David Anton pulls away from the field
David Anton led the second "Leyendas y Prodigios" tournament in Madrid from start to finish. He opened with a win over Jose Cuenca Jiminez and remained level with Argentine prodigy Faustino Oro through four rounds. In round five, the 31-year-old two-time Spanish champion beat Ivan Sokolov, while Oro drew with Jose Martinez Alcantara, allowing David Anton to take the sole lead.
Faustino Oro during a blitz match against Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara earlier this year. In Madrid, the Mexican finished ahead of the Argentine in second place. | Photo: ChessBase India / Amruta Mokal
Martinez Alcantara eventually moved ahead of Oro, as the 12-year-old, playing his first tournament as a grandmaster, lost to compatriot Diego Flores at the start of the second half and drew his remaining games. Although that was not enough to defend his title – David Anton was simply too strong and consistent – Oro still had an excellent tournament. His 2618 performance rating once again showed that he can hold his own in a strong grandmaster field. With 5½/10, he finished 1½ points ahead of Ivan Sokolov and Diego Flores, the top board of Argentina's Olympiad team, which Oro will join for the first time this year as board five.
For tournament winner David Anton, Samarkand will already be his sixth Olympiad. He will play on board one for Spain, alongside Maksim Chigaev, Jaime Santos Latasa, Alexei Shirov and Daniil Yuffa. In the final round in Madrid, Anton defeated Ivan Sokolov, the 58-year-old veteran of the field. As against Diego Flores, the Spaniard won both of his games against Sokolov, which accounted for much of his winning margin. Against his closest rivals, he drew all four games.
Sokolov held his own for a long time in the final round. The Queen's Gambit led to an equal middlegame, but around move 27 Anton began to increase his slight advantage. With accurate play, Sokolov still had good drawing chances, but shortly before the time control he made two mistakes:
Round 8
Round 9
Round 10
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Final standings after 10 rounds
Games
B Tournament
A nine-round B tournament was held alongside the main event. Here, too, there was a clear winner: Argentina's Francisco Fiorito finished a full point ahead of the two Spaniards Diego Macias Pino and Pablo Almagro Llamas:
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