The second round of play in the VI El Llobregat Open Chess Tournament is preceded by a double activity, the traditional school tournament and a simultaneous by GM Michal Krasenkow at the Ateneu Barcelonès, as well as giving rise to the first round of Group B.
The IV Torneig Escolar El Llobregat U16 has worn its best clothes this past Sunday morning. The young values that have gathered in the playing room of the Hotel Sercotel Sant Boi have had the privilege of playing with the same material as the more than one hundred graduates of the international open, feeding their inner fire of love for chess.
Antonia Barragán Prieto, Councilor for Equality and Cohesive City of Sant Boi City Council, has presided over the awards ceremony of the IV Torneig Escolar El Llobregat
The tournament, which has exceeded one hundred participants, was divided into a section of federated players (50) and another of amateurs (60). The director of the tournament was MC Roberto Villa and the main arbiter was the national arbiter Guillem Cintas. The bell that started the games was rung by the very young Martí Ripoll Rubiano who, at the age of five, received a standing ovation from the parents present. The awards ceremony was presided over by Antonia Barragán Prieto, Councilor for Equality and Cohesive City of Sant Boi City Council.
In the federated section, Victor Permànyer Dvoretskiy, from C. E. Llinars, won, followed by Jin Xuzhe, from C. E. Tres Peons, with the same points. In the non-federated group, the victory went to Luzair Mateos Martínez, from Escola La Lió. The young champions received a trophy that is an exact replica of the one awarded to the champions of the Llobregat open Chess Tournament. The two trophies for school teams went to Escola Frangoal and Escola Antoni Gaudí (Castelldefels schools), whose extracurricular chess program is linked to the Llobregat Open Chess Tournament. The team with the highest representation, Montornès U8, has also received a cup.
The commitment of the Llobregat Open Chess Tournament with grassroots chess is one of the hallmarks of the organizing team. We anticipate, as a certainly spectacular fact, that in Group A participate 31 players under 15 years old, with the goal in mind to make a place among the legends. This, in an ecosystem of 135 players, gives us a revealing percentage of 23%.
The Llobregat Open Chess Tournament, cradle of the future (PHOTO: David Llada)
As an anecdotal fact, we will share with you that, in Group A of the VI El Llobregat Open Chess Tournament, the youngest international master in history, Roman Shogdzhiev, as well as the great Catalan promise, the recently candidate to master Marc Barceló, are participating. Other talents that we highlight in this chronicle are Javier Habans and the recently 2400 FIDE Álex Villa. Will they reach the elite of world chess? Who knows, since they still have a long way to go, but it is worth remembering that in past editions of the Llobregat Open Chess Tournament participated, being young promises, Arjun Erigaisi (current number 5 in the world ranking), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (number 17) and, how can we forget, Gukesh Dommaraju, current world champion, among others. Therefore, the headline “The Llobregat Open Chess Tournament is the cradle of the future” is not an exaggeration, but an evidence.
Simultaneous sessions by GM Michal Krasenkow at the Ateneu Barcelonès, in collaboration with the Llobregat Open Chess Tournament (PHOTO: David Llada)
The other special activity of the day was the simultaneous games offered by the Polish grandmaster Michal Krasenkow in the elegant Pompeu Fabra hall of the Ateneu Barcelonès. Krasenkow has been champion of Georgia, team champion of the USSR and double champion of Poland; with a current ELO of 2,490 but with the prestige of having reached the mythical barrier of 2.700 points, becoming classified as one of the ten best players in the world, Krasenkow offered a high-level exhibition, simultaneously facing nineteen players; thirteen were defeated, but two players achieved a victory of great merit: Luca Badía (from the Tres Peons club) and Eduard Verdú (Ateneu Barcelonès). There were also four draws, the result of hard-fought games and a remarkable resistance on the part of the players. Julen Le Guirrtiec Cornu (Torrenegra), Guillem Barnils (Tres Peons), Ramon Cases (Ateneu Barcelonès) and Franhcisco Iglesias (Gijón 64).
The MI Ángel Martín has performed the traditional ringing of the bell (PHOTO: David Llada).
As for this Sunday’s round of play, preceded by the ringing of the bell by legend Angel Martin, the top three finishers in Group A are Grandmasters Pranesh and Henriquez, and International Master Harshavardhan. The first Spaniard is still Lopez (8th). As for Group B, the first leaders of the tournament are Lavyaajyoti, Saladie and international master Dukaczewski.
For fans of the history of the sport, we will be unveiling in these chronicles the milestones achieved by the Llobregat Open Chess Tournament in the five previous editions :
- Best open held in Spain in the 2022 and 2023 editions, as certified by the Consejo Superior de Deportes and the FEDA (Spanish Chess Federation).
- We had more than one thousand participants; 50% international graduates.
We would like to thank our sponsors: El Llobregat (magazine), Ajuntament de Sant Boi, Generalitat de Catalunya, Aigües de Barcelona and Diputació de Barcelona, without whose invaluable help an event of this magnitude would not be possible.
You can follow the games (from 4 p.m. onwards) daily on the web: https://www.elllobregat.com
