Second Ruy López International Chess Festival in Mérida
4/10/2008 – After five rounds of this annual tournament Spain the eight players are lined up almost exactly according to their Elo ratings. A coincidence? Well take a look at the drawing of colours, where things were strangely synchronous as well. In Mérida, with two top female players, Koneru Humpy and Hou Yifan, present, Michael Adams is in the lead. Big photo report.
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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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