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Seven. That is the number of Brazilian Championship titles held by four players as of last year: the legendary Souza Mendes, the first Brazilian Champion, and most likely first true master from the nation, was the first to accomplish this feat. Later came Sunye Neto, Brazil’s second grandmaster after the great Mecking, followed by Giovanni Vescovi, and his rival Rafael Leitão, who joined the club last year.
IA Elcio Mourão, chief arbiter, with organizer and president of the Brazilian Federation, Darcy Lima
GM Rafael Leitão, seven-time Brazilian Champion
Rafael Leitão’s talent is of course never in doubt as the former World under-12 and World under-18 champion, but players of his caliber many times forego on national championships either for financial reasons, or for pure sporting reasons. I.e. lack of interest for lack of proper competition. Consider Bobby Fischer for example, who really only played in the US Championship so many times because it was the effective Zonal of the World Championship cycle. In Leitão’s case, the interest has been quite clear: become the first player to achieve eight titles. Not that the other conditions fail, but this year, especially with a newborn son due in two months, his focus is total.
GM Krikor Mekhitarian is one of the chief rivals to upset Rafa's plans
The start of the tournament
Also of special note in this year’s edition is the second straight year of live GM commentary of all the rounds, in Portuguese, by GM Darcy Lima. This year the Brazilian Federation is partnering with ChessBase so that the live commentary is broadcast via Playchess but open to all visitors, even guest accounts! This video commentary is done together with ChessBase News editor, Albert Silver, and can be viewed in the web version of Playchess as well.
Rafael Leitão joins Darcy Lima in the post-game conference
The commentary could be seen not only in the desktop software, but also the web version of Playchess
To view it live, and free, just enter PlayChess, go to Live Games and Listen to Radio
With a range of players and ratings from an untitled 2159 FIDE to a 2633 FIDE grandmaster, there is room for wild games, unpredictable results, and overall highly entertaining rounds, and the first three rounds have lived up to that.
GM Rafael Leitão - FM Ricardo Teixeira
Another candidate for a surprise is IM Evandro Barbosa
IM Yago Sanitago arrived with considerable momentum after earning a
GM norm not long ago in Argentina, but the first three rounds were a
nightmare, and nothing seemed to go right for the friendly player.
Renan do Carmo Reis won spectacularly in round two
Renan do Carmo Reis - Yago Santiago
IM Eduardo Limp is one of the bastions of Brazilian chess, with a vast
general culture as well as exemplary sportsmanship and character
Maximo Macedo
Luismar Brito is known for his clever resourcefulness, and forces players to always be on their guard
Rafael Cabral de Souza is the lowest rated player in the tournament, but earned his spot
just as all the others
Marcus Vinicius Santos won a hair-raising game in round one, in a theoretical debate in
which he sacrificed a queen
The competition is being held in the traditional Clube de Xadrez Guanabara (Guanabara
Chess Club) that is now in its 60th year
A lot of interest in Krikor's opening play
The surprise leader after three rounds is the incredibly friendly Ernani Choma with 2.5/3.
It should be noted that getting this picture was not nearly as easy as one might think as
he is prone to huge grins and laughter, which don't suggest "chess assassin". In the end,
I gave up telling him to give me a killer look, and told him to imagine my face was 1.e4 c5.
Nevertheless, right behind with 2.0/3 is Leitão, and he will no doubt have plenty to say by the end
In parallel to the main event, is a special round-robin designed to allow female players to achieve WGM norms, or even better should they succeed with four grandmasters, one IM, one local player, and four WIMs seeking their fates.
The author poses with the venerable 91-year-old Luciano Nilo de Andrade, former president
of the Brazilian Federation, whose many tales of Euwe and others are always a delight
For Brazilian viewers - Para leitores Brasileiros
Este vídeo em Português deve esclarecer como acessar a Playchess para acompanhar os
comentarios ao vivo e de graça. (Trans: this video in Portuguese should help explain how
to access Playchess in order to enjoy the free live commentary)
Current standings after three rounds
LinksThe games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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