Grigoriyan wins Sant Marti Open

Karen Grigoriyan wins XVI Sant Marti Open

Report by Sagar Shah

The XVI Sant Marti Open was the third tournament on trot in the Catalonian circuit for me. It was held from the 13th-21st of July 2014 in Sant Marti, which is a district of Barcelona.

This tournament holds special significance for me as I completed my IM title formalities in this tournament by crossing the 2400 Elo mark. So technically this is the first report I am writing for ChessBase after becoming an International Master.

The tournament had two sections: Group A was for players who had an Elo of 2000 and above, and Group B for the others. Group A was extremely strong with the participation of twelve grandmasters and 22 International Masters. With almost 60 players out of the 110 above 2200, the Elo average was 2206. The tournament round started every day at 16.30 hours and the time control of the event was one hour 30 minutes plus 30 second increment from move one.

The first real change for the players was to travel in the metro. While the Montcada and Barbera Opens could be reached only by Renfe (train), the best way to get to the Sant Marti playing hall was by underground. But there was huge difference between the Renfe and the Metro. While people in the Renfe looked pretty cheerful and happy, in the metro everyone looked dull and sad. I tried to figure out the reason for the same: maybe it was because the metro travelled only underground with no scenery to be seen outside the window played its part. Also the time at which a station would come after another was quite short. Life is fast paced in the metro. Doors remain open only for a short while and people have to be constantly alert not to miss their stop!

But once you came out of the metro and walked a few metres you were greeted with
smiling faces all around the tournament hall

Players enjoying a nice analytical session before the game, with a drink from the cafeteria

And a really novel chess shop – guess what they sold

Chess key chains are normal, but this was the first time I saw ...

... chess earrings and similar chess related accessories!

In such a light and lively “chessic” atmosphere it was fitting that the first place was won by a lively young and energetic GM from Armenia, 19-year-old Karen Grigoriyan (2592). Karen scored 7.5/9 and had an impressive Elo performance of 2677. After finishing 11th at Montcada and second at Barbera, he keeps improving his play and performing better and better in this Catalonian circuit.

The thoroughly elated winner with his fans and friends!

This beautiful trophy and €1200 was what Karen won

Karen usually likes to play complicated and exciting chess. However his game against GM Perez Mitjans Orelvis was a fine positional effort by the young Armenian.

The 19-year-old Peruvian Jorge Cori (2608) played great chess to finish second with a score of 7.0/9. He is playing fantastic chess and gains rating in such open events in spite of having such a high Elo.

The tense game between the two 19-year-olds ended in a draw in round seven

What particularly impressed me were his endgame skills. After seeing this game and a few others you might be convinced that playing the exchange Slav from the white side against Jorge might not be such a good idea!

While Karen Grigoriyan and Cori Jorge did play well, it was quite expected of them to be amongst the top. What was really surprising was the phenomenal performance by the 15-year-old FM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alacantara (2295).

The young boy from Peru played the tournament of his life scoring 7.0/9 (five wins and four draws) with a rating performance of 2654 and gaining 84 Elo points in the process. He is surely one of those talents that you have to watch out for!

FM Jose Martinez has an extremely solid repertoire from the white side, playing the super solid English systems advocated by Mihail Marin in his books on English Opening. He did the heavy hitting with the white pieces, scoring 3.5/4, beating IM Huerga Leache Mikel (2454), FM Perez Arian Gonzalez (2494) and IM Saptarshi Roy (2449) in the process. With black his games were much more fighting as he employed interesting variations like the King’s Indian and Dutch. He was able to beat GM Peralta Fernando (2592) in a game where he won by a knight promotion on the last move!

Jose Martinez with his mother Violeta Alacantra, who was justifiably proud of her son’s play

Jose Eduardo has already finished his IM title requirements when he tied for the first place in the under-20 South American championships held in Bolivia in April 2014. He only needs to apply to the FIDE for the title. He has already been world Under-13 schools champion in 2012 and is two-time Pan American Junior Champion. This boy has great talent and is bound to become a GM soon.

The experienced GM Vladimir Burmakin (2590) finished fourth

FM Oliva Kevel (2419) had already performed excellently when he had scored an IM norm in both Montcada Open and also in Barbera. He went one step further in the Sant Marti Open scoring a GM norm with a performance of 2615. On his way to the GM norm he beat strong players like IM Asis Gargatagli Hipolito(2460), GM Cristhian Cruz (2563) and GM Perez Mitjans Orelvis (2414). He is waiting for his IM title to be confirmed at the next FIDE congress. At the age of 20 he is surely of the brightest hopes of Cuba, having scored two IM and on GM norm in just 27 days.

The talented 25 year Alexander Bachmann (2652) of Paraguay was
the top seed of the event but he could only manage to finish eighth

The tournament organizers would usually be quite happy if two players made GM norms in their tournament. However, Sant Marti Open witnessed totally three GM norm winners!

Rolando Alarcon Casellas finished tenth by scoring 6.0/9, one point less than the other two GM norm winners. But he played fantastic chess to beat four GMs in the tournament: GM Cristhian Cruz (2563), GM Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo (2551), GM Movsziszian Karen (2520) and GM Vladimir Burmakin (2590). He made his GM norm with two rounds to spare. Now that’s really awesome!

IM Peter Dukaczewski (2303) of Poland, though visually impaired, maintains a very high level of play and has some amazing achievements to his credit. He has been four times blind world champion and ten times Polish National Blind champion. He has won Poland a medal at the Olympiad on four occasions – a Gold in the year 2004. Apart from that he serves as president of the Association of Physical Culture Sports and Tourism of the Blind and Partially Sighted, "Cross", and Vice President of the International Chess Federation of the Blind. He is also a board member of Polish Paralympic Committee. This man is truly a versatile personality and has achieved so much in his career.

Larsson Anders made an IM norm in the tournament scoring 5.5/9

Amigo Vilalta Jordi (2231) played fascinating chess to score
5.5/9 and make an IM norm, thereby gaining 48 Elo points

The chief arbiter of the event Miquel Fernandez Diaz

Vladimir Zaiats, one of the arbiters at the tournament, is an extremely cheerful person – and fluent in English. He was the saviour for foreign players who had any doubts during, after or before the game. Vladimir has a Ph.D in Mathematics.

Four top level games on one screen! That’s the best kind of entertainment for a chess fan!

The organizers and arbiters did a wonderful job of entering all the games and publishing
each and every one of them during the rounds. That gives a lot of credibility to an event.

There is just so much experience in this picture

Analyzing his game all alone – that is true chess passion!

Who exactly am I playing?

The Matsenko family from Russia are true chess lovers. Sergei Matsenko (2474), mother Elena Matsenko (1929) and the father Vadim Matsenko (2108) all played in Group A. Sergei's brother Andrei Matsenko (2294) did not turn up for the last game and this picture, as he was ill.

The two players who reached 2400 in this tournament and thus completed their IM titles: yours truly Sagar Shah on the right and Australian Rishi Sardana who incidentally made his fourth IM norm in this tournament.

These were the small placards made by the organizers for each and every player. Look at the little things they have taken care of. There is a FIDE rating with FIDE symbol above it. As both the players are not from Spain they do not have a national Elo. On the right are the flags of the country they represent and above that are the logos of the players' national federations! So much information in such a small space!

Storm clouds gathering over the playing hall!

Some of the pictures in this report have been taken by Amruta Mokal,
who was playing the tournament very seriously ...

A majority of the photos were taken by Pau Pascual Duran, who is an extremely enthusiastic photographer and produced quite a lot of unconventional and exciting pictures in this tournament. He is also a player and played in the B category of the tournament scoring 4.0/9. You can read the articles written by him on chess in Libro de Notas.

The Sant Marti Open has ended, and next in line is the Sitges Open from 22nd July to 30th July. However, playing three tournaments in a row has taken a toll on me and my wife Amruta and hence we will take a ten-day break, enjoying the beautiful city of Barcelona. We will be back to playing chess and reporting for ChessBase in the Badalona Open from the 2nd to 10th August 2014. Until then, Adios Amigos!

Links Official tournament site Games in PGN You can use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs to replay the games in PGN. You can also download our free Playchess client, which will in addition give you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com.