Salamanca: Paehtz and Alekseenko on 2 out of 2

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
5/22/2024 – The Salamanca Masters, an 8-player all-play-all event, kicked off on Wednesday with the first two rounds. Elisabeth Paehtz and Kirill Alekseenko won their first two games to become the early co-leaders. Paehtz beat Mariya Muzychuk and upset Eduardo Iturrizaga, while Alekseenko defeated Nurgyul Salimova and Mónica Calzetta. | Photos: Official website

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Paehtz and Salimova score upset wins

Starting in 2018 (since the third edition), the organizers of the Salamanca Chess Festival decided that the main event of the festival would be a Masters Tournament featuring four men and four women players, with Veselin Topalov, Alexei Shirov, Jaime Santos and Kirill Alekseenko prevailing in each of the rapid-chess competitions.

Five out of eight participants this year have already played in one or more of the previous editions, as Michael Adams, Ruslan Ponomariov and Mariya Muzychuk are making their debuts at the event organized by one of the oldest universities in the world (in continuous operation) — the University of Salamanca was founded in 1218 by King Alfonso IX.

After two rounds of play, Elisabeth Paehtz and Kirill Alekseenko are sharing the lead with perfect scores. Paehtz defeated Mariya Muzychuk and Eduardo Iturrizaga, while Alekseenko, the defending champion, got the better of Nurgyul Salimova and Mónica Calzetta.

The two biggest surprises seen in the first two rounds, as per the players’ ratings, were Paehtz’s victory over Iturrizaga and Salimova’s victory over Adams.

Rounds 3 and 4 of the rapid tournament (time control: 40+5) will take place on Thursday, starting at 17.00 CEST.

Nurgyul Salimova, Michael Adams

Nurgyul Salimova upset Michael Adams in the first round after the 8-time British Champion erred tactically in a double-edged middlegame

Iturrizaga 0 - 1 Paehtz

Replay the game analysis on a different tab

Salamanca Chess Festival 2024

Round 2 taking place at the Centro Internacional del Español of the University of Salamanca

Standings after round 2

All games

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Topics: Chess Festival Salamanca, Elisabeth Paehtz, Kirill Alekseenko
Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
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The Elephant Gambit (1.e4.e5 2.Nf3 d5!?) has never really been given the attention it deserves. It is a very useful surprise weapon. Let us list the advantages of playing this particular opening: 1) Shock value 2) It is very aggressive. Black can take over the initiative early. 3) Many tricky lines 4) Unorthodox. Black is basically taking the game to the opponent as early as move two. Not many openings do that! It's a perfect opening for young players and club players to adopt. Let Andrew Martin select a repertoire for you on this 60 mins, which, if used with discretion, will rack up the points. I am sure that you will enjoy this unusual tour of the Elephant Gambit.