Batumi Olympiad 2018. The strongest teams were fighting against each other to decide who would take gold. USA and China were pitted against each other in the open section and China and Russia faced off against each other in the women's. The matches ended in 2-2 draws with a lot of drama surrounding them. The tiebreaks favoured China in both the sections and they went home with a double gold! In the Open, the USA took the silver and Russia the bronze while in the Women's Ukraine had to be content with silver, and bronze went to Georgia's first team. Full report from Batumi by Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal.

4/10/2018 – The final day of China versus the world match featured some amazing miniatures, inspiring comebacks and also a few incredible blunders! While the World team failed to overcome their two-point deficit on the final day, they came close and made sure the Chinese did not declare victory without breaking a sweat. Day 2 report and games.

4/8/2018 – From April 7th to 9th, China's National team is taking on five representatives of the 'Rest of the World' in a ten round match with a rapid time control of 10 mins + 10 seconds. At the conclusion of Day 1, Team China finished with a two-point lead over the World scoring three wins, a draw and two losses. There were plenty of interesting games and we bring you a report on all the action from Liaocheng, China.

9/18/2017 – The quarterfinal tiebreak was a short affair as Maxime Vachier-Lagrave managed to show some excellent bit of chess in the second 25'+10" rapid game with the black pieces. He beat Peter Svidler with an overall score of 2.5-1.5 and advanced to the semifinals. He will now face Aronian in the final hurdle for the qualification to the Candidates tournament. Wesley So will be pitted against Ding Liren. We bring you all the analysis of today's tiebreak and also what you can expect in the matches that begin on Tuesday.

8/28/2017 – Etienne Bacrot did it again. At the French Championship which was played form 19th to 27th August in Agen he won his eighth National Championship. After a dramatic last round and a tie-break against Laurent Fressinet. Sophie Milliet became French Women's Champion. | Photo: Pascal Simon

8/2/2017 – One could hardly imagine more exciting final round pairings! Hou Yifan and Pentala Harikrisha both had White against their closest pursuers, Nico Georgiadis and Etienne Bacrot respectively. Bacrot benefitted from a one-move blunder, to reach 6 points, which meant Hou was in a must-win situation. But win she did! | Photos: Pascal Simon

8/1/2017 – Alexander Morozevich and Hou Yifan both won again, but so did Harikrishna, and so he and Hou will take a half point edge into Wednesday's final round. But Morozevich, Etienne Bacrot and Nico Georgiadis are all withing striking distance.

7/31/2017 – Round 7 saw a stark reversal of fortune for tournament leader Etienne Bacrot whose loss to Hou Yifan, coupled with a win by Morozevich, infuses new drama into the 50th Biel Chess Festival's GM tournament. Half the field now has chances to win!

7/30/2017 – Leader Etienne Bacrot drew against Peter Leko to remain on top with 4.5 / 6. The closest pursuers are now Pentala Harikrishna and Ruslan Ponomariov. The Ukrainian former FIDE World Champion overcame of David Navara's Najdorf, as the Czech's slide continues. Rafael Vaganian got a win to pull himself out of the cellar. | Photos: Pascal Simon

7/28/2017 – Etienne Bacrot has had a convincing performance in Biel. In round 5, he won with Black against the Swiss IM Noel Studer and is now at the top of the field with 4.0 / 5. A half point behind is Hou Yifan, who won with White against David Navara. Alexander Morozevich, who overpowered Rafael Vaganian in yet another French, was the third winner of the round. | Photos: Pascal Simon

7/28/2017 – In today's fourth round there were four decisive games in the GM tournament of the Biel chess festival. In three games, the white knights took were the key factor. In the fourth Black's passed pawn made all the difference. Etienne Bacrot now leads the field with Pentala Harikrishna and others a half point behind. | Photos: Pascal Simon

7/26/2017 – The second round, like the first, provided viewers with ample entertainment value. Alexander Morozevich rebounded from yesterday's loss by beating David Navara. Ruslan Ponomariov sprung a trap on Peter Leko that netted a pawn and the game and Etienne Bacrot played the French against an Armenian playing the Armenian variation!

12/30/2016 – Etienne Bacrot is not in the chess media that often, but he has been a talent from such a young age. He recently won the strong FIDE Open at the London Chess Classic with good friend Sebastien Maze. Sabrina Chevannes decided to find out a bit more about the Frenchman and what was behind this strong performance.