Summary of the first day, by Hernán Siludakis
At 17:00 on November 30, under the setting sun, the second elllobregat Open Chess tournament started, the open chess tournament with the highest ELO average in Spain.
The more than 150 players moved games for 5 hours and 30 minutes, producing very tightly contested games. The pairing of the first round has generated something rarely seen, the confrontation of 2 grandmasters against each other on table number 1, usually in these competitions the Grandmasters face each other in the later rounds where they define the leading positions. This shows the toughness of the tournament, and that is why many high level players from all over the world are interested in coming to play this tournament of such magnitude.
A pleasant surprise has been the victory of the young Catalan promise, Carles Martín Barceló over the Dutch Grandmaster Lucas Van Foorest, we also highlight the draw achieved by Andreu Blasco, from Castelldefels Club, against Grandmaster Venkataraman Karthik from India.
Among the women, the favorite Dinara Saduakassova had no major problems in defeating her opponent and it is worth mentioning the draw achieved with black pieces by Adhara Rodriguez round against International Master Vignesh.
Today, starting at 17:00, will begin the second round, which marks another milestone, the confrontation of two world champions: Armenian veteran Karen Movszizsian against Ruslam Ponomariov of Ukraine.
