Alvar Alonso Rosell wins Sunway Open in Sitges

by Macauley Peterson
12/24/2018 – In Sitges, the Catalan seaside resort near Barcelona, ​the fifth edition of the ten-day "Sunway Sitges International Chess Festival" ended yesterday with the victory of local hero GM Alvar Alonso Rosell. The 26-year-old Spanish grandmaster, like his three toughest rivals, started the final round with 7.0 / 9, but was the only one to win his game to reach 8.0 / 10. A larger chasing group composed of well-known players ended with 7½ the top three of which contested a tiebreak for 2nd-4th place. Photos: sunwaychessfestival.com

Power Play 24: A repertoire for black against the Catalan Power Play 24: A repertoire for black against the Catalan

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.

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V Sunway Sitges International Chess Festival

Vassily Ivanchuk and Dmitry Andreikin were the only super grandmasters in the field and thus the Elo favourites — by chance, they had to compete in the last round of the tournament against each other. Both had scored 7.0/9 and among those sharing first place. A win would ensure at least joint victory, a draw risked a large tie, which would not be enough for Ivanchuk to reach a playoff on account of his shock first round loss which negatively impacted his Buchholz score.

Ivanchuk had earlier missed a chance to take the lead in the penultimate round when he offered a draw in severe time-pressure with a winning (but tricky) position:

 
Inarkiev vs Ivanchuk
Position after 32.Ka4

Ivanchuk repeated with Nc3+ but Qe7 (threatening d5) was a path to victory

In the last round the players were fighting, but both are also extremely experienced professionals who prefer to avoid excessive risks, especially against a peer. A draw gave Andreikin a shot at a first-place playoff depending on the result of the other head-to-head between leaders.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.Re1 Qc8 8.Nc3 Ne4 9.Bd2 f5 10.Rc1 d6 11.d5 e5 12.Bh3 Nxd2 13.Nxd2 g5
Andreikin takes the risky decision to advance the pawns in front of his king. 14.f3 With E.g. 14.f4 Ivanchuk could have ripped open the position himself. 14...g4 15.fxg4 fxg4 16.Bg2 a5 17.a3 Na6
The black knight seems to stand badly at first glance, but given the latent threat of Nc3-b5 keeping the c7 square covered has its advantages. In addition, the knight inhibits White's queenside pawn breaks. Meanwhile White keeps the e4 square free for his pieces. An alternative approach would have been to bring his knight to f6 where it could be exchanged for one of the white knights, but this would allow the other knight to settle permanently on e4. 18.Rb1 Qf5 19.b4
Ivanchuk burned through nearly all his thinking time (Andreikin wasn't much better in this respect). He had to consider the check on f2, perhaps followed by Qe3 and Rf2, and whether this would endanger White's king. 19...axb4 20.axb4 h5 21.Be4 Qf2+ Black does not achieve anything but from a psychological point of view the signal is clear: should White concentrate all his powers on the queenside, then the Black's attack on the kingside could quickly become dangerous. 22.Kh1 Qe3 23.Rb3 Chess is always a tradeoff between one's own activity and defence against the opponent's intentions. The rook may not be very good at first, but could quickly reach g3 in the case of h5-h4. In that sense he probably straddles the margin between prophylaxis and attack. 23.Bd3 is better according to the engine. 23...Qh6 Andreikin has found a good place for his queen, covering the sensitive g6 and h7 squares, so that blunting the effect of a possible battery of white queen and bishop. It also supports h5-h4 and can always pop back into e3 if necessary. 24.Bb1 Bc8 25.Nde4 Nb8 26.Nb5 Both players had used up nearly all of their time and wanted to play it safe to pocket the half point and guaranteed prize money. In any case, White is by no means better. The possibility of c4-c5 is only one aspect of this highly complicated position, which would be tough to play even with time on the clock.
½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Ivanchuk,V2717Andreikin,D2719½–½2018V Sunway Sitges Open 201810

On the adjacent board, the young Spaniard Alvar Alonso Rosell faced the Frenchman Romain Edouard. Alonso is not well-known abroad and fans may be surprised to learn that he is not a chess professional, unlike his co-leader opponent Edouard who is the Editor-in-Chief of Thinkers Publishing and a member of the French national team. Edouard opted for a relatively passive game, which gave the ambitious Alonso a chance to gradually gain the upper hand:

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.0-0 d6 6.b3 a5 7.a4 c6 8.Bb2 Bf5 9.Nh4 Bc8 10.e4 e5 11.dxe5 Ng4 12.Nf3 Nxe5 13.Nxe5 Bxe5 14.Bxe5 dxe5 15.Qxd8 Rxd8 16.Na3 Be6 17.f4 exf4 18.gxf4 f5 19.Bh3 Kf7 20.Rad1 Nd7 21.exf5 gxf5 22.Nb1 Nf6 23.Nc3 Rg8+ 24.Kf2
24...Ng4+ 24...Rg6 gefolgt von Th6 war vermutlich am besten für Schwarz, der in dieser Phase des Spiels die Initiative hatte. 25.Bxg4 Rxg4 26.Ne2 Bd5 27.Ke1 h5 Man könnte denken, dass Schwarz hier besser stand, aber das war nicht der Fall. Die weißen Figuren sind aktiv und können schrittweise noch verbessert werden, während Schwarz z.B. in der g-Linie nichts erreichen kann. 28.c4 Be6 Nach 28...Be4 29.Rd7+ Ke6 30.Rxb7 Rd8 hätte das Spiel gleich gestanden, wäre aber plötzlich äußerst scharf geworden. Man darf davon ausgehen, dass Edouard über diese Möglichkeit intensiv nachgedacht hat. 29.Rd3 Rb8 30.Re3 Rd8 31.Nc1 Kf6 32.Nd3 Bg8 33.Ne5 Rg2 34.Re2 Rxe2+ 35.Kxe2 Rd4 36.Ke3 Re4+ 37.Kf3 Rd4 38.Ke3 Re4+ 39.Kf3
39...Rd4 Mit 39...b5 konnte Schwarz seinen Läufer zum Leben erwecken, was wohl besser gewesen wäre. 40.Rg1!
Alonso erkennt seine Chance auf den Turniersieg und weicht der Zugwiederholung aus! 40...Bf7 40...Bh7 hätte das Eindringen des weißen Turms zunächst verhindert. 41.Rg5 Be8 42.Rg8 Ke7 43.Rg7+ Kd6 44.Rxb7 Weiß steht auf Gewinn. Die Partie zwischen Ivanchuk und Andreikin war zu diesem Zeitpunkt bereits beendet, so dass Alonso wusste, dass er das Turnier gewinnen würde, wenn er nichts mehr falsch machen würde. Rd2 45.Kg3 h4+ 46.Kxh4 Rxh2+ 47.Kg3 Rc2 48.Kf3 Rh2 49.Rb8 Bh5+ 50.Kg3 Rb2 51.Rd8+ Kc7 52.Rd7+ Kc8 53.Kh4 Be2 54.Ra7 Rxb3 55.Rxa5 Kb7 56.Kg5 Rb4 57.Rc5 Rxa4 58.Rxc6 Ra5 59.Rf6 Rc5 60.Rxf5
Der Spanier agiert vollkommen souverän. Der Rest ist Sache der Technik. 60...Kc7 61.Rf7+ Kd8 62.Rd7+ Ke8 63.Rd4 Ra5 64.Kf6 Ra6+ 65.Kf5 Ra5 66.Ke6 Bf1 67.Rd6 Bh3+ 68.Kf6 Ra4 69.Rb6 Kd8 70.f5 Ra1 71.Rd6+ Kc7 72.Rd3 Rh1 73.c5 Kc8 74.Rg3 Bf1 75.Rg8+ Kc7 76.Rg7+ Kc8 77.c6 Rh2 78.Rg8+ Kc7 79.Rg7+ Kc8 80.Ke7 Re2 81.Kd6 Rd2+ 82.Ke6 Bh3 83.Rh7 Bg2 84.f6 Bd5+ 85.Ke7 Kc7 86.f7 Bxf7 87.Rxf7 Rd6 88.Rh7 Rd4 89.Ke6+ Kc8 90.Rg7 Rd1 91.Nc4 Re1+ 92.Kd6 Rd1+ 93.Kc5 Rc1 94.Rh7 Kd8 95.Kb6 Rb1+ 96.Ka7
1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Alonso Rosell,A2524Edouard,R26441–02018A49V Sunway Sitges Open 201810

A brave performance of the Spanish grandmaster, which earned him the tournament victory. Before the round, the organisers had ventured a little speculation whether Alonso would have been quite happy with a draw in the last game: 

His performance earned him the EUR €5,000 first prize, and was particularly notable considering he entered the tournament seeded just 27th.

Seven players finished the ten-round tournament with 7½ points, but the tournament rules, rather unusually, called for a playoff for any of the top four spots, so the day was not yet over for Grandmasters Dmitry Andreikin, Krishnan Sasikiran and Ernesto Inarkiev. The latter had the best Buchholz score and so was seeded into a final match to face the winner of Andreikin vs Sasikiran. The format was two blitz games followed (if tied) by a single sudden death ('Armageddon') game. The players traded wins before Sasikiran advanced by winning the sudden death game.

Against Inarkiev, Sasikiran won the first game, but Inarkiev battled back in the second to force a final sudden-death game. This game ended tragically for the Indian who flagged in a completely winning position up a piece and two pawns.

All playoff games

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.Nge2 Nf6 4.g3 g6 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.0-0 Nc6 7.d3 Rb8 8.h3 0-0 9.f4 LiveBook: 104 Games e6 B25: Closed Sicilian: 3 g3, lines without early Be3 9...Nd7 10.Nd5 e6 11.Ne3 b5 12.f5 Bb7 13.c3 b4 14.Ng4 bxc3 15.bxc3 exf5 16.exf5 Nce5 17.Bxb7 Rxb7 1/2-1/2 (46) Aronian,L (2764)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2789) Leuven 2018 10.g4 d5 11.g5N Predecessor: 11.Ng3 dxe4 12.dxe4 Qxd1 13.Rxd1 Nd4 14.Rd2 Nd7 15.Nge2 e5 16.f5 b5 17.g5 gxf5 18.Nd5 fxe4 19.Bxe4 Nb6 20.Ne7+ Kh8 21.Nxd4 0-1 (21) Simoes,W-Sischy,M Cape Town 2002 11...Ne8 Black has an edge. 12.Ng3 dxe4 13.Ncxe4 13.dxe4= Qxd1 14.Rxd1 13...b6 14.c3 Bb7 15.h4 Ne7 16.Be3 16.h5 16...Nf5 17.Qe2 17.Nxf5 exf5 18.Nf2 17...Nxh4-+ 18.Bh1 Nf5 19.Rad1 Nxg3 Black should play 19...h5-+ 20.gxh6 Bxh6 21.Nxf5 exf5 20.Nxg3 Bxh1 21.Kxh1 Nd6 22.d4 Qc7 23.Qf3 Nf5 24.Nxf5 exf5 Reject 24...gxf5 25.dxc5 bxc5 26.Rd2 25.d5 25.dxc5 bxc5 26.Rf2 25...Rfe8-+ 26.Kg2 Re4 27.d6 Qd7 28.Rh1 Rbe8 29.Bf2 R8e6 30.Qh3? 30.a3 30...Rxd6 31.Rde1? 31.Qf3 31...Qc6 aiming for ...Rxe1+.Black is clearly winning. 32.Rxe4 Qxe4+
Double Attack 33.Qf3 Rd2 34.Qxe4 fxe4 Endgame KRB-KRB 35.Re1 Rxb2 36.Rxe4 Bxc3 37.Kf3 Rxa2 38.Bg3 Bd4 39.Kg4 Kg7 40.f5 gxf5+ 41.Kxf5 a5 42.Bc7 Rf2+ 43.Kg4 f5+ 44.gxf6+ Rxf6 45.Kh5 Rc6 46.Re7+ Kf6 47.Bd8 Kf5 48.Rb7 c4 Accuracy: White = 20%, Black = 78%.
0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Andreikin,D2719Sasikiran,K26730–12018V Sunway Sitges Open 201811
Sasikiran,K2673Andreikin,D27190–12018V Sunway Sitges Open 201812
Sasikiran,K2673Andreikin,D27191–02018V Sunway Sitges Open 201813
Sasikiran,K2673Inarkiev,E27171–02018V Sunway Sitges Open 201814
Inarkiev,E2717Sasikiran,K26731–02018V Sunway Sitges Open 201815
Inarkiev,E2717Sasikiran,K26731–02018V Sunway Sitges Open 201816

The tournament has increasingly gained international attention as both a strong Open for GMs and norm seekers and a holiday destination for amateurs replete with interesting side events like the tapas workshop held outdoors on a beautiful afternoon.

tapas workshop

The non-chess programme is as strong as the open tournament itself | Photo: sunwaychessfestival.com

Part of the intrigue this year was thanks to the presence of a cadre of extremely strong junior players, including the Indian IM Gukesh who narrowly missed out on a chance to become the youngest GM ever. He, along with young GMs Praggnanandhaa and Sarin finished with 6½ points.

Live commentary webcasts

Commentary by IM Anna Rudolf and FM Leontxo Garcia on Round 10 begins at 4:35 in the video player below. Click or tap a video in the playlist to view prior rounds.

Due to technical difficulties with the on-site video, the tiebreak is not replayable

All available games

 
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Final standings (top 35)

Rk. Snr   Name FED EloI Pkt.  Wtg1   Wtg2   Wtg3  Rp
1 27 GM Alonso Rosell Alvar ESP 2524 8,0 61,0 64,5 50,50 2789
2 3 GM Inarkiev Ernesto RUS 2693 7,5 61,5 66,5 47,25 2669
3 1 GM Andreikin Dmitry RUS 2719 7,5 59,5 63,5 46,50 2721
4 4 GM Sasikiran Krishnan IND 2673 7,5 59,5 63,0 45,00 2701
5 34 GM Dragnev Valentin AUT 2483 7,5 56,5 60,5 43,50 2684
6 28 GM Santos Ruiz Miguel ESP 2523 7,5 56,0 60,5 45,00 2654
7 8 GM Indjic Aleksandar SRB 2620 7,5 56,0 60,5 44,75 2683
8 2 GM Ivanchuk Vassily UKR 2717 7,5 53,0 57,0 42,50 2610
9 5 GM Edouard Romain FRA 2644 7,0 59,5 63,5 41,75 2625
10 6 GM Vocaturo Daniele ITA 2629 7,0 55,5 60,0 41,00 2591
11 14 GM Santos Latasa Jaime ESP 2584 7,0 52,5 56,5 38,00 2552
  32 IM Sosa Tomas ARG 2488 7,0 52,5 56,5 38,00 2563
13 18 GM Xu Xiangyu CHN 2565 7,0 50,5 55,0 37,75 2485
14 20 GM Kadric Denis BIH 2554 7,0 49,5 53,0 35,50 2489
15 17 GM Petrosyan Manuel ARM 2565 6,5 62,5 66,5 40,00 2624
16 9 GM Lagarde Maxime FRA 2616 6,5 59,0 64,0 39,00 2519
17 11 GM Romanov Evgeny RUS 2614 6,5 59,0 63,5 39,50 2557
18 26 IM Harutyunian Tigran K. ARM 2528 6,5 59,0 63,0 36,50 2592
19 13 GM Peralta Fernando ARG 2584 6,5 58,5 63,5 39,50 2538
20 12 GM Liang Awonder USA 2589 6,5 57,0 61,5 37,75 2577
21 16 GM Nihal Sarin IND 2576 6,5 56,5 61,5 37,50 2578
22 68 IM Krishna Teja N IND 2340 6,5 56,5 60,5 37,75 2574
23 41 IM Sadhwani Raunak IND 2434 6,5 55,5 59,0 34,75 2550
24 35 IM Gukesh D IND 2466 6,5 55,0 59,0 35,75 2530
25 25 GM Praggnanandhaa R IND 2530 6,5 54,5 57,5 35,50 2559
26 10 GM Gordievsky Dmitry RUS 2614 6,5 53,0 57,0 36,75 2517
27 33 IM Henderson De La Fuente Lance ESP 2484 6,5 53,0 56,5 34,25 2508
28 21 GM Halkias Stelios GRE 2552 6,5 52,5 57,0 35,00 2504
29 15 GM Lopez Martinez Josep Manuel ESP 2580 6,0 60,0 64,0 35,25 2551
30 7 GM Adly Ahmed EGY 2626 6,0 58,0 64,0 37,00 2540
31 19 GM Kulaots Kaido EST 2555 6,0 57,0 60,5 31,50 2525
32 31 GM Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo CHI 2495 6,0 56,0 60,5 33,50 2497
33 24 GM Kelires Andreas GRE 2535 6,0 55,5 60,0 33,75 2481
34 30 GM Stella Andrea ITA 2503 6,0 54,5 59,0 33,75 2499
35 29 IM Keymer Vincent GER 2508 6,0 53,5 58,0 31,50 2435

... 183 Players

Klaus Besenthal contributed reporting.

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Macauley served as the Editor in Chief of ChessBase News from July 2017 to March 2020. He is the producer of The Full English Breakfast chess podcast, and was an Associate Producer of the 2016 feature documentary, Magnus.

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