Spanish Team Championship, Round 6: Andreu Paterna leapfrogs Magic Extremadura

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
9/29/2020 – Andreu Paterna leapfrogged Magic Extremadura to reach sole second place with one round to go at the Spanish Team Championship taking place in Linares. Meanwhile, Silla Bosch Serinsys drew rating favourites Beniaján Duochess to remain in the lead before Tuesday’s final round. The leaders will face Gros Xake Taldea in their last matchup of the event, when a victory wil secure them first place in the final standings. | Pictured: Antoaneta Stefanova v Julen Arizmendi | Photos: Spanish Chess Federation

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Silla Bosch Serinsys still in the lead

There is still a sole leader at the 2020 Spanish Team Championship, despite the fact that Silla Bosch Serinsys only drew its round-8 match with Beniaján Duochess, as the team that could have caught up with the Valencian squad, Magic Extremadura, lost against Andreu Paterna in an evenly matched encounter.

Meanwhile, Gros Xake Taldea defeated Solvay and Jaime Casas inflicted Collado Villalba’s eighth consecutive loss. 

Although it is still theoretically possible for five teams to grab first place, it is very unlikely for the squads currently placed two points behind the leader to climb up to the top of the standings — not only because Silla Bosch Serinsys has shown great stability throughout, but also due to the first tiebreak criterion, board points, in which the Valencian team has a strong lead as well.

It will all come down to the two key matchups of the final round — Silla Bosch Serinsys v Gros Xake Taldea and Andreu Paterna v Solvay. In both cases, all three results are possible, with no big favourites given how closely contested the tournament has been so far.

Beniaján Duochess

Beniaján Duochess

Silla Bosch Serinsys 3:3 Beniaján Duochess

Monday’s top matchup saw the leaders and the rating favourites trading wins on boards 5 and 6. Hipólito Asis (Beniaján) beat José Cuenca (Silla) while Pia Cramling (Silla) got the better of Sabrina Vega (Beniaján). The Swedish legend defeated her Spanish colleague in a sharp open position with queens and two pieces per side:

 

Black is a pawn up and has the safer king, but given the presence of queens in an open position a blunder for either side can lead to a quick defeat. However, the one cracking under pressure first was Vega, who faltered by going active with 44.Qf7 here, when simplifying with 44.Nxe6 would have given her better chances to hold a draw. 

The game continued 44...Nxg5 45.Qb7 and Cramling started pushing her passer on the h-file while creating luft for her king with 45...h5. White resigned seven moves later.

 

Pia Cramling, José Cuenca

Silla Bosch Serinsys’ Pia Cramling and José “Pepe” Cuenca

Andreu Paterna 3½:2½ Magic Extremadura

A single decisive game tipped the balance in favour of Andreu Paterna over Magic Extremadura, as Julen Arizmendi beat Antoaneta Stefanova with black on board 5. The Spaniard played enterprising chess and saw his opponent overplaying her position. In the end, it was White who fell victim to an unstoppable attack:

 

Black handled better the messy position that emerged from an offbeat opening. There followed 25...Ng4 26.Bxf5 Rxf5 27.Rxb7 Qd1+ and Stefanova resigned.

This was Arizmendi’s third win of the event, after playing four out of his five games with the black pieces. He also lost once for a 3½/5 score.

 

Spanish Team Championship 2020

Magic Extremadura v Andreu Paterna

Gros Xake Taldea 3½:2½ Solvay

In a match that saw Gros Xake Taldea’s Arkadij Naiditsch losing for the first time at the event — after starting with four straight wins and a draw — the team from San Sebastián got to beat their direct rivals from Solvay with wins by Etienne Bacrot and Íñigo Argandoña.

Argandoña showed good technique to convert from a position with rook and two pieces against two rooks:

 

Alberto Martín, playing black, went for 70...e6 here, a move that ended up creating better opportunities for White’s rook on e1 than for his own passive major pieces. The game continued 71.Nc3 exd5 72.cxd5 b5 73.Nxb5+ Kb6 74.Nd6 c4+ 75.Kxc4 Rd8 76.Rb1+ Kc7 77.Kc5:

 

Black is doomed — 77...Rb8 78.Nb5+ Kd8 79.Re1 and Martín resigned. 

 

Spanish Team Championship 2020

Gros Xake Taldea v Solvay 

Jaime Casas 5½:½ Collado Villalba

The tailenders from Collado Villalba are heavily outrated on all boards and only managed to draw one game against the underperforming Jaime Casas. Jaime Casas will get a chance to finish the event with a bang though, as they will face rating favourites Beniaján Duochess on Tuesday.

 

Standings after Round 6

# Team MP BP City
1 C.A. SILLA - BOSCH SERINSYS 9 22.5 Silla (Valencia)
2 C.A. ANDREU PATERNA 8 20 Paterna (Valencia)
3 C.A.C. BENIAJÁN - DUOCHESS 7 20 Beniaján (Murcia)
4 C.A. MAGIC EXTREMADURA 7 19.5 Mérida (Badajoz)
5 GROS XAKE TALDEA 7 17.5 San Sebastián (Guipúzcoa)
6 C.A. SOLVAY 6 19.5 Torrelavega (Cantabria)
7 C.A. JAIME CASAS 4 18.5 Monzón (Huesca)
8 C.A. COLLADO VILLALBA 0 6.5 Collado Villalba (Madrid)

Pairings - Round 7

1 C.A. COLLADO VILLALBA 2404 ESP - C.A. MAGIC EXTREMADURA 2572 ESP
1 GM Vazquez Igarza, Renier 2551 ESP - GM Cheparinov, Ivan 2686 GEO
2 IM Pulvett Marin, Daniel Eduardo 2502 ESP - GM Kovalenko, Igor 2645 LAT
3 IM Martin Duque, Jesus 2402 ESP - GM Santos Latasa, Jaime 2588 ESP
4 FM Quispe Arteaga, Gabriel 2402 ESP - GM Perez Candelario, Manuel 2604 ESP
5 IM Suarez Uriel, Adrian 2341 ESP - GM Stefanova, Antoaneta 2462 BUL
6 Pablos Tenrero, Raquel 2043 ESP - IM Moreno Tejera, Emilio 2446 ESP
2 C.A.C. BENIAJÁN - DUOCHESS 2623 ESP - C.A. JAIME CASAS 2532 ESP
1 GM Navara, David 2707 CZE - GM Kryvoruchko, Yuriy 2682 UKR
2 GM Anton Guijarro, David 2688 ESP - GM Kuzubov, Yuriy 2643 UKR
3 GM Berkes, Ferenc 2661 HUN - GM Forcen Esteban, Daniel 2556 ESP
4 GM Grandelius, Nils 2662 SWE - IM Gines Esteo, Pedro Antonio 2446 ESP
5 GM Asis Gargatagli, Hipolito 2479 ESP - IM Bulmaga, Irina 2434 ROU
6 IM Vega Gutierrez, Sabrina 2380 ESP - IM Antoli Royo, Joaquin Miguel 2429 ESP
3 GROS XAKE TALDEA 2480 ESP - C.A. SILLA - BOSCH SERINSYS 2608 ESP
1 GM Bacrot, Etienne 2673 FRA - GM Korobov, Anton 2688 UKR
2 GM Naiditsch, Arkadij 2624 AZE - GM Shirov, Alexei 2647 ESP
3 IM Paehtz, Elisabeth 2472 GER - GM Abasov, Nijat 2664 AZE
4 IM Franco Alonso, Alejandro 2409 ESP - GM Alonso Rosell, Alvar 2554 ESP
5 IM Gonzalez De La Torre, Santiago 2421 ESP - GM Cuenca Jimenez, Jose Fernando 2535 ESP
6 IM Argandona Riveiro, Inigo 2424 ESP - GM Cramling, Pia 2464 SWE
4 C.A. ANDREU PATERNA 2582 ESP - C.A. SOLVAY 2516 ESP
1 GM Van Foreest, Jorden 2682 NED - GM Huschenbeth, Niclas 2612 GER
2 GM Vallejo Pons, Francisco 2710 ESP - GM Socko, Bartosz 2601 POL
3 GM Howell, David W L 2663 ENG - GM Korneev, Oleg 2517 ESP
4 GM Yuffa, Daniil 2583 RUS - GM Ubilava, Elizbar 2461 ESP
5 GM Arizmendi Martinez, Julen Luis 2491 ESP - GM Socko, Monika 2404 POL
6 IM Garcia Martin, Marta 2328 ESP - FM Martin Fuentes, Alberto 2397 ESP

All games

 

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.

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