The Asian defeats Poland’s Mateusz Bartel in an intense final characterized by an intense attack. Inidio Gopal takes the victory in group B.
The Llobregat Open Chess has come to an end with the victory of the Indian Narayanan SL, who defeated the Polish Mateusz Bartel in the final. In the match for third and fourth place, Harshit Raja and Arjun Erigaisi faced each other, with the latter winning. In Group B, the Indian delegation also won, led by Gopal, who scored 7.5 points, ahead of Spaniards Antonio Fábregas and José Antonio Flores, who completed the final podium.
The awards ceremony was presided over by the director of the tournament, Javier Pérez Llorca, who was accompanied by the president of the Catalan Chess Federation, Pepo Viñas, and the councilor of Welfare of the City Council of El Prat, Juan Carlos Moreno. They were accompanied by David Reboso, president of the Club d’Escacs del Prat, who presented the revelation award – dedicated to the Prat master David García; his mother, in fact, was present at the ceremony – to the young eight-year-old Indian Jain Rosh, who achieved an average of 4.5 out of 9 in group B.
The day was characterized by excitement, not only in the final rapid phase between the top four in the standings, but also in the ninth round. All possibilities were open until the last moment. Of the Spanish participants, the best was Àlvar Alonso, who placed 12th.
On the other hand, up to six players have achieved the standard to get their International Master title. They are Anastasya Protopopova -19 years old, who has won her second norm-, Rithvik Raja -15 years old, who won his first norm-, Rein Verstraeten -24 years old, third norm won, so he will become International Master-Mikhail Bryakin -who is also about to win the title, aged 22-, Harshir Raja -first norm, aged 18-, Cholleti Sahajasri -fourth norm, so he will win the title soon at the age of 23- and Evgeny Zanan.
About Llobregat Open Chess
The Llobregat Open Chess is an international chess tournament held from December 3 to 11 at the CEM Estruch in El Prat de Llobregat. It has more than 200 registered participants from some forty countries around the world. Among the best players in the tournament, the presence of international and Spanish champions stands out, such as Karen Movsziszian, Armenian and World Veteran Champion with an ELO of 2,491 points; D. Gukesh, from India, U12 World Champion and second youngest Grandmaster in history with a FIDE average of 2,520 points; or Gabriel del Río, absolute champion of Spain and with an ELO of 2,478.520 points; or Gabriel del Rio, absolute champion of Spain and with an ELO of 2,478, in addition to the French Maxime Lagarde, champion of France, and Edouard Romain, with titles of European and French champion to his credit and an ELO of 2,651. Among the Spanish participants is the very young Diego Vergara, U12 state champion with an ELO of 2,138.
