The national championships were held between December 12 and 16 at the Barrière Casino Group’s Le Fouquet Hotel, a Parisian palace on the Champs Elysées. Although there was competition for various skill levels as well as side events, 38 of France’s top players competed in the Championship Main; non-French players that are legal residents of France are also permitted to participate.

The event started with a Swiss format that would see the eight players with the most wins advancing to the quarterfinals. The format for the quarterfinals, semi-finals and final was two nine-point matches, which if tied at one apiece, forced a third 11-point match to decide the winner of the series.

Here are the eight players that advanced, along with the quarterfinal pairings (with quarterfinal winners marked in bold):

Miki Suzuki versus Olivier Lafon

Eric Sfez versus David Soulimani

Thierry Manouck versus Gérard Siegel

Franck Stepler versus Eric Guedj

The semi-final pairings were:

Olivier Lafon versus Eric Sfez

Thierry Manouck versus Eric Guedj

Finals:

Olivier Lafon versus Eric Guedj...

Lafon (L) and Guedj face off for the national title.

In the final series, Guedj won the first 9-point match 10-6, Lafon the second 9-point match 9-7 and then Guedj went on to win the third match of 11 points, 11-7 to claim the title of 2007 Champion of France.

The three matches between Olivier Lafon, who hails from Hyères, France and Eric Guedj, who resides in Paris, have been analyzed by Snowie 4 Professional software and can be viewed at these links:

Match 1    ---    Match 2    ---    Match 3

Congratulations to Eric Guedj!

Eric Guedj receives trophy in the Awards Ceremony.

Amongst several other money place wins in recent years, Eric is also the 2006 Vice-Champion of Europe and the 2003 Paris Open Champion.

Photos Copyright © by PartoucheGammon