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The 11th edition of the Sunway Sitges Chess Festival is underway on 12–22 December in the charming coastal town of Sitges, located roughly 35 kilometres southwest of Barcelona. The festival features two open tournaments: Group B for players rated 2000 or below and Group A for participants of all ratings. Known for its vibrant atmosphere, the event offers a variety of side activities, including bullet and blitz chess tournaments, paddle tennis, table tennis, and culinary workshops for preparing tapas and ceviches.
The main competition is a Swiss-system tournament played over 10 rounds with a classical time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the remainder of the game, with a 30-second increment per move from the start.
Group A has attracted a strong field, with 12 players rated above 2500 participating. The top seeds are Kirill Alekseenko, Vasyl Ivanchuk and Jules Moussard. Although Ivanchuk missed the opening round, the legendary Ukrainian has shown his class with three consecutive wins in rounds 2–4. Ivanchuk is also scheduled to give a conference during the event's rest day on Tuesday. Alekseenko and Moussard, who have competed in all four rounds, currently share a 3/4 score, much like Ivanchuk.
Three players have managed to achieve perfect 4/4 scores thus far: Ido Gorshtein from Israel (8th seed), Anwesh Upadhyaya from India (31st seed) and Edward Song from the United States (38th seed). Song pulled off a significant upset in round 3, defeating Alekseenko with the white pieces. Alekseenko’s error, 43...Rb8, allowed a forcing sequence which led to a simplified winning endgame for Song.
44.Qxb8 Qxb8 45.c7 Qc8 46.Bb7 is what Alekseenko missed.
This victory highlighted the unpredictable nature of the tournament, where lower seeds have successfully challenged higher-ranked opponents.
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In round 5 on Monday, the competition promises more exciting clashes. Anwesh Upadhyaya will play white against co-leader Ido Gorshtein, while Edward Song faces Tin Jingyao from Singapore, the 4th seed, who is among the 18 players trailing the leaders by just half a point. Meanwhile, Vasyl Ivanchuk will play black against Piotr Brzezina from Poland, aiming to continue his winning streak.
Second round of #SunwaySitges left already some unexpected results. It also saw GM Ivanchuk making his debut in Sitges this year with a win, althouh having arrived from Qatar very early in the morning. pic.twitter.com/PDhReZmVu4
— Sunway Chess Festival (@SunwayChessOpen) December 14, 2024
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IM | Song, Edward | 2363 | 4 | 8,5 | |
| 2 | GM | Gorshtein, Ido | 2542 | 4 | 8 | |
| 3 | IM | Anwesh, Upadhyaya | 2379 | 4 | 7,5 | |
| 4 | GM | Tin, Jingyao | 2588 | 3,5 | 9,5 | |
| 5 | GM | Maurizzi, Marc`andria | 2576 | 3,5 | 9,5 | |
| 6 | FM | Shamatava, Nikolozi | 2334 | 3,5 | 9 | |
| 7 | GM | Vetokhin, Savva | 2502 | 3,5 | 9 | |
| 8 | IM | Xu, Minghui | 2405 | 3,5 | 9 | |
| 9 | IM | Arfan, Aditya Bagus | 2416 | 3,5 | 9 | |
| 10 | GM | Abergel, Thal | 2411 | 3,5 | 8,5 | |
| 11 | IM | Aloma Vidal, Robert | 2398 | 3,5 | 8 | |
| 12 | IM | Hess, Max | 2385 | 3,5 | 8 | |
| 13 | FM | Dudognon, Thibault | 2411 | 3,5 | 7,5 | |
| 14 | GM | Li, Di | 2552 | 3,5 | 7,5 | |
| 15 | FM | Safarov, Deniel | 2319 | 3,5 | 7,5 | |
| 16 | GM | Siddharth, Jagadeesh | 2510 | 3,5 | 7 | |
| 17 | IM | Ilamparthi, A R | 2461 | 3,5 | 7 | |
| FM | Brzezina, Piotr | 2274 | 3,5 | 7 | ||
| 19 | IM | Raczek, Krzysztof | 2443 | 3,5 | 7 | |
| FM | Diaz Rosas, Julio Cesar | 2401 | 3,5 | 7 | ||
| 21 | IM | Sofronie, Iulian | 2368 | 3,5 | 6,5 | |
| 22 | IM | Isanzhulov, Arystan | 2395 | 3 | 9,5 | |
| 23 | IM | Leisch, Lukas | 2417 | 3 | 9 | |
| 24 | GM | Alekseenko, Kirill | 2673 | 3 | 9 | |
| 25 | GM | Gormally, Daniel W | 2424 | 3 | 8,5 | |
| 26 | IM | Travadon, Loic | 2428 | 3 | 8,5 | |
| 27 | GM | Moussard, Jules | 2600 | 3 | 8,5 | |
| 28 | WIM | Allahverdiyeva, Ayan | 2194 | 3 | 8 | |
| 29 | WGM | Alinasab, Mobina | 2330 | 3 | 8 | |
| 30 | GM | Lopez Martinez, Josep Manuel | 2455 | 3 | 8 |
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