51st Mar del Plata Open: Andres Rodriguez clinches the title
The 51st edition Mar del Plata Open, one of the oldest tournaments in Argentina, was held from April 9-16 in the second-largest city in Buenos Aires province. One of many tournaments supported by FIDE under the Open Aid Project, the 9-round Swiss event brought together 282 participants from eight countries, including 35 titled players. The event turned into a very close race among the rating favourites. Suffice it to say that three players, GMs Andres Rodriguez (Uruguay) and two Argentineans, Facundo Pierrot and Leonardo Tristan, were coming into the final round as joint-leaders on 7/8 with six players, including the highest-rated Diego Flores, trailing by a half-point. After Facundo Pierrot fell to Diego Flores in a seesaw game, all eyes were on the leaders’ clash Rodriguez – Tristan. The Uruguayan made the best of the opponent’s mistakes, scored a very important victory and took the first prize with an excellent result of 8/9. Diego Flores, Italian veteran GM Carlos Garcia Palermo and IM Ismael Acosta tied for the second place, with the first two making the podium by dint of better Buchholz. WFM María José Campos (pictured below) turned in the best female performance, whereas FM Marcelo Ibar became the best senior player. The event ran very smoothly, thanks largely to a great job by the tournament director Javier Curilen and AI OI Leandro Plotinsky. Final standings: 1 GM Rodriguez Vila, Andres URU 2435 8 2 GM Flores, Diego ARG 2562 7½ 3 GM Garcia Palermo, Carlos ITA 2403 7½ 4 IM Acosta Pablo, Ismael ARG 2450 7½ 5 FM Cristobal, Manuel ARG 2215 7 6 IM Pierrot, Facundo ARG 2381 7 7 IM Romero Barreto, Jaime VEN 2340 7 8 IM Fiorito, Fabian ARG 2356 7 9 FM Miranda, Rafael ARG 2262 7 10 GM Tristan, Leonardo ARG 2553 7 You can find the complete results here. Official website: mdpajedrez.com.ar/inscripcion/ Photo credit: official website
American Cup 2022: Day 1 Recap
The inaugural American Cup kicked off today with plenty of decisive action as several players drew first blood in their individual matches within the Champions Bracket. In this exciting new format, the winner of each match will advance to the next stage while the loser will be relegated to the Elimination Bracket, where they will be given a second chance to keep their tournament hopes alive. Champions Bracket – Open Field Champions Bracket – Women’s Field Both GM Levon Aronian and GM Sam Sevian won their first games in the Open Field, while the Women’s Field saw GM Irina Krush, WGM Begim Tokhirjonova, and IM Anna Zatonskih each scoring victories. With each match consisting of two games, So, Robson, Yan, Nemcova, and Abrahamyan will all be in a must-win situation tomorrow in order to force a rapid playoff. The time control for the event is 90 minutes plus 30 seconds increment for all games in the Champions Bracket, with a rapid time control of 25+10 for the Elimination Bracket and a 10+5 time control for all playoff matches. OPEN FIELD The first game of the day to finish took place between GM Leinier Dominguez and GM Sam Shankland, as the players entered a highly theoretical variation of the Italian Game. Showing good preparation, Shankland sacrificed a piece for three pawns and neutralized Dominguez’s pressure, who then forced a draw by repetition. Scoring a huge win with Black was GM Sam Sevian, who managed to overtake the initiative against GM Wesley So in a sharp position with opposite side castling. 28…Qd5! allowed Sevian to launch a devastating counter-attack against White’s king GM Sam Sevian pulled off a big upset over GM Wesley So Also winning was GM Levon Aronian, who gave up his strong fianchettoed bishop in order to snag a pawn against GM Ray Robson. Although Black had serious compensation, Robson failed to generate enough play for the pawn and Aronian was eventually able to convert the full point. After 43.Kh5, White’s winning plan was to break through with f4-f5-f6. | 1-0, 52 moves Current World No. 4 Levon Aronian took an early 1-0 lead against GM Ray Robson The last game to finish was a wild affair between GM Fabiano Caruana and GM Jeffery Xiong, as a quiet Petroff quickly turned into an unbalanced queen vs. two rooks middlegame, with both players missing chances as they approached mutual time trouble. With Black’s king too open for the rooks to create serious counterplay, the game was logically drawn by repetition, keeping the match level going into tomorrow’s round. WOMEN’S FIELD In the Women’s Field, top seed GM Irina Krush earned a smooth win against FM Ruiyang Yan, nursing an extra pawn out of the opening to eventually take over the full board. No. 2 seed IM Anna Zatonskih also won her game, building up a large strategic advantage against WGM Tatev Abrahamyan, who later blundered in time trouble while in a difficult position. 25.d6! left White with a long-term positional advantage, thanks to the weakness of Black’s king. | 1-0, 37 moves Eight-time U.S. Women’s Champion GM Irina Krush started off with a clean win against FM Ruiyang Yan Winning with Black was WGM Begim Tokhirjonova, who outplayed WGM Katerina Nemcova out of the opening in order to pick up a clean extra pawn. Although Nemcova had chances to hold in an endgame with opposite colored bishops, a further blunder allowed Tokhirjonova to secure the victory. WGM Begim Tokhirjonova, who plays for the University of Missouri chess team The final game to finish was a rollercoaster draw between IM Stavroula Tsolakidou and WIM Alice Lee. Although Lee held a big advantage out of the opening with an overwhelming majority on the queenside, a timely knight sacrifice allowed Tsolakidou to turn things around with a powerful kingside attack. Amazingly, Lee managed to survive and eventually escape into an endgame with a knight against four pawns, where Tsolakidou was unable to generate any real winning chances. Day 2 of the 2022 American Cup will take place Thursday, April 21 starting at 12:50 PM CT. Catch all the action live with grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan, Cristian Chirila, and Alejandro Ramirez on uschesschamps.com and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels. Watch all the action LIVE at USChessChamps.com Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Photo credit: Saint Louis Chess Club, Austin Fuller and Crystal Fuller Dates & Location:April 20 – 29, 2022, Saint Louis Chess Club Web: uschesschamps.com | Twitter: @STLChessClub Instagram: @STLChessClub | Facebook: @STLChessClub YouTube: @STLChessClub | Twitch.tv: @STLChessClub Photo Credits:Photos and appropriate credits available on Flickr Press Contact:Rebecca Buffington rbuffington@saintlouischessclub.org Saint Louis Chess Club | Building Champions 4657 Maryland Avenue, Saint Louis, MO 63108 | (314) 361.CHESS (2437)
Sandro Mareco and Sandra Guillen win LXVII Mexico Open Championship
The city of Chihuahua, the capital of the northwestern state bearing the same name, hosted one of the largest chess forums in Mexico, the LXVII National Open Championship, from April 12-17, 2022. The festival, with a total prize fund of $80,000, brought together about 900 participants and consisted of several Swiss tournaments in various rating and age categories. The main (Open) event attracted twelve grandmasters from Peru, Chile, Argentina, Cuba, the United States and Mexico, while the women’s tournament was only for local female players. The winners of this event in all categories claimed the titles of national champions. Chihuahua had some sort of a “chess fever” during the LXVII Mexico National Open Championship – according to the president of the Mexican Association of Hotels and Motels, hotel occupancy during the event reached 2,000 room nights (for five nights). GM Sandro Mareco of Argentina (pictured below) came as the winner of the open event, a nine-round Swiss tournament with classical time control. One of the two rating favourites scored 7½/9, conceding just three draws. Three players, GMs Pablo Salinas (Chile), Kevin Cory (Peru), and Luis Ibarra Chami (Mexico), finished just a half-point behind and tied for the second place, with the Chilean and Peruvian claiming second and third positions in the final standings respectively in accordance with Buchholz (the first tiebreak criteria). The two best-performing Mexican players, GMs Luis Ibarra Chami and Gilberto Hernández Guerrero, booked the slots in the national team that will represent the country at the Chess Olympiad 2022. Final standings Open: 1 GM Mareco, Sandro ARG 2652 7½ 2 GM Salinas Herrera, Pablo CHI 2521 7 3 GM Cori Quispe Kevin PER 2492 7 4 GM Ibarra Chami, Luis MEX 2441 7 5 GM Cordova, Emilio PER 2544 6½ 6 GM Cori, Jorge PER 2652 6½ 7 GM Hernandez Guerrero, Gilberto MEX 2564 6½ 8 GM Quesada Perez, Luis CUB 2519 6½ 9 GM Gonzalez Zamora, Juan MEX 2532 6 10 FM Galaviz Medina, Sion MEX 2362 6 In the women’s event, an eight-round Swiss tournament with only local players participating, two places in the women’s Olympic team were also at stake. These two spots went to Sandra Guillen from Veracruz (pictured below), who won the event with an excellent score of 7/8 and Ameyalli Ávila Fraire (5½/8) from Durango, who ended up in a large group of players tied for third place. Final standings Women: 1 WNM Guillen Cristobal, Sandra 1947 7 2 WIM Guerrero Rodriguez, Alejandra 2023 6 3 WCM Avila Fraire, Ameyalli 1963 5½ 4 Ortega Beltran, Ximena 1759 5½ 5 Ramirez Toledo, Ayleen 1932 5½ 6 WCM Santiago Gonzalez, Frida 1830 5½ 7 WIM Ancheyta Tejas, Claudinelly 2061 5½ 8 WIM Corrales Jimenez, Zenia 2195 5 9 Montano Vicente, Guadalupe 1698 5 10 Ruiz Villalba, Andrea 1831 5 The program of the LXVII National Open Chamionship included several night Blitz tournaments held in different venues of the hotels in the city of Chihuahua, simultaneous exhibitions and various cultural activities. The games of open and women’s sections were broadcast on Chess 24. It would have been impossible to stage an event of such magnitude without the support and sponsorship of different governmental and private entities, such as the National Commission for Physical Culture and Sport, the Mexican Olympic Committee, the State and the municipality of Chihuahua, the State Convention Bureau, the Municipal Economic Support and Development Directorate, the pharmaceutical company Terra Farma, the FENAMAC Chess Development Center in Mexico City, and the Mexican Association of Hoteliers in Chihuahua. Official website: nacionalabierto.fenamacajedrez.com/ Photo credit: the official website and Facebook page