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7th Continental Chess Tournament / Mar del Plata 2012Tourney type: Eleven-round swiss open Special: Event is considered a world championship qualifier thus all norms earned are worth double. |
Although the beaches of Mar del Plata may be on the empty side since it is not the high season, there is still a lot to be enjoyed. For one thing the gradually warming weather has made long walks on the shoreline extremely pleasant, and if you are a runner, you are served. A few things do stand out on the city and Argentina: great seafood, especially in Mar del Plata, and great wines, and all very inexpensive.
Some friends from Rio enjoying the lovely city. From left to right: Miton Okamura, yours
truly, FM Dirceu Viana, Pedro Paiva, and FM Ricardo Teixeira.
Some friends and I went to the restaurant on the pier, a promise we had made early on, and it lived up to the promise. The food was certainly on the higher end of the local price range, which only means a large paella for three came out to the equivalent of US$25-30. The same is true of the very nice wines, and a bottle of nice Argentine red will typically go for $10 in a restaurant.
The local seafood: delicious
Needless to say, despite the organizer having offered numerous complete packages, with full meals, many still enjoy select dinners out on the town.
Top seed Lazaro Bruzon is still in the leader-pack
As to the tournament, a few notable things happened in the last couple of rounds. The first was the arrival of a leader at last. Granted there are still two rounds to go, and the pack following him is significant, but Venezuelan GM Eduardo Iturrizaga is the first to clear off the podium for himself.
Rafael Leitao and Eduardo Iturrizaga fought a hard game
In a tough tournament where none have really been able to run away with it, not even top-seed Lazaro Bruzon, his powerful positional win over Brazilian GM Rafael Leitao in round nine was enough to set him apart at 7.5/9.
In spite of an attempt to casually walk up and down the aisle, Iturrizaga betrays the
tenseness of the moment by stealing a glance back at his game.
[Event "VII Continental Americano"]
[Site "Mar del Plata, ARG"]
[Date "2012.10.19"]
[Round "9.2"]
[White "Iturrizaga, Eduardo"]
[Black "Leitao, Rafael"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2639"]
[BlackElo "2617"]
[Annotator "Sergio Slipak"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]
{A very important victory by the Venezuelan GM Eduardo Iturrizaga over
Brazilian GM Rafael Leitao in the ninth round of the Continental tournament.
Iturrizaga now tops the leaderboard with two rounds to go. As will be seen in
the game to follow, the Venezuelan GM shows great technique, a rare quality
for such a young player.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6.
e3 b6 7. Bd3 dxc4 8. Bxc4 Bb7 9. O-O c5 10. dxc5 {White accepts to play a
position with symmetrical pawns, in which he holds a small advantage thanks to
his better piece placement.} Qxd1 11. Rfxd1 Bxc5 12. Nd4 ({Also possible was}
12. Nb5 {as played in Gelfand,B-Carlsen,M/Astana KAZ 2012. Iturrizaga decides
to go after the d6 point for his knight keeping the other stallion for
queenside operations.}) 12... Nc6 13. Ndb5 Ne7 $6 {With this White not only
gains the bishop pair, but also creates a weak pawn on the c-file.} ({Better
was} 13... Rfd8 {accepting to give up the bishop pair when the knight invades
d6, yet keeping a healthy pawn structure.}) 14. Na4 $1 {Showing the point of
his idea, both knights now pressure Black's position.} Ned5 15. Nxc5 bxc5 16.
Be5 Rfd8 17. Bf1 {Clearing the c-file to attack the weakness.} Ne8 18. Rdc1 f6
19. Bg3 a6 20. Na3 {The knight heads to c4 from which it will target the weak
points d6, b6, and a5.} Rac8 21. Nc4 Ne7 22. Nb6 Rc6 23. Na4 $1 {From here on
all the pressure will center around the weak pawn.} Rdc8 24. Rc4 Nd5 25. Rac1
Nb6 $1 {Leitao defends energetically, exchanging off one of the attackers and
counterattacking the b2 point.} 26. Nxb6 Rxb6 27. b3 {Exchanging the solid
b-pawn for the weak c-pawn would be a very bad deal.} Rbc6 28. f3 $1 {Now the
dark-squared bishop will add to the pressure.} e5 29. e4 Nd6 30. R4c2 Nb5 {In
order to answer 31.Bf2 with Nd4, however now the other bishop joins the action.
} 31. Bc4+ $1 Kf8 32. Bd5 R6c7 33. Bxb7 Rxb7 34. Bf2 {Preferring greater piece
harmony over the immediate capture since the pawn is condemned anyhow.} Kf7 35.
Rxc5 Rxc5 36. Bxc5 Rd7 37. Bb4 Nd4 38. Kf2 Ne6 39. Rc6 {Black is lost. They
can only choose between passive defense with a pawn down, or active play and
losing a second pawn.} Nf4 40. Ba5 Rd1 41. Rxa6 Rh1 42. Bd2 1-0
Trailing him are no fewer than six players, Cuban GM Ortiz, Bruzon, the unlikely hero Krikor Mekhitarian, Argentine GM Flores, and the two American GMs Kaidanov and Shabalov. All are clear contenders for one of the four spots into the world championship cycle, but so are those in the group with 6.5/9. Still the American story belongs to neither Kaidanov nor Shablov, but the third, nearly accidental inclusion into the tournament: IM Robert Hungaski.
Brazilian GM Krikor Makhitarian has been the dark horse so far, beating the odds
IM Roberto Molina
FM Luiz Guilherme Abdalla in knots
The US Federation had three spots to offer for the Continental, but the players weren’t exactly lining up for the honor. The reason is that they had to foot the travel expenses, which to distant Argentina meant a certain considerable investment on top of the time for an eleven-round event. Eventually the names were ticked off, and Hungaski’s name came up. It was an easy choice for someone already in Argentina, and he jumped at the chance. He could hardly have hoped for a better outcome since after nine rounds, he scored not one GM norm, but two. Why two? Because as a stage in the world championship cycle, all norms scored are counted as two. As a result, he only needs to fulfill the rating requirements to get the title.
WGM Deysi Cori from Peru
It would be remiss to overlook 17-year-old Martin Martinez from Colombia (2368) who also scored a double IM norm.
Rk |
Tit |
Name | Fed |
Rtg |
Pts |
TB |
1 |
GM |
Iturrizaga Eduardo | VEN |
2639 |
7.5 |
50.5 |
2 |
GM |
Ortiz Suarez Isan Reynaldo | CUB |
2579 |
7.0 |
50.5 |
3 |
GM |
Bruzon Batista Lazaro | CUB |
2717 |
7.0 |
50.0 |
4 |
GM |
Mekhitarian Krikor Sevag | BRA |
2503 |
7.0 |
48.0 |
5 |
GM |
Flores Diego | ARG |
2598 |
7.0 |
47.0 |
6 |
GM |
Shabalov Alexander | USA |
2570 |
7.0 |
46.0 |
7 |
GM |
Kaidanov Gregory S | USA |
2587 |
7.0 |
44.0 |
8 |
GM |
Leitao Rafael | BRA |
2617 |
6.5 |
51.5 |
9 |
GM |
Granda Zuniga Julio E | PER |
2647 |
6.5 |
49.5 |
10 |
GM |
Bacallao Alonso Yusnel | CUB |
2580 |
6.5 |
49.0 |
11 |
IM |
Hungaski Robert Andrew | USA |
2451 |
6.5 |
48.5 |
12 |
GM |
Mareco Sandro | ARG |
2581 |
6.5 |
47.5 |
13 |
GM |
Felgaer Ruben | ARG |
2579 |
6.5 |
47.0 |
14 |
IM |
Hansen Eric | CAN |
2527 |
6.5 |
45.5 |
15 |
IM |
Tristan Leonardo | ARG |
2442 |
6.5 |
45.5 |
16 |
GM |
Cori Jorge | PER |
2522 |
6.5 |
45.0 |
17 |
IM |
Roselli Mailhe Bernardo | URU |
2430 |
6.5 |
44.5 |
18 |
FM |
Martinez Romero Martin | COL |
2368 |
6.5 |
43.5 |
19 |
IM |
Toth Christian Endre | BRA |
2357 |
6.5 |
41.0 |
20 |
FM |
Leiva Giuseppe | PER |
2321 |
6.5 |
39.0 |
21 |
GM |
Valerga Diego | ARG |
2485 |
6.0 |
48.5 |
22 |
GM |
Hernandez Guerrero Gilberto | MEX |
2531 |
6.0 |
47.0 |
23 |
GM |
Slipak Sergio | ARG |
2447 |
6.0 |
45.5 |
24 |
IM |
Soppe Guillermo | ARG |
2417 |
6.0 |
45.5 |
25 |
IM |
Krysa Leandro | ARG |
2381 |
6.0 |
44.0 |
26 |
IM |
Molina Roberto Junio Brito | BRA |
2400 |
6.0 |
44.0 |
27 |
Toniutti Ezio | ARG |
2162 |
6.0 |
43.5 |
|
28 |
WGM |
Cori T. Deysi | PER |
2411 |
6.0 |
42.5 |
The top boards can be followed on Playchess live.
LinksThe 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 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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