Sunway Sitges: Chess on the Catalonian Beach

Sunway Sitges: Chess on the Catalonian Beach

By Atul Dahale

Sunway Sitges International Festival was held from 16th December to 23rd December 2016 at Sitges (Barcelona), which is a beautiful town of the Catalonia region. This was the third edition of the festival which attracted players from 30 different countries. The Spanish, Indians and Russians contributed the most number of players that included 27 grandmasters and 31 international masters.

This shows the tournament was very strong and of high quality. In the end, four players scored 7.0/9 points and Russian GM Evgeny Romanov (2622) won the tournament on better tiebreak.

Happiness in balmy Sitges

I arrived in Sitges after my tournament in Rome, so I was a bit tired but when I reached the tournament venue all my fatigue vanished! The beautiful surroundings around the venue, the beach, the bungalows on the streets and the calm environment was so mesmerizing that I felt I am in a different world.

Hotel Sunway Playa Golf Sitges was the official hotel of the Sunway Chess festival. It is situated in a scenic location on the beach. We were staying at the Sunway apartments and the organizers provided the visiting players bicycles for the entire duration of the tournament. Riding the bicycle on beach side every day was a refreshing experience before and after the games.

Look at this one minute video which will give you an idea of What was it like to ride the bicycle in Sitges and localities. Perfect place to play a tournament in the winter!

What happened in the tournament?

There was a four-way tie for the top place, all with 7.0/9. Top seed from the US, GM Gata Kamsky (2661), French GM Edouard Romain (2611), Spanish GM Martinez Lopez (2552) and GM Evgeny Romanov (2622) scored the same number of points and tied for the first place but Romanov won the tournament on better tiebreak with a 2723 rating performance.

For Romanov, it was second championship title in a row. Just a week before this event, he won the Rome Chess festival. In this tournament, he was leading from the beginning with 5.5/6 but in the seventh round, he lost against talented Italian GM Daniel Vocaturo (2601). His chances were looking bleak but a champion always rises to the occasion when it matters most. He won his last round game against another youngster, Dutch GM Jorden Van Foreest (2605) and finished on top!

First Place

GM Evgeny Romanov with winner’s Cheque of 2000 Euros along with the Mayor of Sitges and Organisers.

On special request, GM Romanov has analyzed his crucial game from this tournament against the legendary player from Peru, GM Julio Granda Zuniga (2646). There is a lot to learn from this masterclass game.

Evgeny Romanov - Julio Granda Zuniga (Notes by GM Evgeny Romanov)

This is the breathtaking view from the tournament hall which Romanov was talking about in the annotated game above. Isn’t it beautiful? (Photo: Sharath Elumulai)

Second Place

GM Romain Edouard (right), 2611 FIDE, from France started slowly but picked up speed towards the end tying for the first place with a 2696 rating performance. He was second in the tiebreak and was richer by 1200 euros.

Here is his eighth round win against Daniel Vocaturo. It was a dominating performance! He built his position smoothly and then finished the game without giving any counter play.

Third place

Strong Catalonian GM Josep Manuel Martinez Lopez (2552) played well in this tournament. He was third after a crucial last round win against third seed GM Ivan Ivanisevic (2648). (Cartoon: Wada Lupe)

It was an innovative idea of organizers to make cartoons of players. The talented cartoonist Wada Lupe depicts Josep's final round win. Creative and humorous! In this picture, you can see the epic expressions of players while Josep does a Zorro!

We present you this game by GM Lopez Martinez with some training questions to solve! Learn how to take advantage of development and initiative in the opening! Enjoy!

Fourth place

Former World Championship challenger, GM Gata Kamsky (2661) from the USA was the top seed in the tournament. (Photo: Sharath Elumalai )

He had to concede two draws in first three games but then he found his rhythm and scored 7/9 to finish 4th on tiebreak.

An Indian Talent announces his arrival

Focused in everything he does — Nihal Sarin playing Fussball, that too with so much dedication!

Wonderboy Nihal Sarin, who is already a 2386 rated player, scored 5.5/9 points to achieve his second IM norm. This 12-year-old kid is really very talented!

Here is one of his games which he drew against the second runner-up GM Josep Martinez Lopez with a fine positional style. This boy knows his stuff!

And here is another game, annotated by the little boy himself (he can type quite fast for a 12-year-old):

He showed his true colours in the two blitz tournaments that were held alongside the main event where he cleaned up a field full of titled players!

In the first Sitges Blitz, he finished a respectable sixth after a loss to GM Ivan Ivanasevic.

Ranking after eight rounds:

Nihal on his way to a crucial victory over Israeli GM Evgeny Postny (2604).

In the second blitz event, he was at a different level — beating opponents at will, except the top seed GM Miguel Munoz (2651), with whom he drew. He finished with two crushing wins over Postny and Saveliy Golubov (2526). Speaking to ChessBase India about his win against Postny, Nihal commented,"I wanted to win the tournament, but he is a good player. So, I decided to just play symmetrically, maintain the first move advantage, and press in the endgame — it worked." See the video in this article.

Ranking after Round eight:

Fun and Frolic

The organization of this tournament was top notch! The organizers made sure that players got all the facilities and enjoyed their stay at Sitges. They took care of each and every small detail. Right from providing free sports facilities in the hotel, bicycles for players to commute to the venue and elsewhere, feast and cocktails for the players! On few days, movies were shown on big screen.

A unique way to celebrate this festival with all the participants of the tournament!

One of the world's youngest international masters, Awonder Liang from the USA, was playing in this tournament. The organizers arranged one simultaneous display of this wonder kid! 

Sports facilities by the organizers to all Players was a treat! Every day, after the games, we used to go to playing arena and enjoy Table Tennis or Fussball! Sports of any kind is always a stress buster after a tough game.

Isn’t she adorable? (Photo: Sharath Elumulai)

Sasi's Opening Prep (in Table Tennis)

Everybody knows that Indian GM Krishnan Sasikiran is an expert when it comes to opening preparation but he is also a very good table tennis player! Enjoy how he serves like a Pro.

On a Personal Note

Selfie with the ever-smiling and efficient organizer of Sunway Sitges Chess Festival, Mr. Francesco Gonzales. Thank you for organizing such a wonderful event! Looking forward to playing the next edition!

During this tournament, me (with the selfie stick) was staying with my friends Aniruddha Deshpande (in the vanguard; better known to Indians as 'Sir' — the origins of this title remain unknown), Supriya Joshi, and GM Swapnil Dhopade (the other guy with specs)!

I am really impressed by the way this tournament was efficiently organized. We really had a great time together in Sitges! This tour wouldn’t have been so amazing and memorable without my friends and the organizer himself!

Atul Dahale (pictured above) is one of the first internationally FIDE rated players from Parbhani. He loves the game of chess and enjoys the fact that he can travel to different places, meet people and make new friends thanks to chess. He has a rating of 2076 and is a successful coach currently based in Pune, Maharashtra. You can contact him on atuldahale64@gmail.com.

Special thanks to Sharath Elumulai for contributing with his pictures.

This report originally appeared in ChessBase India.

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN You can use ChessBase 14 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs to replay the games in PGN. You can also download our free Playchess client, which will in addition give you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com.