The French Team Championship final known as the TOP 16 took place in Mulhouse with most attention focused on the Groupe Haute where eight teams played for the title. Evry Grand Roque emerged the winners as Hikaru Nakamura stormed his way through the field scoring 7.5/8 against opposition close to a rating of 2600 for a remarkable tournament rating performance of 3012.

Evry Grand Roque also included Peter Svidler on top board but only took the title by a single match point from Clichy despite defeating them four victories to zero in their individual encounter. In the French League draws do not count. Glenn Flear and Tony Kosten, English GMs resident in France took part with success.

The following game by Kosten sees him playing the Botvinnik System of the English Opening which is an excellent opening for club players. White creates a solid structure with pawns on c4, d3 and e4 and a kingside fianchetto. He can expand later with d3-d4, b2-b4 or f2-f4. Kosten's book 'The Dynamic English' is a good starting point for those wishing to take up the opening.

A Kosten - A Wirig

TOP 16 Poule Haute Mulhouse

1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 Nc6 5.d3 d6 6.e4 a6 7.Nge2 Rb8 8.a4 Nf6

(Black counters with a Sicilian Dragon setup)

9.0-0 0-0

10.Rb1 Ne8

(Intending Nc7 and b6-b5 or Nc7-e6-d4) 11.Be3 Bg4 12.f3 Be6 (Bd7!)

13.b3 Nc7 14.d4 cxd4 15.Nxd4 Qd7

(15...Nxd4 16.Bxd4 b5 17.axb5 axb5 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.Qd4+ followed by f4 and Ra1)

16.Nxe6 Nxe6 17.Nd5

(White has a pleasant space advantage which Black should have countered with b7-b5)

17...Ned4 18.a5!

(Black's control of d4 is an illusion White intends b3-b4-b5 undermining the knights)

18...b5?

(18...f5!?)

19.axb6 e6 20.b4!

(20.Nc3 Rxb6=)

20...exd5 21.exd5

(21.cxd5 Nb5 22.dxc6 Qxc6 23.Rc1 was even stronger but as played White secures a huge positional advantage with raking bishops and a strong passed pawn)

21...Nf5 22.dxc6 Qxc6 23.Bf2 Qxc4 24.Qc1 Qa2 25.f4 Rfc8 26.Qd1 Qc4 27.b7 Rd8 28.Bd5 Qb5 29.Qb3 Ne7?!

(29...Nd4 or 29...Rxb7)

30.Bxf7+ Kh8 31.Rfe1 Qxb7 32.Bc4 Nf5 33.Qd3! d5

(33...Ra8 34.Bd5)

34.Bxa6 Qd7 35.b5 d4 36.b6 Qd6 37.b7 h5 38.Rbc1 Kh7 39.Rc8 Bf6 40.Qc4 Ne3 41.Qc7+ Qxc7 42.Rxc7+ Kh6 43.Rec1 Nd5 44.Rf7 g5 45.Bd3 gxf4 46.h4 1-0

Vasily Ivanchuk defeated the Czech number one David Navara 5.5-2.5 in Rapid Chess match just completed at Prague. Ivanchuk won another game on the fourth and final day given below. His tenth move varied from game six that we saw yesterday and White's response was probably wrong as he loses a pawn for nebulous compensation.

D Navara - V Ivanchuk

Cez Trophy Rapid Prague (7)

Gruenfeld Defence g3

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.d4 Bg7 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nb6 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.e3 0-0 9.0-0 Re8 10.Re1

(10.d5 Na5 11.Nd4 Bd7 Karpov-Navara CEZ Trophy 2005)

10...a5

(10...e5 11.d5 Na5 12.e4 c6 13.Bg5 (13.b3! - see yesterday's column) 13...f6 14. Be3 Nac4 15.dxc6 Nxe3 16.Qxd8 Rxd8 17.cxb7 Bxb7 18.Rxe3 Bh6 with play for the pawn Karpov-Kasparov Amsterdam 1988)

11.d5

(Karpov played 11.b3 here so we can safely assume this is better)

11...Bxc3 12.bxc3 Qxd5 13.Nd4 Qc4 14.Ba3

(14.Nxc6 bxc6 15.Qd4 is about equal as Black's extra doubled pawn does not count for much)

14...Bd7 15.Bf1 Qa4

(White must play an endgame a pawn down because 16.Qc1 Nc4 is even worse)

16.Qxa4 Nxa4 17.Rec1

(17.Bb5 Nxd4 18.Bxd7 Nf3+)

17...Ne5 18.Rab1 c5 19.f4

(19.Rxb7 cxd4 20.cxd4 Bc6 21.Rxc6 Nxc6 22.Bb5 Reb8 23.Rxb8+ Rxb8 24.Bxc6 Nc3 wins the a2 pawn and should win the game)

19...cxd4 20.fxe5 Bf5!! 21.cxd4

(21.Rxb7 d3! and the pawn wins material) 22.Bxe7 Reb8 23.Rxb8+ Rxb8 24.Ba3 Rd8! and d3-d2)

Bxb1 22.Rxb1 e6 23.Rxb7 Reb8 24.Re7 Nc3 25.Bd3 Nd5!

(Not 25...Nxa2 26.Be4)

26.Rd7 Nxe3 27.Be4 Rd8 28.Rd6 Nc4 0-1

A clever way to trap a queen.

A Kristofori -A Kislinsky

Ukrainian ChT Alushta

King's Indian efence

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.Nc3 0-0 5.e4 d6 6.Bf4 Nc6 7.d5 e5 8.Bg5 Ne7 9.Qd2 Kh8 10.h4 Nh5 11.g3 f6 12.Bh6? Bxh6 13.Qxh6

13...Nf4! 14.gxf4

(The witty 14.Ng5 fxg5 15.gxf4 gxf4 would have restricted White's losses to a pawn but now the queen is lost)

14...Ng8 15.Qxf8 Qxf8 16.Bh3 Bxh3 17.Rxh3 Qc8 18.Rh2 Qg4 19.Ke2 Qxf4 20.Rg1 Qh6 21.h5 g5 22.Nd1 Qf8 23.h6 c6

(Black opens up the game for his queen)

24.Ne3 Ne7 25.c5 cxd5 26.Nxd5 Nxd5 27.exd5 dxc5 0-1

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