
The
Second Gran Fiesta UNAM is taking place in Mexico City from November 16th to
25th, 2012. The Festival started with a women's rapid chess tournament and an
Open. The main attraction, however, is a rapid and blindfold knockout tournament
with Magnus Carlsen, Lazaro Bruzon, Judit Polgar and Manuel Leon Hoyos. Carlsen
will also give a simul display and play an interactive Carlsen vs The World
game on Saturday, November 25th. The final of the quadrangular knockout will
be on Sunday.
The UNAM chess festival is one of the largest in the world, with thousands of chess fans, many tournaments – e.g. the Second Grand International Tournament Chess Open UNAM 2012, the First National University Chess Tournament "Schools Included" – simultaneous exhibitions, workshops, art and science competitions, etc.
The main events included the Magistral Grandes Maestras Female tournament with
18 titled players from three continents. For the qualification heats the participants
were divided in three groups of six players each. The semifinals and finals
are from Friday Nov. 23 to Sunday Nov. 25.
In the second day of the Quadrangular Rapid and Blindfold tournament, characterized by on rapid game and one blindfold game, Judit Polgar successfully repeated Carlsen's path to the final, by beating Manuel Leon Hoyos in the rapid game, and then drawing the blindfold.
The blindfold game between Polgar and Hoyos
in the spotlight
That day Magnus Carlsen took on 'The World' as part of the exhibition and played against the audience online as they voted for one of the three moves they were allowed to choose from. While prospectively fun, it took a bit of time to iron out a series of technical difficulties that plagued the early part of the game. Even so, the result was never in doubt, and Magnus Carlsen won his game with ease.
With both the winners decided, the time came to draw the colors to see who would have white in the rapid, and who would be white in the blindfold.
In the morning, Manuel Leon Hoyos defeated Lazaro Batista Bruzon in the fight for third and fourth place.
In their rapid game, Carlsen had the white pieces
To the surprise of the audience, Judit Polgar defeated Magnus Carlsen in their first rapid game
In game two, their blindfold game, where the term blindfold is taken literally as seen
above, it was unclear who would have the edge...
...since Judit Polgar had been playing blindfold at an age when most are playing with
their
dolls or choo-choo trains.
However, the world number one evened the score.
The incomprehensible aspect of this millionaire event is the strange internet coverage
which used video quality, as above, that hasn't been standard since the 1990s. Compare
this to Khanty-Mansiysk or Tashkent which are running at the same time.
In the blitz tiebreaks, Magnus was very focused and defeated Judit convincingly to take the title.
There was an open running at the same time that was won by Polish GM Bartlomiej Macieja with an impressive 8.5/9.
Rk |
Tit |
Name | FED |
Rtg |
Pts |
TB |
1 |
GM |
Macieja Bartlomiej | POL |
2609 |
8.5 |
53.0 |
2 |
GM |
Dobrov Vladimir | RUS |
2496 |
7.5 |
51.5 |
3 |
FM |
Hambleton Aman | CAN |
2404 |
7.0 |
55.0 |
4 |
GM |
Gonzalez Garcia Jose | MEX |
2497 |
7.0 |
50.5 |
5 |
GM |
Alvarez Pedraza Aramis | CUB |
2525 |
7.0 |
49.0 |
6 |
IM |
Hansen Eric | CAN |
2539 |
7.0 |
46.0 |
7 |
GM |
Hernandez Carmenate Holden | CUB |
2562 |
6.5 |
54.5 |
8 |
GM |
Martinez Duany Lelys Stanley | CUB |
2463 |
6.5 |
52.5 |
9 |
GM |
Gonzalez Zamora Juan Carlos | MEX |
2542 |
6.5 |
52.5 |
10 |
GM |
De La Paz Perdomo Frank | CUB |
2436 |
6.5 |
50.5 |
11 |
FM |
Della Morte Pablo | ARG |
2308 |
6.5 |
49.5 |
12 |
IM |
Ibarra Chami Luis Fernando | MEX |
2473 |
6.5 |
49.0 |
13 |
IM |
Perez Garcia Rodney Oscar | CUB |
2399 |
6.5 |
48.0 |
14 |
GM |
Perez Rodriguez Luis Manuel | CUB |
2446 |
6.5 |
46.5 |
15 |
IM |
Ruiz C Joshua D | COL |
2332 |
6.5 |
45.5 |
16 |
WIM |
Van Weersel Arlette | NED |
2168 |
6.5 |
39.5 |
Photos by Graciela Manteiga and the official site
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 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |