7/25/2015 – Nestled in the Pyrenees mountain range, the microstate Andorra, continues its chess tradition and is now celebrating the 33rd edition of its yearly Andorran Open. In a time when competition for the chess tourists is the highest, this year's event drew literally dozens of masters and grandmasters, thanks to excellent organization with exemplary media-friendly material.
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At the top of the lineup is French GM Vladislav Tkachiev with 2661, followed very closely by Peruvian Julio Granda Zuniga, fresh from a good result in Benasque just before, and then the Ukrainian brothers Yuri and Andrey Vovk and Venezuelan Eduardo Iturrizaga, all over 2600. With 15 grandmasters and over 30 masters, the tournament has certainly proven its appeal.
French GM Vladislav Tkachiev is the top seed at Andorra
Right after is Julio Granda Zuniga from Peru storming through the event
with a fantastic 6.5/7 including a win over Tkachiev in round seven
Everyone came to enjoy the chess and breathtaking scenery
The tournament is held in the Hotel St. Gothard in La Massana, an area of Andorra. Click on the
compass in the image to look around.
A special mention should be made about the front page's comment 'media-friendly material'. It goes without saying that the quality of organization of an event can easily make or break it for future iterations. Still, this is only one part of the equation, since as a member of the chess media, more times than not we are dependent on what the organizers provide.
If there are no images there is no report, and while this might seem obvious to readers, it is most assuredly not obvious to many organizers, even high-end ones. An example of this was the utter dearth of photos at the recent Norway Chess event that led to reports made with screenshots from the webcam video transmission.
It was thus heartwarming to see the attention made by the Andorran organizers to not only provide daily reports on their website, but also provide a selection of images shared on Flickr for the media to use, and most impressively: all of them labeled with the player names. Truly an example to follow.
On the website is a link to the official Flickr album where pictures, all labeled, can be found
It isn't only about top seeds such as Andrey Vovk, second with 6.0/7...
... the women are well represented, such as IM Anna Rudolf from Hungary
WFM Aurelie Dacalor
Still, the top-rated female player is French WGM Pauline Guichard
A packed playing hall is the reward for the organizers
The hotel offered cocktails with a distinct Caissa touch
All were colorful and inviting, suitable for the summer weather
Eight-year-old Serni Ribera
A high-quality video with scenes from the tournament and many short interviews
Eduardo Iturrizaga from Venezuela is the fourth seed
Mathilde Broly gives a winning smile
In their time off the players enjoy some football...
... as well as table tennis, minigolf, and swimming!
The 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
13 or any of our Fritz
compatible chess programs.
Albert SilverBorn in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications, and the content creator of the YouTube channel, Chess & Tech as well as the author of Typing Tomes, a powerful typing program.
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