Marseille win the showdown in Mulhouse!

Andrei Istratescu
The big clash between Marseille Echecs and Clichy ended in a 3-1 victory for the southerners and they thus become champions for the first time. If my memory serves me well, this is the first time a team from south of Lyon has won the French League! Evry finished third.

One can always mention the ifs and buts, however it seems that Hicham Hamdouchi (Clichy) was winning after the first time control against Didier Collas (Marseille). If Hamdouchi had won, then the match would have finished 2-2 and Clichy would have been crowned champions!

Before going into today's details, here was the situation before the final round.

In the other games Evry and Mulhouse confirmed their third and fourth rankings with victories, and Guingamp's fine run of form came just too late to save them.

Here are the final round results:

So here is the final table:

*Despite Clichy's better differential on game points, the head-to-head encounter takes preference and so Marseille are champions. Similarly for Noyon and Vandoeuvre, as Noyon won their match.

The top two qualify for the European Club Cup.

The bottom three, Rueil Malmaison, Strasbourg and Guingamp are relegated.

The promoted teams that will play in next year's event are Grasse (South), Deauville (North) and Bischwiller (East, Alsace).

More details about the French league can be obtained from the Federation web-site:

http://www.echecs.asso.fr/ 


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