Chess couple's French conquest: Fressinet, Skripchenko win national titles

Almira Skripchenko

Laurent Fressinet

Hi Everyone,

This is some sweet news that Almira Skripchenko has won the French National Women's Chess Championship while her husband Laurent Fressinet has won the French Men's National Chess Championship. The two events were held parallel along with a French National 'B' event from August 9-21. Jean-Pierre Le Roux won the National 'B' and Andrei Shchekachev is second.

The chess events took place in the city of Belfort located near the French-Swiss border and attracted more than 700 players in various categories.

The main men's event was very strong with 12 players, including 11 grandmasters. Six-time French champion Etienne Bacrot (2720) was top seed followed by Fressinet (2697) and third seed was defending champion Tkachiev (2639).

Etienne Bacrot was trying to win a record 7th national French title and Fressinet was looking for his first. Eventually Romain Edouard and Fressinet tied for the top spot with Fressinet winning the tiebreak and the title.

The talk of the tournament has been the ninth round Romain-Tkachiev game which is here for you. You can check the moves in our pgnplayer or watch in flash below. Don't miss the creative 12. e5!

PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 b5 5. Bb3 Na5 6. O-O d6 7. Re1 Nf6 8. d4 Nd7 9. dxe5 Nxb3 10. Bg5 f6 11. exf6 gxf6 12. e5 dxe5 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. Rxe5+ Be7 15. Qh5+ Kd7 16. Bxf6 Nxa1 17. Bxe7 Qxe7 18. Rxe7+ Kxe7 19. Qc5+ Kf7 20. Qxc7+ 1-0

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com