A unique lineup
From 10 to 14 November, Salamanca will once again be in the international chess spotlight as it hosts a new edition of the Salamanca Chess Festival Cradle of Modern Chess. The festival celebrates Salamanca's place in chess history, as it was here that the emerging rules of modern chess were compiled in 1497. These rules were documented by Lucena, a student at the University of Salamanca, who published them in an incunabulum entitled Repetición de amores: et arte de axedres con CL juegos de partido (Repetition of Love and the Art of Playing Chess with 150 Games). A copy of this work is preserved in the University's Historical Library.
The event is organised by the USAL Alumni Association, with sponsorship from Salamanca City Council, the University of Salamanca, the Junta de Castilla y León and Fundación la Caixa.
How grandmasters win without fireworks: GM Jan Markos shows you 11 very practical tips from "How to play in a lost position" to "Be patient like Carlsen" that will improve your tournament chess.
Most chess books teach you what to think about. This series teaches you what to actually do when the clock is running and the result is on the line. Compiled from GM Jan Markos's acclaimed "Practical Tips for the Tournament Player" column in ChessBase Magazine, Volume 1 covers the decisions every tournament player faces before the position ever gets complicated: how you use your time, how you handle pressure, and how you think when the stakes are real.
Free Video Sample: How to use your time effectively
The tournament director is FM Amador González de la Nava.
As in previous editions, the tournament will feature an equal number of male and female players, with six participants competing in a round-robin format. The time control will be 30 minutes per player, with a 5-second increment per move.
The lineup is particularly attractive, featuring 11-year-old prodigy Bodhana Sivanandan and Spain's Paco Vallejo, arguably the greatest Spanish-born chess player of all time, who returns to top-level competition after many years.
Paco Vallejo – Spain
Francisco Vallejo Pons is a Spanish grandmaster and one of the leading figures in the recent history of Spanish chess. He earned the grandmaster title at just sixteen years of age and became world under-18 champion in 2000.
He has won the Spanish Championship five times and reached a peak Elo rating of 2724, placing him among the world's leading players. His distinguished career also includes victories at the Capablanca Memorial and the Ciudad de León Masters Tournament, where he defeated Veselin Topalov in the final.
Bodhana Sivanandan – England
Bodhana Sivanandan is a young English chess player and one of the most promising talents in world chess, having already broken several records. In 2024, at just nine years of age, she became the youngest person to represent England in an international sporting competition when she took part in the Chess Olympiad.
In 2025, she earned the WIM title and set a new record as the youngest player to defeat a grandmaster in a classical game. A year later, she earned the FM title and became British Girls' Champion at just eleven years of age, making her the youngest winner in the championship's history. More recently, she became the youngest woman to earn the IM title, breaking a long-standing record established by Judit Polgar.
José Martínez Alcántara – Mexico
José Eduardo Martínez Alcántara is a grandmaster born in Peru who has represented the Mexican Chess Federation since 2024. He became world under-18 champion in 2017, earned the grandmaster title a year later and has competed in some of the most important tournaments in the world.
In 2019, he won the South American Zonal Tournament and qualified for the World Cup. At the 2025 World Cup, he produced an impressive performance, reaching the fifth round of the competition. His progress has taken him to the top of the Latin American chess rankings.
In this course, Grandmaster Elisabeth Pähtz presents the London System, a structured and ambitious approach based on the immediate Bf4, leading to rich and dynamic positions.
The London System is one of the most popular openings at every level of chess but not all Londons are the same. In this course, Grandmaster Elisabeth Pähtz presents the London System, a structured and ambitious approach based on the immediate Bf4, leading to rich and dynamic positions.
Free sample video: Introduction
Free sample video: 5...cxd4 6.exd4 Qb6 sidelines
Elisabeth Paehtz – Germany
Elisabeth Paehtz is a German grandmaster and one of Europe's leading female chess players of recent decades. In 2022, she became the first German woman to earn the GM title.
Her achievements include winning the Women's World Under-18 Championship in 2002 and the Women's World Junior Championship in 2005. She also became European Rapid Chess Champion and European Blitz Chess runner-up in 2018. She has represented Germany at numerous Olympiads and international championships, establishing herself as a leading member of the national team over many years.
Loek van Wely – Netherlands
Loek van Wely is a Dutch grandmaster with a long and distinguished career at the highest level of international chess. At his peak, he ranked among the world's top ten players.
He has won the Dutch Championship eight times and was a member of the national team that won the European Team Championship in both 2001 and 2005. For more than two decades, he was a regular participant in the prestigious Wijk aan Zee tournament.
Anastasiia Hnatyshyn – Ukraine
Anastasiia Hnatyshyn is a young Ukrainian chess player and one of the emerging talents in European chess. Her international breakthrough came in 2026, when she became European women's champion at just fifteen years of age.
Starting as the 76th seed, she opened the tournament with six consecutive victories and finished with 9 points out of a possible 11. Her performance, equivalent to an Elo rating of 2580, earned her an IM norm, placed her among the world's leading players and secured her qualification for the next Women's World Cup. She is currently ranked second among women players aged 20 or younger.
Side events
In addition to the Masters Tournament, the following activities will take place:
- Simultaneous exhibitions
- A blitz chess tournament
- A children's tournament
- A conference
All these activities will take place at the Centro Internacional del Español.
On this DVD Grandmaster Daniel King offers you a repertoire for Black against the Catalan, based around maintaining the rock of a pawn on d5. Keeping central control ultimately gives Black good chances to launch an attack against the enemy king.
Centro Internacional del Español | Photo: Salamanca al día
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