Today France got a new
national champion and he's only sixteen (and ten months) years old. His name: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. He finished shared first with the current European champion, Vladislav Tkachiev, but in today's tiebreak final naturally the internet generation representative proved to be the strongest blitz player (after the two rapid games had both ended in a draw).
Two years ago, Vachier-Lagrave disclosed himself as
the big French talent by becoming a GM at the age of 14. It's clear that this chess summer he's experiencing a major breakthrough; during
ChessVibes on tour we saw him win the
Paris Championship, which proved to be a good omen for the real title. Now at the 82nd French Championship he (2595) left strong compatriots like Tkachiev (2655), Fressinet (2646) and Bauer (2626) behind him and there's only one word for that:
magnifique.
The final standings in the 11-round French Ch were:
1. Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime GM 2595 7,5
2. Vladislav Tkachiev GM 2655 7,5
3. Andrei Sokolov GM 2582 7,0
4. Christian Bauer GM 2626 6,5
5. Iossif Dorfman GM 2584 6,5
6. Robert Fontaine GM 2567 5,5
7. Laurent Fressinet GM 2646 5,5
8. Jean-Marc Degraeve GM 2520 5,0
9. Anatoly Vaisser GM 2544 5,0
10. Igor-Alexandre Nataf GM 2588 4,0
11. Olivier Renet GM 2498 3,5
12. Laurent Guidarelli IM 2450 2,5
Here you can replay all of Vachier-Lagrave's games, including today's tiebreak: