The Llobregat Open Chess Tournament is crowned as the strongest chess open in Spain
The 3rd edition of the tournament manages to bring together 225 participants from 44 countries at the Can Massallera cultural center in Sant Boi. Iranian GM Tabatabaei M. Amin wins the championship ahead of favorites such as Paco Vallejo, Yu Yangyi and Hans Niemann.
The 3rd edition of El Llobregat Open Chess Tnmt., held from November 30 to December 8, 2022 at the Can Massallera civic center in Sant Boi de Llobregat, concludes with good sensations and demonstrations by great masters. The tournament was attended by 225 participants from 44 countries around the world, with Spanish players being the most present with 59 participants (26.3%), followed by India with 26 participants (11.6%) and Germany with 14 participants. (6.3%). By categories, the tournament has attracted 49 Grandmasters (GM), 11 Women's Grandmasters (WGM), 41 International Masters (IM), 2 Women's International Masters (WIM), 44 FIDE Masters (FM), 3 Women's FIDE Masters (WFM) and 9 candidates for Masters (CM).
The Llobregat Open Chess Tnmt. 2022 began to warm up with the campaign to present the 3rd edition by the tournament's Ukrainian ambassadors, Anna and Mariya Muzychuk, experts in a sport in which women need more opportunities. On November 8, 2022, the sisters visited the facilities of Mundo Deportivo, where they not only presented the new edition of the tournament, but were also able to play a simultaneous one with Martí Ponce , actor who starred as Arnau in the TV3 series 'Merlí'; Judit Corachán, triathlete; baseball player Miguel Blanco; Joana Ros, absolute champion of Catalonia; Hugo Uber, Catalan Under-12 champion; Pau Mulet, 3rd in the Under-8 of Spain; and Laia García, Catalan Under-12 champion and runner-up in Spain in the same category.
.jpg "ANNA AND MARIYA MUZYCHUK, TOGETHER WITH THE PRESIDENT OF THE BARCELONA PROVINCIAL COUNCIL, NÚRIA MARÍN")
On November 9, 2022, the headquarters of the Barcelona Provincial Council received a visit from the Muzychuk sisters, where they were received by the mayoress of L'Hospitalet and president of the Barcelona Provincial Council, Núria Marín, and the mayoress of Esplugues de Llobregat and provincial deputy of the Diputación de Barcelona, Pilar Díaz, respectively. The meeting was also attended by Javier Ochoa, president of the Spanish Chess Federation; Pepo Viñas, president of the Catalan Chess Federation; and the General Consul of Ukraine, Artem Vorobyov. The visit to the Diputación de Barcelona was followed by the presence of the Ukrainian chess experts at The British School of Barcelona, in Castelldefels, where they were able to exchange experiences with the students from different courses.
.jpg "PRESENTATION ACT OF THE TOURNAMENT IN THE GOVERNMENT OF CATALONIA, TOGETHER WITH ANNA CAULA, SECRETARY OF SPORTS AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY")
The visits of the Muzychuk sisters presenting the 3rd edition of El Llobregat Open Chess Tnmt., of which they have been ambassadors, ended on November 10, 2022 with a visit to the Esports facilities of the Generalitat of Catalonia, where they were received by the Esports secretary of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Anna Caula. The secretary, a full defender of the presence of women in sports, especially in chess, a sport in which women still have a long way to go, but more and more are showing the world their talent as the Muzychuk, enjoyed a checkmate with the Ukrainian sisters.
Hard competition between grandmasters
The 3rd edition of El Llobregat Open Chess Tnmt. had a high bar, which kicked off on November 30 with 175 participants from group A, which included the mysterious and controversial GM Hans Moke Niemann, a 19-year-old American with 2699 ELO, last-minute confirmation that caused a sensation in the sports media; the Spanish GM Paco Vallejo (2716), tied with the Chinese GM Yu Yangyi, number 28 in the world. The players started the games with an average of 2374 ELO. Group B had 50 participants, the vast majority Spanish, such as Josep Sort (2,083), Rafael Rodríguez (2,045), Sergio Díaz from El Prat de Llobregat (1996), the Andorran Esteve Mateu Guiu (2071) and the German Robert Herzwurum (1990), among many others.
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This 3rd edition has had an average of 15% women, doubling the average in Catalonia, which stands at 7%, the European one with 6% and the world one with 9%, positioning itself as a reference tournament for women's chess.
The 1st round took place on November 30, in which Paco Vallejo showed his great chess skills by defeating the young Polish star Jakub Seeman (2375), while the The Chinese GM was not so lucky and was defeated by the Dutch IM Lars Ootes (2370). On December 1, 2022, the 2nd round took place in which the Spanish GM Paco Vallejo once again led the game against IM Lubbe Nicolas (2486) with a brilliant game with the black pieces.
On December 2, the Masters Blitz took place, an exclusive tournament for players who are GM, WGM, IM born in 1972 and earlier and players with more than 2500 standard ELO who participate in the 9 rounds of the tournament and with an established fast time control of 3 minutes per player and 2 seconds (3+2) for each movement made to 9 rounds. The Masters had the participation of 43 people, 8 of which were women. Eltaj Safarli, an Azerbaijani, was the clear winner of the Masters Blitz with 7½ points, ahead of GM Matthias Bluebaum and Latvian GM Nikita Meshkovs, which obtained the third position. The German Josefine Heinemann was recognized as the best female player with 4½ points.
.jpg "INSTITUTIONAL VISIT OF MUNICIPAL AUTHORITIES AND THE GENERALITAT. FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: XAVIER PÉREZ LLORCA, LLUÏSA MORET, MARCELO PANELO, ANNA CAULA, RAÜL ROMEVA AND ANTONIA BARRAGÁN")
Municipal authorities and the Generalitat of Catalonia, including the mayoress of Sant Boi de Llobregat, Lluïsa Moret; the General Secretary for Esports of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Anna Caula; the deputy of the Parliament of Catalonia, Raül Romeva i Rueda; and the defender of the elderly, Antonia Barragán, visited the facilities of El Llobregat Open Chess Tnmt. on December 2, accompanied by the IM tournament director Marcelo Panelo and the main organizer, Xavier Pérez Llorca.
The 3rd round, of a high level, delighted with masterful plays such as those of Paco Vallejo against the impeccable game of the Argentine Tomás Sosa (2548). The great games stood out, such as the one by Hans Niemann who brought down the Georgian GM Nikolozi Kacharava (2532); and the incredible fight that for more than six hours kept the Bulgarian Ivan Cheparinov (2694) in tension to beat the Azeri Read Samadov (2450), only 15 years old. At this point in the tournament, the eight participants with an excellent score were clearly defined.
High-class female players and schools
During the 3rd and 4th round, the Female Blitz tournament took place, which kept exclusivity for the 15 female players who played the 9 rounds of El Llobregat Open Chess Tnmt. from groups A or B with a rapid time control from 3+2 to 7 rounds. WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan (2322) was proclaimed the winner with 5½ points, leaving second and third place to the Mongolian WGM Altan-Ulzii Enkhtuul (2302) and Cuban WGM Maritza Arribas Robaina (2232), respectively.
.jpg "FEMALE BLITZ TOURNAMENT OF THE 3rd EDITION OF THE LLOBREGAT OPEN CHESS TNMT.")
A day later, on December 4, the tournament hosted the early morning school championship in which the youngest competed, 141 boys and girls from the U-8 to U-12 categories, with a fast time control set for 10 minutes for each player to 7 rounds. The winner of the championship was Pau Manel Prada (1681) with 6½ points; in second position was Marc Lozano (1739) and the last position on the podium went to Alex Villa (1890).
On December 4, the 5th round was played in which the pairings pitted Hans Moke Niemann against Paco Vallejo, reaching a close and decisive situation that resulted in a draw and both They added half a point. Niemann went on to face off against GM Kirill Alekseenko (2687) and Spaniard Vallejo against GM Tin Jingyao (2562). GM Aditya Mittal stood out with a great victory in the 5th round with an impeccable defeat to the Bulgarian GM Ivan Cheparinov, the number 50 against the number 4 of the initial ranking of the championship.
Just three rounds from the final, Paco Vallejo, Hans Niemann and Aditya Mittal were positioned at the forefront of the chess tournament. In the 6th round, played on December 5, and led by Hans Niemann, followed by Matthias Bluebaum, the Singaporean Tin Jingyao and the Indians GM Chopra Aryan and Aditya Mittal. In group B, another 5-point tie was found between three players: the Indian Arush Chitre, the Malaysian Kaushal Khandhar and the Turkish Alper Celik Ali strong, while the Polish Klara Szczotka achieved the eighth position with 4 points.
The protagonists of the 7th round began one of the most interesting games, since the final victory would come out of them. In it, the German Matthias Bluembaum and the Azeri GM Eltaj Safarli faced each other and the American Niemann found himself with 5 points against the Italian Daniil Dvirnyy, who accumulated 5½ points. To these great players was added the confrontation in the 8th round of Paco Vallejo against Daniil Yuffa, pointing out ways as a possible winner of the tournament.
At the end of the 8th round, the scores were tied at 6½ between the Singaporean Tin Jingyao and the Indian Aditya Mittal, occupying the first places, while Francisco Vallejo Pons and Hans Niemann dropped to tenth and eleventh position respectively. Group B was led by the Indian Arush Chitre, with 7 points and no relevant competitor, since the second place was occupied by the Spanish Joan Vallbona Domingo, followed in third position for the Turkish Alper Celik Ali, with 5½.
Finally, in the 9th and last round of the tournament, which was held on December 8, they presented themselves with a triple tie at 7 points. The GM M. Amin Tabatabaei defeated Tin Jingyao and the Indian Aditya Mittal in the tiebreaker, thus proclaiming himself the winner of the 3rd edition of El Llobregat Open Chess Tnmt. and leaving the companions in second and third place, respectively. While in group B, as was foreseeable, the Indian Arush Chitre finished as the winner with 7½, ahead of the Turkish Alper Celik Ali, who was in second position and the Spanish Joan Vallbona Domingo, occupying third place.
.jpg "NÍSTAL MAYORGA, AUTHOR OF THE EXHIBITION OF PICTURES WITH IMAGES OF OIL OILS AND WATERCOLORS OF THE 20 WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONS, WHICH WAS DISPLAYED IN THE TOURNAMENT HALL")
Another of the great cultural surprises, as well as sporting, was the exhibition of paintings with oil and watercolor images of the 20 world chess champions, whose author is Nístal Mayorga, who takes a tour from Wilhelm Steinitz in 1886 to the last champion, Magnus Carlsen. The winners of the tournament have received a copy of the painter's book “MIRADAS DE CAMPEONES”, which was presented during the development of the chess championship.
Awards ceremony for the great masters
The closing event took place on December 8 at 4:30 p.m. at the El Castell of Sant Boi de Llobregat Hotel with the awards ceremony to the deserved winners of the 3rd edition of El Llobregat Open Chess
The awards were handed over to the respective winners by the mayoress of Sant Boi, Lluïsa Moret, in an act that was well attended and welcomed by the public, among which were Xavier Pérez Llorca, main organizer; Marcelo Panelo, tournament director; Hernan Siludakis, main referee; and the winners of groups A and B, among many others.
At the end of the third edition of the tournament, the organization of El Llobregat Open Chess Tnmt. accepted the offer of the Sant Boi City Council to hold the next four editions in the city, with the aim of Sant Boi being recognized as the town that annually hosts the highest level chess tournament held in Spain.
