The role of the arbiters in chess competitions is often little talked about. It is good that this is so, since they themselves try to go unnoticed so as not to interfere with the players. However, their importance is paramount. In this chronicle we are going to introduce you to the international arbiter Hernán Siludakis, main arbiter of the VI El Llobregat Open Chess Tournament.
For many amateurs, the referee’s work is often relegated to the background. However, the work of the referees is absolutely essential, as they support the organizational structure of the tournament, ensuring that each game starts and ends on equal terms for the players, applying the rules consistently. Without their silent work, the competition would lose its credibility.
AI Hernán Siludakis, main arbiter of the VI El Llobregat Open Chess Tournament (PHOTO: David Llada)
Can you imagine what it must be like to control several tables when time is at a premium and the players are playing at full speed? Controlling every move, in those moments of maximum tension, requires nerves of steel and an almost supernatural degree of attention. Being an arbiter is not easy and we have to accept, as part of the game, that sometimes mistakes are made. Or don’t you, or I myself, occasionally make mistakes in your job?
This, and more, we have had the pleasure of discussing it with the international arbiter Hernán Siludakis (1971), chief arbiter of the VI El Llobregat Open Chess Tournament.
The Fiorito’s, immortalized by the official photographer of the VI El Llobregat Open Chess Tournament, David Llada
The first thing Hernán tells us is that the team is very complementary in languages, which is a great asset in an event of international vocation, with chess players coming from all over the planet. He also tells us that, if he were absent, he is confident that the team would solve all the situations as well or better than himself.
On a personal level, Hernán told us that he started playing chess at the age of 10, in an Argentinean neighborhood club, Torre Blanca, in Buenos Aires, from where great chess-science talents have emerged, such as GM Tempone (cadet world champion), GM Pablo Zarnicki (junior world champion), half of the U26 world champion team, IM Fabián Fiorito, GM Alan Pichot, GM Rubén Felgaer, IM Faustino Oro, IM Ilan Schnaider…
Hernán, who obtained the title of international referee very young, at the age of 21, has revealed that the experience of being appointed to referee Kasparov in a match against the Argentine Olympic team had a profound effect on him. “I didn’t sleep for 15 days before the event,” he says with a smile, “I felt enormous pressure and that’s what gave me the strength to form work teams and handle any refereeing situation.
Asked for a piece of advice for referees in training, Hernán Siludakis recommends reading the regulations that preceded the current one, even though they are no longer in use. “For they are the ones that form your character as a referee,” he told us. “In them, the interpretations are more justified. The good referee neither interprets the rules too strictly nor interprets the rules too loosely, but has to look for the middle ground.”
Next, we present the refereeing team of the VI El Llobregat Open Chess Tournament:
- Chief Referee: AI Hernán Siludakis
- Assistant referees: AI Miguel Ramos, AI Lali Bibilashvili, AF Susana Maximiano, AN Mane Amirkhanyan.
- Support referee: Anna Bonals.
Kazakhstan’s Alanna Berikkyzy, U-10 world champion, rang the bell to start the Llobregat Open Chess Tournament (PHOTO: David Llada).
In this round 8 of the VI El Llobregat Open Chess Tournament, the traditional ringing of the bell that has started the games has corresponded to the very talented Alanna Berikkyzy, U-10 world champion. Do you remember that “The Llobregat Open Chess Tournament is a cradle of talent”?
Savitha Shri (India) (PHOTOGRAPH: David Llada)
On the sporting side, after the draws recorded on the first two boards, the provisional standings now stand with Pranesh, Bharath and Deuer in the lead with 6.5 points, followed by 5 players only half a point behind. Maximum excitement with only two rounds to go!
https://s1.chess-results.com/tnr1149162.aspx?lan=2&art=1&rd=8&turdet=YES&flag=30&SNode=S0
As for Group B, the victory of Daniel Santos against IM Jacek Stachanczyk turns the provisional classification upside down, which is as follows: 1st, Elsultan Kaliakhmet (6 points); 2nd, Daniel Santos (5.5) and 3rd, Joana Ros, Routray Lavyaajyoti and Piotr Dukaczewski (5).
https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1223188.aspx?lan=2&art=1&rd=7&turdet=YES&flag=30&SNode=S0
The young promise Marc Barceló also participates in the VI El Llobregat Open Chess Tournament (PHOTO: David Llada)
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.
- An average of 45 countries are represented at each edition.
- EL LLOBREGAT played: Gukesh, Narayanan, Abdusattorov, Mateusz Bartel, Erijaisi, Muraliu Karthikeyan, Puranik, Alvar Alonso, Maxime Lagarde, Kulkarni Bhakti, Mobina Alinasab, Rakshitta Ravi, Savitha Shri Baskar, Privanka Nutakki, Jaime Santos, Sara Khadem, Sabrina Vega, Lucas Van Foreest, Francisco Vallejo, Yangyi Yu, Ivan Cheparinov, Vladimir Fedoseev, Kiriil Alekseenko, Jaime Santos, Ponomariov, Amin Tabatabaei, Matthias Bluebaum, Vahap Sanal, Antoaneta Stefanova, Hans Niemann, Alain Pichot, Fernando Peralta… and so on up to more than a hundred grandmasters.
- In 2024, female participation was 17% (FIDE average is 11%; Spanish 6%; Catalan 7%).
- In 2024 we broadcast from 63 electronic boards and 12 cameras; 40,762 users from 40 countries connected to elllobregat.com/openchess, with a total of 71,515 pages served. On YouTube, the videos generated during the tournament totaled 415,892 views.
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
