GM David Anton Guijarro lived up to his top billing by winning the 85th Spanish Chess Championship which ended Sept. 8 in Linares, Spain.
The 25-year-old Guijarro actually tied for the championship with GM Jaime Santos Latasa after both finished with identical 7½ points at the end of the final round.
However, Guijarro emerged with the higher tie-break quotient to take the champion’s belt. Both hurdled their last round opponents, and, along with IM Andres Merario Alarcon, were undefeated in the event. Alarcon wound up tied for third to fifth with GMs Ivan Salgado Lopez and Alexei Shirov.
It was a heartbreak finish for Shirov, who led the tournament at the start of the final round.
His opponent, Latasa, however, was in a fighting mood and went on to win in 49 moves of a Semi-Slav, dashing his hopes of becoming the Spanish champion.
On the other hand, Guijarro made short work of third seed GM Manuel Lopez Candelario, reeling the point after only 33 moves of a King’s Indian Defense.
Rounding up the top 10 are GMs Candelario and Daniel Alsina Leal, IMs Jesus Martin Duque and Pedro Antonio Gines Esteo, and FM Marcos Lianes Garcia. Each scored 6½ points.
Santos Latasa, J (2588)-Shirov, A (2647) [D45]
Linares (9.1) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Be2 0-0 8.0-0 dxc4 9.Bxc4 b5 10.Bd3 Bb7 11.a3 Rc8 12.b4 c5 13.bxc5 Bxf3 14.cxd6 Nd5 15.gxf3 Qg5+ 16.Kh1 Qh5 17.Be2 Nxc3 18.Rg1 Rfd8 19.e4 e5 20.Be3 Nxe2 21.Qxe2 exd4 22.Rg5 Qh6 23.Bf4 Qf6 24.Rf5 d3 25.Qe1 Qb2 26.Kg2 Nf8 27.Rd5 Ng6 28.Bg3 h5 29.h3 h4 30.Bh2 Rc2 31.Rd1 Qxa3 32.R1xd3 Qb2 33.Qe3 Rd7 34.f4 Re2 35.Qf3 Re1 36.Rd1 Rxd1 37.Qxd1 Qb4 38.Qd3 Qc4 39.Qxc4 bxc4 40.f5 Nf8 41.Rc5 f6 42.Rxc4 a5 43.Rc8 Kf7 44.Ra8 Rb7 45.Rxa5 Nd7 46.Ra2 g5 47.fxg6+ Kxg6 48.Rc2 Rb5 49.Rc7 1-0
Anton Guijarro, D (2688)-Perez Candelario, M (2604) [E71]
Linares (9.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.h3 0-0 6.Be3 Nc6 7.Nge2 a6 8.d5 Na5 9.Ng3 c5 10.Rc1 h5 11.Bd3 Nd7 12.f4 b5 13.b3 Nb6 14.Nb1 bxc4 15.bxc4 e5 16.0-0 h4 17.Ne2 f5 18.Nd2 Nd7 19.Nf3 Qe7 20.Bd2 Nb7 21.Qc2 Nd8 22.exf5 e4 23.Bxe4 Rb8 24.Nc3 Nf6 25.Bd3 gxf5 26.Bxf5 Bxf5 27.Qxf5 Rb2 28.Rce1 Qf7 29.Rb1 Qb7 30.Rxb2 Qxb2 31.Rb1 Qa3 32.Ng5 Re8 33.Rb3 1-0
Salgado Lopez, I (2584)-Argandona Riveiro, I (2424) [C55]
Linares (9.3) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Be7 5.0-0 0-0 6.Re1 d6 7.a4 Na5 8.Ba2 c5 9.c3 Nc6 10.Na3 Be6 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.Bd2 Nh5 13.b4 cxb4 14.cxb4 Qe8 15.b5 Nd4 16.Nxd4 exd4 17.Qg4 Qf7 18.Re2 Rac8 19.f3 Nf6 20.Qh3 d5 21.exd5 exd5 22.Rc1 Rxc1+ 23.Bxc1 Bxa3 24.Bxa3 Re8 25.Kf1 Rxe2 26.Kxe2 Qe8+ 27.Kd1 a6 28.Bb2 axb5 29.axb5 Qxb5 30.Qe6+ Kh8 31.Qc8+ Qe8 32.Qxe8+ Nxe8 33.Kc2 Nc7 34.Bxd4 Ne6 35.Be5 Nd8 36.Bc7 Ne6 37.Be5 Nd8 38.Bc7 Nc6 39.Bb6 Kg8 40.Kd2 Kf7 41.Ke3 Ke6 42.g4 g6 43.f4 Kd6 44.h3 Nb8 45.Kd4 Nc6+ 46.Ke3 Nb4 47.Ba5 Nc2+ 48.Kd2 Nd4 49.Ke3 Nb3 50.Bb4 Ke6 51.d4 Kf6 52.Bc3 b5 53.Kd3 Nc1 54.Kd2 Na2 55.Kc2 b4 56.Bd2 1-0
Merario Alarcon, A (2395)-Espinosa Aranda, A (2511) [C41]
Linares (9.4) 2020
1.d4 d6 2.e4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.Bc4 Be7 6.0-0 Nb6 7.Bd3 exd4 8.Nxd4 0-0 9.Re1 Re8 10.a4 a5 11.Bf1 Nfd7 12.Ndb5 Ne5 13.b3 c6 14.Nd4 Bf6 15.f4 Ng6 16.Be3 d5 17.e5 Be7 18.Na2 f6 19.e6 c5 20.f5 cxd4 21.Qxd4 Ne5 22.Qxb6 g6 23.Bb5 Nc6 24.Qxd8 Rxd8 25.Bb6 Rf8 26.Nc3 Nb4 27.Rad1 d4 28.Rxd4 Nxc2 29.Nd5 Bd6 30.Nxf6+ Rxf6 31.Rxd6 Nxe1 32.Rd8+ Kg7 33.e7 1-0
Ortega Ruiz, JM (2224)-Alsina Leal, D (2484) [A57]
Linares (9.7) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.Nf3 b4 5.a3 g6 6.axb4 cxb4 7.e4 Nxe4 8.Qd4 Nf6 9.Rxa7 Rxa7 10.Qxa7 Na6 11.Be3 d6 12.Nbd2 Bg7 13.Be2 Qd7 14.0-0 Qxa7 15.Bxa7 0-0 16.Ra1 Nd7 17.Bd4 Ndc5 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.Nd4 Bd7 20.f4 Rb8 21.b3 Rb6 22.g3 e5 23.dxe6 fxe6 24.Bg4 Kf6 25.h4 h5 26.Bh3 e5 27.Bxd7 exd4 28.Bc8 Nb8 29.Ra7 Nc6 30.Rc7 Na5 31.Nf3 Rc6 32.Ra7 Rxc8 33.Rxa5 Nxb3 34.Ra6 Rxc4 35.Rxd6+ Kf5 36.Kg2 Rc2+ 37.Kh3 Ke4 38.Ng5+ Kd3 39.Nf3 Ke3 40.Ne1 Rc3 41.Rxg6 Kf2 42.Ng2 Rc1 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.c4! Black’s futile options are: 1…e5 2.Qg4#; 1…Qb5+ 2.cxb5#; 1…Qxc4+ 2.Rxc4#; 1…Qd6 2.c5#; 1…Kd4 2.Qe3#./PN
