Have you ever wondered what drives a chess player to sign up for a category B tournament? In the living mosaic of emotions in the game-science there is a balance between reason and heart.
For many B players the key is to compose an argument between the illusion of playing the A with the stars of the board and the certainty that, at those heights, the fall is more painful when several successive defeats are chained. There are those who do it with the intention of putting in their sights economic prizes that they feel within their reach and, from a point diametrically opposed to this perspective, there are players who raise their chess career facing the difficulties in a staggered way, with the aim of one day participating in the main event. Well, in V El Llobregat Open Chess Tournament, in addition to group A (118 registered), we have a group B (43) and a C (19).
Concerning the second round of play of A (and first of the other groups), it was an honor to receive the visit of Juan Roncero, President d’Honor of the Club de Bàsquet Sant Boi, an entity that celebrates its 50th anniversary since its founding. The pieces on the boards were perfectly aligned, ready to go into action at the service of the chess players, giving rise to the first move with the traditional ringing of the bell. This coordination, which extinguishes the murmurs prior to the start of the rounds of play, is magic carved in the silence, which is imposed on the restless heeling of the masters before the board. In Group A there has been a huge surprise, with the victory of the Georgian Mikheil Kekelidze (2353) over the Hungarian Adam Kozak (2591) on the second board. Both are grandmasters, but to win with the black pieces against a player who is close to an international Elo of 2600 is a feat. Now Kozak will have to analyze what happened, find out what his shortcomings were in the game and recompose his emotions if he wants to opt for a financial prize in the final classification. The provisional standings are still led by Jose Manuel Lopez (2 points), followed by Martin Kraemer (2) and Ido Gorshtein (2). The first round of Group B leaves Ricardo Brusi, Jordi García and Víctor Manuel Montiel as leaders, respectively. As for Group C, Diego Membrives, Francisco Domínguez and Hailey Van De Graaff are in the lead. You can follow the games live, from 4 p.m. on the link https://www.elllobregat.com/openchess/es/
