Alberto David is the 2012 Italian champion

Born in Milan in 1970, Alberto David moved to Luxembourg with his parents in 1974 and a year later learned how to play chess. Though he enjoyed some success in his youth in Luxembourg his real chess activities started in 1992 after finishing his studies in Philosophy in London. In 1996 he became a grandmaster and won the silver medal on board one at the 2002 Bled Olympics, followed by a gold medal at the European Team Championships in Plovdiv 2003. Under the Milanese Chess Society in 2012 he regained his Italian citizenship,and as a result of being the thrid highest rating in Italy (01/10/2012), he was invited to play in the Italian Championship.

With the top Italian Fabiano Caruana currently away in Bucharest, locking horns with Ivanchuk, Topalov and Nisipeanu, the title was left wide open to a number of hopeful grandmasters and masters. Though the field was hardly a pushover for David, he made it seem like it as he swept through, winning with a round to spare, ending on 8.5/11, a full point and a half ahead of the field.

Alberto David's move to Italy could hardly have been more successful

In second place was 18-year-old IM Guido Caprio (2380 FIDE), one of Italy's fastest rising stars. Born in Latina, Italy, in 1994, he learned to play chess at the age of ten, encouraged by his father, becoming the Italian under-14 champion in 2007. His first major leap though, was in 2011 in the Hundred Tournament, where he opened his account with three straight wins over grandmasters, and obtained his first IM norm, a title he earned this year.

In the 2012 Italian championship, he had a remarkably srong finish and came in second with 7.0/11 and a superb 2580 performance. His tiebreak was slightly better than Dvirnyy who came in third with the same score.

Here is one of his key wins:

[Event "72nd ch-ITA 2012"] [Site "Torino ITA"] [Date "2012.10.30"] [Round "1"] [White "Caprio, G."] [Black "Brunello, S."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E42"] [WhiteElo "2392"] [BlackElo "2591"] [PlyCount "55"] [EventDate "2012.10.30"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 c5 5. Nge2 cxd4 6. exd4 O-O 7. a3 Be7 8. Nf4 d5 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. Ncxd5 exd5 11. Bd3 g6 12. O-O Nc6 13. Be3 Bf6 14. Rc1 Qd6 15. Rc5 Be6 16. Nxe6 fxe6 17. Qg4 Bg7 18. Rfc1 Rad8 19. h4 Nxd4 20. h5 $1 ( {Taking with} 20. Bxd4 {would be fatal after} Rf4 $1 {but Caprio had seen this and was not concerned.}) 20... Nf5 $2 {This move looks understandable when you see the threats mounting against the black king, but it is a mistake.} ({Black had to play} 20... Nb3 {and after} 21. hxg6 {play the cool} h6 22. Qh3 Nxc1 ( 22... Nxc5 $2 23. Bxc5) 23. Rxc1 Rc8 24. Re1 Rc7 $1 {Here the point is that after} 25. Bxh6 Bxh6 26. Qxh6 {Black plays} Qf4 $1 {forcing the exhange of queens and securing a small edge.}) 21. Bf4 e5 22. Bg5 Ne7 23. hxg6 e4 24. Rc7 Qxg6 25. Be2 Qf7 26. Rxe7 Qxf2+ 27. Kh1 Rd6 28. Rcc7 1-0

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