IV Floripa Open: When it rains it pours

When it rains, it pours

All photos by Albert Silver

It was a dark and stormy night… for fans of the immensely famous Peanuts comic strip and notably Snoopy, the alter-ego dog who was its biggest star, these words represented his eternal start at the Great American Novel. With less humorous effect, it is also a perfect description of the start of round seven, and the chaos the preceded it. This is by no means a comment on the organizers, who have no control over the weather, but the effect on the city and arrival of the players.

As usual, I brought with me my densely packed backpack with camera, lenses, laptop, and other work tools, but was stopped at the hotel’s entrance by a violent thunderstorm that raged in front. I shared a taxi with a couple heading to the venue, but midway, and a little over a kilometer away, everything just stopped due to the flash flooding. Without budging so much as a car’s length, I saw the traffic light ahead change from green to red and back at least three times. Realizing I might be stuck like this a long time, I handed the couple my share of the fare, jumped out of the cab, and dashed (a euphemism for trudged) to the venue.

As I arrived, it quickly became clear I was far from the lone madman to weather the storm, since numerous players were huffing and puffing up the hill to the club, also late. The squitch-squitch sound of soaked shoes was to be heard throughout the evening.

Neither snow nor rain will keep players away from the board

In spite of the noisy storm outside, many players commented they had not noticed while concentrated on their game

The seventh and eight rounds are the final curve before the last sprint to the finish, and there was no shortage of action. As the positions unfolded in round seven, the organizer Marcelo Pomar came to me and commented in Portuguese, “The zebras are loose!” This comment will have all but Brazilians mystified, especially as there is no proper way to translate it. In Portuguese, ‘zebra’ is a colloquial term for an unexpected reversal. It can represent an underdog, but really just means any highly unexpected conclusion. Among the 'zebras' of round seven were GM Cubas's loss to Gabriel De Borba, rated 2019 FIDE, as well as FM Lucas Coro (2147 FIDE) beating IM Santos, and 17-year-old FM Igor Cadilhac (2215 FIDE) who got the best of IM Diego Di Berardino (2516 FIDE). This was true even at the top board as IM Leandro Perdomo (2449 FIDE) put a stop to GM Granda Zuniga’s return, beating him on board one.

17-year-old FM Igor Cadilhac played a valiant game to beat IM Di Berardino in round seven

Vitor Carneiro might have been described as the 'villain' in the previous report, but by round eight he has made himself into one of the tournament's stars

All that said, it was not just about unexpected reversals, since Alexandr Fier, who had been one of the leaders, beat IM Roberto Molina in a strong display on board two, and Vitor Carneiro continued to show his resilience after his botched round four game, and won yet again, taking his tally to a very impressive 6.0/7.

Alexandr Fier (right) seemed untouchable as he continued his winning ways in round seven, beating IM Roberto Molina handily

For the first time since the tournament had started, there were no longer a dozen or so contenders, tied for first. Entering round eight, there were now just three with 6.0/7: GM Alexandr Fier, CM Vitor Carneiro, and IM Leandro Perdomo. Behind them of course were eleven players with 5.5/7, anxious to cut down the leaders to size. Carneiro and Perdomo face each other on board one, and after a long hard-fought battle drew their game. However, the gem of the round was the great game between GM Alexandr Fier and GM Neuris Delgado.

It was long in the coming, but GM Neuris Delgado (right) finally overcame his poor start to play once more on the stage

The Paraguayan grandmaster had had a very lackluster start, conceding no fewer than three draws against players rated at least 300 Elo less. In a shorter event this would be a kiss of death, where even a single poorly placed draw could mean leaving home empty-handed, much less three. However, he seemed to have woken up, and after two wins, faced his first fellow grandmaster.

Things got to a great start for the player from Paraguay, who saw a poor opening novelty quickly backfire against Fier, who was playing black. White managed to keep Black’s king in the center, unfurling his attack and pressure in spite of the slowly diminishing number of pieces left on the board, but the money shot the spectators might not have expected, could not have been sweeter. Here is the key moment for your enjoyment. The solution is in the game.

Neuris Delgado 1-0 Alexandr Fier

Standings after eight rounds

Complete standings

Live games

Links

• Official tournament site
• 4th Floripa Open: a massive start
• IV Floripa Open: Tales of war