The Llobregat Open Chess 2022 began to warm up with the campaign to present the 3rd edition by the Ukrainian ambassadors of the tournament, Anna and Mariya Muzychuk, experts in a sport in which women need more opportunities. The first round of the competition took place on November 30. That day, Paco Vallejo showed his great skills in chess by defeating the young Polish Jakub Seeman (2375), while the Chinese GM Yangyi Yu did not have the same luck and was defeated by the Dutch IM Lars Ootes (2370).

On December 1, 2022, a second round took place in which the Spanish GM Paco Vallejo won the game against IM Lubbe Nicolas (2486) with a brilliant performance with the black pieces.

On December 2, the Masters Blitz took place, an exclusive tournament for players who are GM, WGM, IM; players with more than 2500 standard ELO who participate in the nine rounds of the Blitz and with a fast time control established of 3 minutes per player and 2 seconds (3+2) for each move made to 9 rounds. The Masters had the participation of 43 chess players, eight of which were women. Eltaj Safarli, an Azerbaijani, positioned himself as the clear winner of the Masters Blitz with 7½ points, ahead of GM Matthias Bluebaum and Latvian GM Nikita Meshkovs, third. German Josefine Heinemann was the best female player with 4½ points.

That same day, the mayoress of Sant Boi, Lluïsa Moret; the General Secretary of 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., accompanied by the tournament director IM Marcelo Panelo and the main organizer, Xavier Pérez Llorca.

The 3rd round, with a high level, offered master plays like 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.

During the 3rd and 4th round, the Female Blitz tournament took place, exclusively for the 15 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 place for the Mongolian WGM Altan-Ulzii Enkhtuul (2302) and the second place for the Cuban WGM Maritza Arribas Robaina (2232).

A day later, on December 4, the tournament hosted the school championship early in the morning in which 141 children from the U-8 to U-12 categories competed, with a fast time control set at 10 minutes for each player at 7 rounds. The championship winner 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).

That same day, the 5th round was played in which the pairings pitted Niemann against Vallejo, reaching a close and decisive situation that resulted in a tie and both added half a point. Niemann went on to face GM Kirill Alekseenko (2,687) and Spaniard Vallejo against GM Tin Jingyao (2,562). 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 tournament. In the 6th round (December 5) Hans Niemann took the lead, followed by Matthias Bluebaum, Tin Jingyao from Singapore and GM Chopra Aryan and Aditya Mittal from India. 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, while the Polish Klara Szczotka got the eighth position with 4 points.

The protagonists of the 7th round began one of the most interesting games and from which the final victory would emerge. 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, who was pointing out ways as a possible winner of the tournament.

The end of the 8th round left the scores with a tie at 6½ between the Singaporean Tin Jingyao and the Indian Aditya Mittal, in the first places, while Vallejo and Niemann fell 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 by the Turkish Alper Celik Ali, with 5½.

Finally, in the 9th and last round of the tournament, which was held on December 8, it started with a three-way tie at 7 points. The GM M. Amin Tabatabaei defeated Tin and the Indian Aditya in the tiebreaker, thus proclaiming himself the winner of the 3rd edition of El Llobregat Open Chess Tnmt. and leaving the Singaporean second and the Indian third. While. In group B, as was foreseeable, the Indian Chitre was proclaimed the winner with 7½, ahead of the Turkish Ali Alper Celik, who was in second position and the Spanish Joan Vallbona Domingo, occupying the third place.

At the end of the third edition of the tournament, the organization of the 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.

49 Grandmasters (GM) 11 Female Grandmasters (WGM)

The 3rd edition of El Llobregat Open Chess raised the bar due to the presence of the best of the Grandmasters (GM). In this select group A was the mysterious and controversial GM Hans Moke Niemann, a 19-year-old American with 2699 ELO. Niemann was a last-minute confirmation that caused a sensation among the sports media. Together with the American, the Spanish GM Paco Vallejo (2716) shone, tying with the Chinese GM Yangyi Yu, number 28 in the world.

The players started the games on November 30 with an average rating of 2,374. Group B had 50 participants, the vast majority Spanish, such as Josep Sort (2,083), Rafael Rodríguez (2,045), Sergio Díaz from Prata (1996), Esteve Mateu Guiu from Andorra (2,071) or the German Robert Herzwurum (1990). , among many other chess players.

Finally, a total of 49 Grand Masters (GM) participated in the edition; 11 Female Grand Masters (WGM), 41 International Masters (IM) and 44 FIDE Masters (FM). The tournament has had an average of 15% women, doubling the average in Catalonia (7%), the European (6%) and the world (9%), positioning itself as the open tournament with the highest level in Europe in 2022.

Closing ceremony and awards ceremony at Hotel El Castell

The closing ceremony of the third edition of Llobregat Open Chess took place on December 8 at 4:30 p.m. at the Hotel El Castell de Sant Boi and culminated with the traditional awards ceremony for the well-deserved winners presided over by the mayoress of Sant Boi, Lluïsa Moret The champion in group A was GM M. Amin Tabatabaei (Iran), who pocketed 10,000 euros; the second, GM Jingyao Tin (Singapore), awarded 5,000 euros; and the third the GM Mittal Aditya (India) who won 2,000 euros. In the women's category, Serbian WGM Teodora Injac won, followed by WGM Evgeniya Doluhanova (Ukraine) and WGM Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria). The winner among the 50+ Veterans was GM Gregory Kaidanov (United States) and among the 65+ Veterans, Hector Giacomini (France).

Two Spanish veterans from group B prevail in their categories

In group B, Arush Chitre (India) prevailed, followed by Ali Alper Celik (Turkey) and Joan Vallbona Domingo. In the female category, the winner was Roquelina Fandino Reyes Roquelina (Cuba) and the second was Klara Szczotka (Poland). The veteran of more than 50 years who won in this group was the Spanish Teodoro Asensio Linan and the one of more than 65 years the also Spanish German Walter Travella.

The two Muzychuk ambassadors

The headquarters of the Barcelona Provincial Council received on November 9, 2022 the visit of the Ukrainian chess players Muzychuk, sisters and ambassadors of the 3rd edition of El Llobregat Open Chess, where they were received by the mayoress of L'Hospitalet and president of the Provincial Council of Barcelona, Núria Marín, and by the mayoress of Esplugues de Llobregat and provincial deputy, Pilar Díaz, respectively. The meeting was also attended by Javier Ochoa, president of the Spanish Chess Federation; Pepo Viñas, president of the Catalan Federation; and the Consul General of Ukraine.

The activity of the Muzychuk sisters ended the following day with a visit to the Museu i Center d'Estudis de l'Esport Melcior Colet where they were received by the Secretary of Esports of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Anna Caula.

The secretary enjoyed a quick game with the Ukrainian sisters. Caula stated that she was a firm defender of the presence of women in sport, especially in chess, a discipline in which women still have a long way to go (7% of federated players in Catalonia). Although more and more women are showing the world their talent, like the Muzychuks.

20 world champions on canvas

One of the great cultural surprises, as well as sporting, that this third edition of the Llobregat Open Chess has left has been the exhibition of paintings with portraits in oil and watercolors of the 20 world chess champions, whose author is the artist from Leon, resident in Bilbao, Nístal Mayorga, The exhibition of canvases proposes a photographic tour from Wilhelm Steinitz, laureate in 1886, to the last (and current) champion, Magnus Carlsen. All the winners of the third edition of the tournament have received a copy of the book "Miradas de Campeones" which is also the author of Nistal Mayorga. The work was presented during the development of the chess championship.

FINAL RESULTS OF EL LLOBREGAT OPEN CHESS