Mar del Plata 2012 : The going gets tough

7th Continental Chess Tournament / Mar del Plata 2012 Tourney type: Eleven-round swiss open Time control: 90 minutes for 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game and a 30 second increment as of move one. Location: Mar del Plata, Argentina Dates: October 12-21, 2012 Prizes: 1st - US$5000, 2nd - US$3400, 3rd - US$2400, 20 prizes in all, not including prizes per category. Special: Event is considered a world championship qualifier thus all norms earned are worth double.

Mar del Plata 2012 : The going gets tough

Report and pictures by Albert Silver

The main playing hall

After round six a group of players merged with the four leaders from round five, and the top podium is once again crowded with no fewer than eleven heavy guns. The manner in which the players have reached this shared spot speaks of wildly varying tournament strategies, barring the few who are recovering from early accidents on the way. Top seed Lazaro Bruzon Batista started by pounding the early opposition, and in the last two rounds has taken early draws, one against his high-rated compatriot GM Suarez Isan, and then again in round six against the young Venezuelan on the rise, Eduardo Iturrizaga.

After an early misstep, GM Shabalov (right) has been climbing his way up the ladder.
In round six he beat FM Dirceu Viana.

Brazilian GM Krikor Mekhitarian has less latitude for such game-management, and instead has come with a fire to let no one off the hook no matter how high their Elo. Then there are others who are only now rejoining the pack after suffering lapses at one stage or another. Though over one third of the players are titled, the genuine ability of the rest stands out, and has been a source of intense headache for one master after another. The players here are not coming to join chess with a holiday, but rather chess with hungry ambition, and it shows.

IM Roselli, whose arms frame the picture, lost to GM Ruben Felgaer

Among the newsmakers here, is one player whose rating would normally not warrant any special attention, and that is 74-year-old Juan Carlos Desanzo.

An avid chess fan, when not playing, he can be seen following the games of the top players

The reason is that the grand old man is one of Argentina’s well-known movie directors, continuing a tradition of chess-playing directors, such as Stanley Kubrick. The difference however is that the Argentine gentleman is not content to just play a few games here and there, but seeks out competition and even has a FIDE rating!

Annotated game by GM Sergio Slipak

GM Sergio Slipak has been providing regular commented games

GM Rafael Leitão faced IM Leonardo Tristan in round six

Live Broadcast

The top boards can be followed on Playchess live.

Event partners

Links Official tournament site All the games in PGN 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 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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