
Second Ruy Lopez Chess Festival
The Second Ruy López International Chess Festival is taking place in
Mérida, Spain, from April 4th-13th, 2008. The main event is a category
XV round robin with eight players.
Standings after five rounds
After five rounds of play top seed Michael Adams of England is in the lead,
having won three games and drawn two. He is followed by second seed Gabriel
Sargissian of Armenia, who is followed by third seed Zhang Penxiang from China.
In fourth places is fourth seed Koneru Humpy from India, and in fifth place
fifth seed Fabiano Caruana. 14-year-old Hou Yifan spoilt the perfect Elo alignment
of the standings by overtaking sixth seed Julio Granda Zuniga. There are more
coincidences to come – material for study by our quirky friend GM
James Plaskett.
Picture gallery

The venue during the openings ceremony

The musical part of the festivities

The number one seed, Michael Adams, picks the number one starting number

The second-strongest femal player of all time, Koneru Humpy, gets the two

The world's third-strongest female player, Hou Yifan, gets the three (talk about
coincidences!)

Fabiano Caruana is the fifth seed and the seventh oldest player – sorry,
we couldn't find anything here

"Manolo" Perez Candelario, second of Alexei Shirov and intrepid
ice explorer

It grew back! Gabriel Sargissian, Armenian GM and second of
Levon Aronian, who had shaved his head in Morelia, Mexico

GM Julio Granda Zuniga of Peru

Third seed: Chinese GM Zhang Pengxiang

The world's second-youngest grandmaster (at 15) Fabiano Caruana

14-year-old Chinese WGM Hou Yifan, watched by her main rival Koneru Humpy of
India

A reception with the Mayor of Mérida in the Town Hall

The players in front of the town hall (Sargissian, Perez, Humpy, Hou, Zhao,
Caruana, Granda)

Chief commentator in Mérida and on Playchess: Spanish journalist Leontxo
Garcia
All photos by Jorge Armestar Marroquin for the official web
site
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