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Some seventy kilometers away from Medellin is located one of the most picturesque towns in the world- Guatape.
This year the participants of the Panamerican Junior championships for boys and girls (under 20) had the chance to visit and explore it from 20-26 June.
The town itself is small but you can easily recognize it by the colorful paintings of the houses. Predominantly a farming place it became later a touristic destination once that the locals came to the bright idea to make things more funky. Each building got "tiles along the facade's lower walls in bright colors and dimensioned images" (Wikipedia). Those images intend to advertise the building's products or craft. The impression is stunning.
One way - without cars
Cheerful paintings
Colombian style
The local church
Amazingly colorful houses
Taxis in Guatape
Another must-see landmark is the "Penol Rock" (La Piedra the Penol) which was formed seventy million years ago. A short but demanding walk from our hotel brings us on the top of the rock with the beautiful view of the lake. Mother nature has it all there.
"Penon de Guatape"
Add to all of these the usual Latin-American hospitality, delicious food and a nice interpreter named Nathalia and you will know why people love to play in South America.
Pool and lake
The only problem was the time factor. The tournament started on 21 June and ended on 26-th, just six days. The schedule was extremely demanding and there were three double rounds.
Open section
The men sections was dominated by two players. Luis Paulo Supi from Brazil and Kevin Quispe Cori from Peru were a full point ahead of the filed before the final round, each of them scoring the excellent 7/8. Cori put pressure on his opponent with a convincing win, but Supi had the advantage of the better tie-break criterion. The problem for him though was that his position against the American IM Alexandr Ostrovskiy was very symmetrical and seemed drawish.
Alexandr Ostrovskiy
I am not sure of it was the time-trouble, the desire of Ostrovskiy to fight for the bronze medal, or the will-power of Supi, but in the last minutes of the game the Brazilian IM penetrated into the opponent's camp and won material. After some solid play he managed to convert his advantage and to deserve the Panamerican gold medal and his second GM norm. The bronze went for the Cuban FM Jorge Marcos Gomez Sanches.
Alexei Tapia
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Typ | FED | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | n | w | |
| 1 | 1 | IM | Supi Luis Paulo | U20 | BRA | 2488 | 8,0 | 0,5 | 53,5 | 7,0 | 9 | 8 |
| 2 | 11 | IM | Cori Quispe Kevin Joel | U18 | PER | 2353 | 8,0 | 0,5 | 48,5 | 7,0 | 9 | 8 |
| 3 | 5 | FM | Gomez Sanchez Jorge Marcos | U20 | CUB | 2398 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 47,5 | 6,0 | 9 | 7 |
| 4 | 2 | FM | Albornoz Cabrera Carlos Danie | U16 | CUB | 2471 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 52,0 | 5,0 | 9 | 6 |
| 5 | 20 | FM | Jimenez Garcia Emmanuel | U20 | CRC | 2218 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 51,5 | 4,0 | 9 | 6 |
| 6 | 8 | IM | Viswanadha Kesav | U18 | USA | 2377 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 51,0 | 5,0 | 9 | 6 |
| 7 | 15 | FM | Santiago Vilca Christian Amil | U16 | PER | 2269 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 46,0 | 4,0 | 9 | 6 |
| 8 | 6 | IM | Ostrovskiy Aleksandr A | U20 | USA | 2390 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 44,5 | 6,0 | 9 | 6 |
| 9 | 13 | FM | Escalante Ramirez Brian Sebas | U18 | PER | 2300 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 44,5 | 5,0 | 9 | 6 |
| 10 | 18 | FM | Husbands Orlando | U20 | BAR | 2233 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 43,0 | 5,0 | 9 | 6 |
| 11 | 3 | IM | Vasquez Guillermo | PAR | 2401 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 51,0 | 5,0 | 9 | 5,5 | |
| 12 | 12 | IM | Campos Jimenez Augusto Cesar | U18 | CUB | 2337 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 48,5 | 5,0 | 9 | 5,5 |
| 17 | FM | Gracia Alvarez Gerardo An | U20 | MEX | 2241 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 48,5 | 5,0 | 9 | 5,5 | |
| 14 | 14 | IM | Barros Rivadeneira Cristhian | U18 | ECU | 2283 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 47,5 | 5,0 | 9 | 5,5 |
| 15 | 9 | FM | Ampie Mauro | U20 | NCA | 2373 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 45,5 | 4,0 | 9 | 5,5 |
| 16 | 10 | IM | Cuellar Diego | U20 | PER | 2357 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 43,5 | 4,0 | 9 | 5,5 |
| 17 | 16 | IM | Blandon Luis Guillermo | U18 | COL | 2260 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 41,5 | 5,0 | 9 | 5,5 |
| 18 | 22 | Cofre Archibold Nestor | U18 | MEX | 2215 | 5,0 | 0,0 | 47,0 | 4,0 | 9 | 5 | |
| 19 | 7 | IM | Acosta Pablo Ismael | U18 | ARG | 2380 | 5,0 | 0,0 | 45,5 | 4,0 | 9 | 5 |
| 20 | 27 | Rengifo Blancas Renzo Jhonath | U16 | PER | 2140 | 5,0 | 0,0 | 42,0 | 5,0 | 8 | 4 |
....
There were differences between the participants...
Young player from Peru
Diego Cuellar (Peru)
Jorge Marcos Gomez Sanchez
Orlando Husbands from Barbados
Blindfold analysis after the round
In the women section Ashritha Eswaran was the rating favorite, but failed to capitalize on the rating difference.
Ashritha Eswaran (left)
Her play was hesitant and the lack of tournament practice played its role. The only achievement for her was one more spoiler. In the last round she defeated the leading player Nataly Monroy of Bolivia. Nataly was not too unhappy though as she deserved the silver medal. The winner was Lilia Fuentes Godoy of Mexico, who played very solid chess throughout the event and did not lose a single game.
Eswaran tied for the third place, but came only fifth on tie-break. This bronze went also in direction Cuba, and the proud owner of it was Ana Flavia Roca Rojas.
Ana Flavia Roca Rojas
Nataly Monroy from Bolivia won silver
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | n | w | |
| 1 | 3 | WIM | Fuentes Godoy Lilia Ivonne | MEX | 2094 | 7,0 | 0,0 | 48,5 | 5,0 | 9 | 7 |
| 2 | 5 | WIM | Monroy G. Nataly A. | BOL | 1999 | 6,5 | 0,0 | 45,5 | 5,0 | 8 | 5,5 |
| 3 | 2 | WFM | Roca Rojas Ana Flavia | CUB | 2177 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 51,5 | 4,0 | 9 | 6 |
| 4 | 1 | WIM | Eswaran Ashritha | USA | 2261 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 49,5 | 5,0 | 9 | 6 |
| 7 | WIM | Brizzi Milagros Tatiana | ARG | 1990 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 49,5 | 5,0 | 9 | 6 | |
| 6 | 15 | Cosme Contreras Trilce | PER | 1768 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 41,5 | 5,0 | 9 | 6 | |
| 7 | 4 | WFM | Argote Heredia Valentina | COL | 2039 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 51,0 | 5,0 | 9 | 5,5 |
| 8 | 8 | Loaiza Yurani | COL | 1962 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 48,5 | 4,0 | 9 | 5,5 | |
| 9 | 6 | WFM | Salcedo Jackeline | COL | 1995 | 5,0 | 0,0 | 47,5 | 5,0 | 9 | 5 |
| 10 | 9 | WFM | Gomez Barrera Javiera Belen | CHI | 1959 | 5,0 | 0,0 | 43,5 | 5,0 | 9 | 5 |
| 11 | 13 | Viveros Erica Johana | COL | 1855 | 5,0 | 0,0 | 37,0 | 3,0 | 7 | 3 | |
| 12 | 19 | Varela Maria De Los Angeles | COL | 1602 | 4,5 | 0,0 | 43,0 | 4,0 | 9 | 4,5 | |
| 13 | 16 | Rosales Murillo Cristina | ECU | 1747 | 4,5 | 0,0 | 39,5 | 4,0 | 9 | 4,5 | |
| 14 | 20 | Norena Yepez Vanessa | COL | 1567 | 4,5 | 0,0 | 39,0 | 4,0 | 8 | 3,5 | |
| 15 | 11 | Sanchez Zambrano Vanessa | PER | 1909 | 4,5 | 0,0 | 39,0 | 3,0 | 9 | 4,5 | |
| 16 | 17 | Velasquez Angie Gabriela | COL | 1736 | 4,5 | 0,0 | 33,0 | 3,0 | 7 | 2,5 | |
| 17 | 14 | Toro Castaneda Elizabeht | COL | 1792 | 4,0 | 0,0 | 44,0 | 3,0 | 7 | 2 | |
| 18 | WCM | Cespedes Galindo Estefania | COL | 1713 | 4,0 | 0,0 | 44,0 | 3,0 | 8 | 3 | |
| 19 | 12 | Velez Alvarez Laura Camila | COL | 1876 | 4,0 | 0,0 | 40,5 | 2,0 | 8 | 3 | |
| 20 | 10 | WFM | Solis Chimoy Blanca | PER | 1931 | 4,0 | 0,0 | 37,0 | 3,0 | 7 | 2 |
| 21 | 21 | Henao Garcia Estefania | COL | 1349 | 3,0 | 0,0 | 35,5 | 2,0 | 7 | 1 | |
| 22 | 23 | Soto Vargas Luisa | COL | 0 | 2,0 | 0,0 | 37,0 | 1,0 | 8 | 1 | |
| 23 | 22 | WCM | Becerra Fonseca Camila | COL | 1325 | 1,0 | 0,0 | 36,0 | 0,0 | 7 | 0 |
Solisblanca vs Camila Becerra
Cristina Rosales Murillo (Ecuador)
Laura Camila Velez Alvarez from Colombia
Lilia Ivonne Fuentes Godoy from Mexico
Vanessa Norena (Columbia)
Chess mothers: Yelena and Yakuline
Marco Pacheco, trainer from Peru
GM Dejan Bojkov- http://dejanbojkov.blogspot.com/
