The French top 12 females team competition finals are taking place 15th-17th February in France. The participating finalists are Annemasse, Bischwiller, Bois-Colombes, Evry, Juvisy-sur-Orge, L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Metz, Montpellier, Mulhouse, Naujac, Toulouse, and Vandoeuvre.
Each of the 12 teams consists of maximum eight team members. According to the average ELO of the first five players, top seeded team is Evry Grand Roque with Anna Muzychuk, Marie Sebag, Sophie Millet, and Sabrina Vega Gutierrez on the top boards. Second seeded is Echecs Club Montpellier with Nana Dzagnidze, Inna Gaponenko, and Silvia Collas, third seeded is Annemasse with Anna Matnadze, Ticia Gara, and Anita Gara, while the fourth strongest competitor is Philidor Mulhouse Elisabeth Paehtz and Lubka Genova leading the team.
The competition is played in two phases. The first one is 5 rounds Swiss, where the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th finishers are relegated. Teams placed on positions 1 to 4 continue to the second phase continue to semifinal knockout (1st against 4th and 2nd against 3rd), and there is a final match in the end.
The first phase program is as follows:
Round 1 15.02 at 15:30 CET
Round 2 16.02 at 9:30 CET
Round 3 16.02 at 15:00 CET
Round 4 17.02 at 9:00 CET
Round 5 17.02 at 14:00 CET
Beautiful tournament.