Carlos Torre Open: Excess in moderation

It is no secret I love traveling and sharing with you all the stories hidden between the pages of my passport. True, I haven't been everywhere, but it is on my list. And recently I made new stamps, El Salvador and Guatemala, while now I am back where I feel I belong: Mexico! To say the truth, it is quite funny when people ask me when I'm on the road: “Are you all right? Aren't you tired, don't you want to go back home?” and if I am at home: “what's wrong with you, where are you going to kick off next?” The purpose of all my travels is actually such a basic one – I don't travel to escape my day to day life or routine, but simply to prevent life escaping me!

Dehydrated in winter time?! Well yes, if you are not in Europe...

I am so happy, so blessed and lucky and grateful for everything I have, although, we all know it: a bill will be there in the end, to be paid... For a travelholic like me, the price these days was manageable: some sleepless nights, a bit of jet lag, some hair raising moments, a bit more of rating loss but all interesting experiences, except the rating part, obviously. I would have never thought I would experience crossing customs in a...wheelchair (literally) or that I would see my hotel drawer slide open due to … an earthquake! Everything is possible in the life of a chess nomad, which can hardly get spicier than here, in Merida, Mexico!

GM level: trying the habanero salsa instead of the jalapeno one, plus a lot of other mind blowing
Mexican dishes. Thanks Javier and Gerard for the great times!

Allow me first to elaborate on the wheelchair part: when flying from Guatemala to my final destination, Mérida, via Mexico City, I went through a rather bewildering episode... One and a half hours should normally be more than enough to catch your connection, especially if your first flight is on time. Well, not necessarily so! I had to get my luggage in Mexico City, pass through customs, place it back in and move on to the next flight... But my suitcase arrived after more than one hour of waiting! With 25 minutes to go, what were my chances to catch my connection?!

Luckily, a Mexican life saver appeared out of nowhere, tapped my arm in encouragement and promised to help. Which he did by giving me a “gentle” push into a wheelchair and running while also carrying my suitcase, all at the same time! With lighting speed we passed all the controls, customs, people, bags, security check points, while I was simply astonished by the entire thing. Since I was quite stressed, tired and in a half zombie state, I barely realized what was happening, until I actually woke up in front of the gate. I did catch my flight, my suitcase arrived too, but I hope it won't happen again as the general feeling, including the embarrassment for abusively (even though involuntarily) having used a wheelchair was unique yet dispensable.

Reaching your destination on time has quite some advantages – visiting Izamal, known
as the yellow city (for obvious reasons)

However, the adventure chapter was not over yet: once in my great 7th floor hotel room in Mérida, I started feeling dizzy. I told myself what a wonderful world this was, but that I was really tired! After all if the room is spinning it must be your head that needs replacement. And then I saw it: the drawer coming forward while my rolling chair was rolling with me! Was this some kind of hallucination?! Nope, it was a 6.5 earthquake in Chiapas, Mexico, which was visibly felt by yours truly in Mérida. When I asked the others, they seemed to be quite perplexed by my story, which I know is true. But I also know that, indeed, my hop-on-hop-off schedule can be excessive at times and a break wouldn't hurt.

Sometimes the best way to recover is through active relaxation. Next time I will probably skip
this, although it is so difficult as Yucatán abounds in Mayan vestiges.

And once again, I am one lucky woman to be surrounded by incredible people, like my lifetime Mexican friends, who kindly offered me to rest, report and support my husband, who was playing in the tournament. When I left a piece of me here, in Mexico, in September, I knew I would return to...leave another one!

With our great host: the tournament director – Javier Herrera Aussin

The Convento De San Antonio De Padua at Izamal

I haven't had the time or energy to explore everything but it will come. For now I can say that the 27th edition of the traditional and well-known Carlos Torre International Open has been superb, with a huge list of strong titled players and more than 400 chess enthusiasts spread over several groups.

Professional chess players – professional tournament hall. The room for the top eight boards.

The players arriving at their working place

In good spirits! Emilio Cordova was the winner of another prestigious Mexican event, Copa
Independencia, and we'll see if Mexico will smile to him again

I must say that the tournament director, Javier Herrera Aussin, is doing his utmost to please all of us. From my perspective and judging by how things are going, Javier, who is also running for the Mexican Chess Federation's presidency, is already holding an impressive CV. It is the eighth time he is involved in the tournament organization and no efforts are spared to make everyone's experience a pleasant one. Besides, I don't remember the last time a tournament hall was settled in a prestigious museum, such as is the case here, in the striking Gran Museo del Mundo Maya.

Ready for the launch - The GRAND Gran Museo del Mundo Maya! The futuristic architecture
was inspired by the Ceiba tree, which is sacred in the Mayan cosmology

Keeping up to date: if we cannot go to watch the new Star Wars, the movie comes to us

Jorge Cori - Diego Cuellar

Of course...there is the issue of the double rounds. Frankly speaking, no professional chess player is in love with them but if you think about all the delicacies that the Mexican cuisine has to offer...there must be a way to get rid of all these calories and thinking over the board is usually an efficient way to proceed. A condensed schedule, indeed, but isn't life beginning at the end of your comfort zone?! As long as one doesn't push the boundaries too far that is.

First round on the first board: Lazaro Bruzon Batista vs Irina Andrenko

The Ukrainian WIM Irina Andrenko

Lazaro Bruzon Batista - Maikel Gongora Reyes

Second seed – Aleksey Dreev

Aleksey Dreev - Jorge Leon Oquendo

Back to the disco era

WIM from Argentina, Ayelen Martinez

The Peruvian GM Emilio Cordova didn't have an easy first round against...

...WFM Yaniela Moreno Forgas from Cuba

Emilio Cordova - Yaniela Forgas Moreno

The Cuban GM Reynaldo Isan Ortiz Suarez is warmed up for the double rounds,
as he came more or less straight from San Salvador, where he took 3rd place.

Family reunited – Dzibilchaltún, an impressive Maya archaeological site

The Temple of the Seven Dolls, named after the seven small effigies found at the site when it was discovered

Escaping the sun this time by swimming in a truly special place: Cenote Xlakah! A cenote is
a natural pit, or sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes
groundwater underneath, especially associated with the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico.