Despite a recent surge in European COVID cases, over-the-board, face-to-face classic chess tournaments are once again being organized and played in the continent.
Among them is the strong 7th Sunway Open being held at the town of Sitges in Barcelona, Spain, where 138-players are competing for a lion’s share of the 25,000-Euro prize fund. With strong COVID protocols in place, the 10-round Swiss event appear to proceed smoothly. After seven rounds of play, eight players are surprisingly bunched together and sharing the lead.
The eight are GMs Jules Moussard, Ivan Cheparinov, Jaime Santos Latasa, Nicolas Checa, Anton Korobov, Alexandr Fier, Vladislav Nevednichy and IM Hans Moke Niemann. Each has 5½ points.
The Open is part of the Sunway Chess Festival in Sitges, running simultaneous with a B-Open and a Junior Blitz Championship among Spanish young players. The Festival is organized by Oskar Stöber, owner of the Hotel Sunway Playa Golf & Spa where the tournaments are being played.
Moussard, J (2626)-Plat, V (2552) [B31]
Sitges (6.1) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.c3 Nf6 6.Re1 0-0 7.h3 a6 8.Bxc6 dxc6 9.d4 cxd4 10.cxd4 Ne8 11.Nc3 Nd6 12.a4 b5 13.e5 Nc4 14.b3 Na5 15.Ne4 Qd5 16.Ba3 Bf5 17.Ng3 Be6 18.axb5 Nxb3 19.Rb1 c5 20.b6 Nxd4 21.Nxd4 cxd4 22.Bxe7 Rfe8 23.Bd6 Bc8 24.Qb3 Qxb3 25.Rxb3 Bb7 26.Ne4 Rac8 27.Nc5 Bd5 28.b7 Bxb3 29.bxc8Q Rxc8 30.Nxb3 d3 31.Rd1 1-0
Cheparinov, I (2660)-Asis Gargatagli, H (2470) [B08]
Sitges (6.2) 2020
1.d4 d6 2.e4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be3 a6 6.Qd2 b5 7.Bh6 0-0 8.Bd3 Nc6 9.Bxg7 Kxg7 10.e5 dxe5 11.dxe5 Ng4 12.0-0-0 b4 13.Rhe1 Rb8 14.Na4 Qd5 15.b3 Ngxe5 16.Nxe5 Nxe5 17.Bf1 Qxd2+ 18.Rxd2 Nc6 19.Rd5 Nd8 20.Rxe7 Ne6 21.Nc5 Kf6 22.Nd7+ Kxe7 23.Nxb8 c5 24.Kb2 h5 25.h4 Rg8 26.c3 bxc3+ 27.Kxc3 g5 28.hxg5 Rxg5 29.Rxg5 Nxg5 30.f3 h4 31.Nxa6 Kd6 32.b4 cxb4+ 33.Nxb4 h3 34.gxh3 Nxf3 35.Kd3 Kc5 36.a3 Ne5+ 37.Ke4 Ng6 38.Ke3 Bd7 39.Nd3+ Kd6 40.Kf2 Kd5 41.Kg3 Kd4 42.Nf4 Ne7 43.Bd3 Kc3 44.h4 Kb3 45.h5 Ng8 46.Nd5 f5 47.a4 Be8 48.a5 Bxh5 49.Bb5 1-0
Santos Latasa, J (2588)-Batsiashvili, N (2466) [A07]
Sitges (6.3) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.0-0 e5 5.d3 Ne7 6.e4 dxe4 7.dxe4 Qxd1 8.Rxd1 Nbc6 9.Be3 Bg4 10.c3 h6 11.Nbd2 0-0 12.h3 Be6 13.Bf1 Rad8 14.b4 f5 15.b5 Na5 16.Bc5 Rfe8 17.Bb4 fxe4 18.Nxe4 Rxd1 19.Rxd1 b6 20.Bxa5 bxa5 21.Nfd2 Rd8 22.Re1 Kh7 23.h4 Bxa2 24.Ra1 Be6 25.Rxa5 Nc8 26.Kh2 Bf5 27.Bh3 Bf8 28.h5 Bc5 29.hxg6+ Kxg6 30.Bxf5+ Kxf5 31.f3 Bb6 32.Ra2 Nd6 33.c4 Be3 34.Kg2 Nxe4 35.Nxe4 Rd4 36.Ra6 Bg5 37.Rc6 Bd8 38.Kf2 h5 39.Ke2 Rxe4+ 40.fxe4+ Kxe4 41.Rh6 Kd4 42.Rxh5 e4 43.Rd5+ 1-0
Checa, N (2527)-Grigoryan, KH (2651) [D37]
Sitges (7.4) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 b5 6.e5 Nd5 7.Nxb5 Nb6 8.Be2 Be7 9.Be3 Qd7 10.Nc3 Nc6 11.a3 Bb7 12.Qc2 f5 13.exf6 gxf6 14.Na4 Na5 15.Nc5 Bxc5 16.dxc5 Nd5 17.Bd2 Nb3 18.Rd1 Nxd2 19.Rxd2 Rg8 20.g3 0-0-0 21.Qxc4 e5 22.0-0 Rg4 23.Nxe5 Rxc4 24.Nxd7 Ra4 25.c6 Bxc6 26.Nc5 Ra5 27.Rc1 Ne7 28.Ba6+ Rxa6 29.Rxd8+ 1-0
Korobov, A (2693)-Lopez Martinez, JM (2542) [D35]
Sitges (7.3) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4 Bf5 8.Qf3 Be6 9.Bxf6 Qxf6 10.Qxf6 gxf6 11.Bd3 Nd7 12.Nge2 a5 13.f3 Bd6 14.Kf2 f5 15.Nf4 Bxf4 16.exf4 Ke7 17.g4 Kf6 18.h3 Nb6 19.Rae1 Nc8 20.Ne2 h5 21.g5+ Kg6 22.h4 Ne7 23.Ng3 Rhd8 24.Re5 Rd6 25.Rc1 a4 26.a3 Rdd8 27.Ke1 Rd6 28.Kd2 b6 29.Rc3 Ra5 30.Re1 c5 31.Rec1 c4 32.Bc2 Nc6 33.Ne2 b5 34.Re3 b4 35.axb4 Nxb4 36.Ra1 Rb6 37.Rxa4 Rxa4 38.Bxa4 Nd3 39.b3 cxb3 40.Rxd3 b2 41.Bc2 b1Q 42.Bxb1 Rxb1 43.Ke3 Rf1 44.Rb3 Rh1 45.Kf2 Rh2+ 46.Kf1 Rh1+ 47.Kg2 Re1 48.Kf2 Rh1 49.Rb6 Rh2+ 50.Kf1 Rh1+ 51.Kg2 Re1 52.Nc3 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
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WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Bf8!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rxd7 2.Scxd7#; 1…Bxb3 2.Qxb3#; 1…Bc3 2.Sd3#./PN