Alekseenko and Santos top scorers in Salamanca

All games end decisively in the final round

The University of Salamanca organized the sixth edition of the Salamanca Cradle of Modern Chess Festival on April 25-29. The festival commemorates the fact that the modern rules of chess were first formulated in 1497 by Luis Ramírez de Lucena in Repetición de Amores y Arte de Ajedrez con CL Juegos de Partido, the first extant chess book. Lucena was a student at the University of Salamanca. 

In the main event, eight players (four men and four women) battled it out in a single round-robin tournament. Living legends Veselin Topalov and Vasyl Ivanchuk were joined by six active players, including former women’s world champion Anna Ushenina.

Typical opening mistakes

Avoiding mistakes in the opening and even learning from mistakes is a valuable tool to improve your chess. Ruslan Ponomariov, former FIDE World Champion, demonstrates basic patterns that will help you navigate through the game more easily.

Kirill Alekseenko from Russia and Jaime Santos from Spain topped the standings with 5½ points. Alekseenko had a better tiebreak score than his colleague from León, and was thus declared champion.

Going into the final round, Alekseenko and Santos were sharing the lead with 4½ points each. Ivanchuk and Topalov stood a half point back, and coincidentally none of the four players fighting for first place were paired up against each other. 

All four contenders for the title won in round 7. Alekseenko played black against 8-time women’s Spanish champion Sabrina Vega. The Russian grandmaster, who famously participated in the 2020-21 Candidates Tournament, played boldly and grabbed the win he needed to claim tournament victory. Alekseenko knew that a full point would secure him overall victory, since he had collected one more win than Santos up to that point — and the number of wins was the relevant tiebreak criterion to decide the champion.

By the same criterion, Ivanchuk finished in third place, as he did not sign a single draw in the event. He won five games and was defeated by the two top scorers. Topalov, who also obtained 5 points, beat Alekseenko and drew Santos, but was defeated by Ivanchuk in their very entertaining round-6 direct encounter.

Ushenina was the top scorer among the women.

Vega 0 - 1 Alekseenko

Vega Gutierrez, Sabrina2361

0–1

Alekseenko, Kirill2686

6th Salamanca Festival 2023 29.04.2023[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bd7 6.Bg5 e6 7.Ndb5 Bc6 8.Qd3 a6 9.Nd4 h6 10.Bh4 Nbd7 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Be2 d5 13.exd5 cxd5 14.0-0 Be7 15.Na4 0-0

Alekseenko has emerged from the opening phase with the slightly better position. Black always has one more central pawn in the open Sicilian, but here there are two. It is foreseeable that White's bishop pair will not be able to make much of a difference. 16.b3 Ne5 17.Qe3 Ng6 18.Bg3 Ne4 19.Bh5 Bg5

20.f4? A tempting move, but one which hinders White's bishop and weakens her own king. Correct was 20.Qe2 Nxg3 21.hxg3 Ne7 20...Bf6 21.Rad1 Ne7 22.Bg4 g6 The immediate 22...h5! also worked. 23.Bxh5 Nf5 24.Qe1 Rc8 25.c4 Bd4+ 26.Kh1 Qf6 Black is clearly winning. 23.c4 h5 24.Bh3 Re8 25.Be1 Bg7 26.cxd5 exd5 27.Qd3 Nc6

Alekseenko hasn't been very precise during the last few moves, so his advantage has shrunk considerably. 28.f5 The best alternative was 28.Kh1 followed by g2-g3 and Bg2. 28...g5 29.f6 Nxf6 30.Bf5 Ne5 31.Qg3 Better was 31.Qd2 since after Neg4 the g5-pawn would remain under attack. 31...Neg4 32.Bd2 Ne4 33.Qd3 Qd6 34.Bxg4 hxg4 35.Be3 Be5 36.g3

This move comes a bit too late. It is remarkable how strong Black's centre still is. 36...Bxg3 37.Qc2 Bf4 38.Bxf4 gxf4 39.Qg2 f5 40.Nb2 Ra7 41.Nd3 Qb6+ 42.Kh1 Ng3+ 0–1

Final standings

All games

Links

• Official website
• Jaime Santos dominates Salamanca Masters (December 2021)
• Alexei Shirov prevails in Salamanca (February 2021)
• Topalov takes Salamanca Centenary (2018)