Casino Barcelona kicks off

by ChessBase
10/28/2013 – The 18th edition of the Casino Barcelona round robin tournament, organized by the Catalan Chess Federation, has started. The event brings together a mix of Spanish blood and young talents, surely a recipe to bring exciting chess to the table. The lead is currently being held by the local Narciso Dublan and the Canadian Eric Hansen. Impressions of the event so far.

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The 2013 edition of the round robin tournament Casino Barcelona is underway in Spain. The tournament is orgnaized by the Catalonian Chess FEderation and it is held at and sponsored by the Casino Barcelona. The players were reminded before the start of round one to bring their ID that would prove that they are over 18, the legal gambling age in Spain.

The poster advertising the tournament. Not Spanish you say? Well, you would be correct! The poster is in Catalan, the language prefered in the Catalonian region.

This is the 18th edition of the rouanemtn, which normally tries to host an event with talented young players and strong Spaniards. This year's edition is a category 14 tournament with the following players:

Name FED Rtg
Edouard Romain FRA 2657
Balogh Csaba HUN 2632
Shankland Samuel L USA 2605
Hansen Eric CAN 2567
Lopez Martinez Josep Manuel ESP 2555
Ftacnik Lubomir SVK 2546
Alsina Leal Daniel ESP 2540
Narciso Dublan Marc ESP 2531

The top four players were all born between 1987-1992! The chess exhibited has so far been very aggressive, look at the following brutal attack that Lopez Martines inflicted on Hansen:

[Event "18th Casino de Barcelona 2013"] [Site "Barcelona ESP"] [Date "2013.10.26"] [Round "2.2"] [White "Lopez Martinez, Josep Manuel"] [Black "Hansen, Eric"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C88"] [WhiteElo "2555"] [BlackElo "2567"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "69"] [EventDate "2013.10.25"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4 {it is for this reason that many players prefer to play 7...d6 instead of castling, but then Black loses the possibility of playing the Marshall.} b4 9. d3 Bc5 $5 {Despite the cost of a tempo, this move makes sense. White's knight can no longer go to c3, which makes the pin on the h4-d8 diagonal less threatening as White would never have Nd5 to reinforce Bg5. Hansen is not only a talented player, but he is a very hard worker and this shows that he has been studying his Spanish and has new ideas.} (9... d6 {has been played almost exclusively.}) 10. h3 d6 11. c3 bxc3 12. bxc3 Rb8 13. Ba2 Ne7 {The transfer of the knight might be too soon.} (13... Be6 {works well with putting the bishop on c5 as the f-file opening will favor Black.}) 14. d4 exd4 15. cxd4 Bb4 16. Bd2 a5 $6 {a little slow. There was no reason to reinforce the bishop.} (16... d5 $1 17. e5 Ne4 18. Bxb4 Rxb4 19. Nbd2 Bf5 {with chances for both sides. Black is active while White has the better pawn structure.}) 17. Nc3 Bb7 18. Qc2 Ng6 19. Nb5 c6 20. Nc3 {A clever maneouver, how Black's bishop is locked behind its own pawn.} Ba6 21. Rad1 Nd7 22. e5 $1 {Perfect timing.} dxe5 23. dxe5 Nc5 24. Bg5 Qc8 (24... Bd3 {is not a human move; no one wants to pin themselves like this.}) 25. Re3 $1 {Very powerful! The rook joins the fray by allowing itself to transfer to the kingside as well as taking control of d3 and defending the knight on c3.} Re8 26. h4 Nf8 27. Nd4 Qc7 $2 {Losing, but it was hard to suggest something.} 28. Nf5 Nce6 29. Nxg7 $1 {A pretty way of demolishing Black's defenses.} Nxg7 30. Nd5 $1 {This is the point.} Qa7 31. Nf6+ Kh8 32. Nxe8 Rxe8 33. Bf6 {Material is about even, but with Black's king's position it is impossible for him to survive. Black is a few tempi short to be able to save his majesty.} Kg8 34. Rg3 Ng6 35. h5 {The Spanish is a tricky opening. It seems equal at point to the eyes of the uninitiated, but suddenly a couple of precise strikes gives one side a winning edge.} 1-0

Hansen won his first game against Alsina, and he rebounded from his loss against Lopez Martinez by crushing Sam Shankland from America. This gives him and Narciso Dublan the lead. Narciso beat Ftacnik in round two in an interesting game. There has been an unusually high amount of draws considering the fighting nature of the games.

Shankland is one of the most promising players in America and is fighting for a spot in next year's Olympic team

Hansen (above) had a meteoric rise last year where he went from a normal IM to a near-2600 GM. He is losing a little fuel as he is poised to lose 20 points in the next list, but he is hoping to come back by winning Casino Barcelona. He is currently residing in Spain to aid his chess career, as Europe is still a more fertile land for chess tournaments than Canada.

Romain Edouard, from France, is the highest rated player but has been uanble to win any games so far

Csaba is in the same boat as Edouard: four draws

The 'veteran' of the tournament: Lubomir Ftacnik, a prolific chess author

Replay games

Standings

Programa y resultados

Round 1 October 24, 2013 at 16:30
Lopez Martinez J. M. 2586
½-½
Ftacnik Lubomir 2546
Hansen Eric 2567
1-0
Alsina Leal Daniel 2540
Shankland Samuel L 2605
½-½
Balogh Csaba 2632
Edouard Romain 2657
½-½
Narciso Dublan Marc 2531
Round 2 October 25, 2013 at 16:30
Ftacnik Lubomir 2546
0-1
Narciso Dublan Marc 2531
Balogh Csaba 2632
½-½
Edouard Romain 2657
Alsina Leal Daniel 2540
½-½
Shankland Samuel L 2605
Lopez Martinez J. M. 2586
1-0
Hansen Eric 2567
Round 3 October 26, 2013 at 16:30
Hansen Eric 2567
½-½
Ftacnik Lubomir 2546
Edouard Romain 2657
½-½
Alsina Leal Daniel 2605
Shankland Samuel L 2605
1-0
López Martínez J. M. 2586
Narciso Dublan Marc 2531
½-½
Balogh Csaba 2632
Round 4 October 27, 2013 at 16:30
Ftacnik Lubomir 2546
½-½
Balogh Csaba 2632
Alsina Leal Daniel 2540
½-½
Narciso Dublan Marc 2531
Lopez Martinez J. M. 2586
½-½
Edouard Romain 2657
Hansen Eric 2567
1-0
Shankland Samuel L 2605
Round 5 October 30, 2013 at 16:30
Shankland Samuel L 2605
-
Ftacnik Lubomir 2546
Edouard Romain 2657
-
Hansen Eric 2567
Narciso Dublan Marc 2531
-
Lopez Martinez J. M. 2586
Balogh Csaba 2632
-
Alsina Leal Daniel 2540
Round 6 October 31, 2013 at 16:30
Ftacnik Lubomir 2546
-
Alsina Leal Daniel 2540
Lopez Martinez J. M. 2586
-
Balogh Csaba 2632
Hansen Eric 2567
-
Narciso Dublan Marc 2531
Shankland Samuel L 2605
-
Edouard Romain 2657
Round 7 October 26, 2013 at 16:30
Edouard Romain 2657
-
Ftacnik Lubomir 2546
Narciso Dublan Marc 2531
-
Shankland Samuel L 2605
Balogh Csaba 2632
-
Hansen Eric 2567
Alsina Leal Daniel 2540
-
Lopez Martinez J. M. 2586

Links

The games will be 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 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

 


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