The first edition of El Llobregat Open Chess has started this afternoon with the official kick-off by the mayor of El Prat, Lluís Mijoler, who has inaugurated together with the tournament director, Xavier Pérez Llorca, the manager, the International Master Marcelo Panelo, and the presidents of the Catalan and Spanish chess federations, Pepo Viñas and Javier Ochoa.
Pérez Llorca welcomed the players and their companions, who came from some forty countries. He has also defended chess as a “pedagogical tool”, as well as the president of the Catalan federation. “Society needs to bet on chess”, said Viñas in his speech. For his part, Ochoa highlighted the “high level” of the tournament, which has an ELO of approximately 2,300, the highest of those held this year in Spain. “It is born with a lot of strength,” he added.
The mayor of El Prat has celebrated being able to host the first edition of this international event and has remarked the values that chess brings, both from the pedagogical point of view and from the point of view of promoting “critical thinking”.
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, as well as 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.
