The French Highest League for men TOP-12 was held from 24th May to 3rd June, 2014 in Saint-Quentin, Picardy, France.

Eleven teams competed for the title “Champion of France” after Chess Club Marseille’s refusal to take part in the prestigious French team championship.

The team of Clichy (Members: GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, GM Dmitry Jakovenko, GM Maxim Matlakov, GM Loek Van Wely, GM Hicham Hamdouchi, GM Pavel Tregubov, GM Maxime Lagarde, IM Axel Delorme,IM Almira Skripchenko) became French champion for third consecutive year, after winning TOP-12 in 2013 and 2012.

Clichy took the gold with 29 points, leaving the runner-up Bischwiller (Members: GM Romain Edouard, GM Andrei Volokitin, GM Markus Ragger, GM Rainer Buhmann, GM Philipp Schlosser, GM Jean-Pierre Le Roux, GM Cyril Marcelin, GM Anthony Kosten, IM Jean Netzer, WGM Nino Maisuradze) one point behind.

The Chess Club Mulhouse Philidor (Members: GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek,GM Gregorz Gajewski, GM Jean-Marc Degraeve, GM Andrei Sokolov, GM Jean-Noel Riff, FM Borya Ider, FM Patrice Lerch, WFM Mathilde Choisy, WFM Cecile Haussernot) took the bronze with 24 points, full four points ahead of the nearest contender.

You can see the best players in the League, according to score, performance or percentage below:

1 GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2758 7,5/9 (Perf.: 2739) 72,22%
2 GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2724 7,5/10 (Perf.: 2814) 75,00%
3 GM Bauer Christian 2628 7,0/10 (Perf.: 2751) 70,00%
4 GM Gregorz Gajewski 2641 7,0/10 (Perf.: 2687) 70,00%
5 GM Jean-Pierre Le Roux 2550 7,0/9 (Perf.: 2672) 77,78%
6 IM Jean-Noël Riff 2458 6,5/9 (Perf.: 2608) 62,22%
7 IM Favarel Antoine 2333 6,0/10 (Perf.: 2474) 60,00%
8 WGM Nino Maisuradze 2258 8,5/10 (Perf.: 2514) 85,00%

WGM Nino Maisuradze made the best score in TOP-12, 8,5/10, fulfilling her second IM norm, while GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek claims the best performance of 2814 ELO.

Replay the games with triple engine analysis

Final standings:

1 Clichy 29
2 Bischwiller 28
3 Mulhouse Philidor 24
4 Bois Colombes 20
5 Metz Fischer 19
6 Evry Grand Roque 19
7 Montpellier 18
8 Strasbourg 18
9 Chalons en Champagne 17
10 Rueil Malmaison 15
11 Tours de Haute Picardie 13

Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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