The first edition of El Llobregat Open Chess was characterized by surprises in group A. In this sense, the draws of the second best player of the tournament, the Polish Mateusz Bartel, with an ELO of 2,634, with the only Iranian representative, Mobina Alinasab, who has a lower ELO of 2,324 points, stand out. The Iranian had 41 minutes to spare, while the Pole had one hour and three minutes to spare. Alinasab comes from a country that has better and better chess players and today’s game was an example of that.
On the other hand, and also in group A, the French Maxime Lagarde -the player with the highest ELO of the tournament- has managed to beat his opponent, Ramón Ibáñez, in a close and very exciting game that has concentrated the attention of those present due to its hardness and duration, since Ibáñez did not make it easy for the French champion. Also noteworthy in this sense is the disputed game between Rakshita Ravi -2,260- and Marc Narciso -2,516-, which ended around 10 o’clock at night and went to Narciso’s side.
On the other hand, Murali Karthikeyan, with 2,611 ELO, has solved in extremis his game against Samant Aditya -with 2,300 ELO- with a victory, being one of the great players who have managed to pass this first round with a victory.
The importance of chess as a pedagogical tool
During the official opening of the tournament, the presidents of the Spanish and Catalan federations, Javier Ochoa and Pepo Viñas, have highlighted the importance of chess as an educational tool to implement in schools and thus help to improve the results of the students. In this sense, the mayor of the host city of El Prat, in charge of the kick-off of the competition, has highlighted the values that chess transmits and how it helps to generate critical thinking.
For his part, the tournament director, Xavier Perez Llorca, welcomed the participants and their companions and argued that the vocation of the competition is to promote culture in the Baix Llobregat.
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.
