The 33rd edition of the Roquetas de Mar Open, which is part of the Roquetas de Mar Chess Festival in Almeria, Spain, ended January 9th in a four-way tie for first place. However, 3rd seed GM Alexandr Fier of Brazil took the champion’s trophy on tie-break from IM Liam Vrolijk, FM Harry Grieve and IM Tor Fredrik Kaasen after all scored 7 points apiece in the 159-player, 9-round Swiss event with classical time controls.
The other favorites in the event didn’t fare as well as the 34-year old Fier. Top seed GM Karen H. Grigoryan of Armenia, the only super-GM that took part, suffered two shock losses from lesser-lights and wound up in 9th place after tie-breaks with 6½ points, the same score as 2nd seed GM Daniil Yuffa, 5th seed GM Daniel Dardha and 8th seed GM Rodrigo Vasquez Schroeder.
All told, the underdogs gave it their all against their more eminent counterparts, and the final standings showed they somewhat succeeded.
Dudin,G (2474)-Fier,A (2572) [D30]
Roquetas de Mar (6.1) 2022
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Nbd2 dxc4 6.Bg2 Bd7 7.0-0 Bxd2 8.Bxd2 Bc6 9.Qc2 Ne4 10.Qxc4 Nxd2 11.Nxd2 Bxg2 12.Kxg2 c6 13.Ne4 0-0 14.Nc5 Qc7 15.Qb3 Nd7 16.Rac1 Nxc5 17.Rxc5 Rfd8 18.e3 Rd5 19.Rfc1 Rad8 20.h4 h5 21.R1c3 g6 22.a3 Qe7 23.Qb4 R8d7 24.Rc2 Kf8 25.Qc3 Rxc5 26.Qxc5 Qxc5 27.Rxc5 Ke7 28.Kf3 Kd6 29.Kf4 b6 30.Rc2 f6 31.e4 Kc7 32.Ke3 Kd6 33.f3 a5 34.e5+ Kd5 35.exf6 Rf7 36.Kf4 Rxf6+ 37.Kg5 Rxf3 38.Rg2 Kxd4 39.Kxg6 e5 40.Kxh5 e4 41.Kg4 Rf1 42.Rd2+ Kc4 43.Rd6 e3 44.Rxc6+ Kd5 45.Rc2 Kd4 46.h5 Kd3 47.Rh2 e2 48.Rxe2 Kxe2 49.h6 Kf2 0-1
Lin,Y (2360)-Grigoryan,KH (2645) [A40]
Roquetas de Mar (6.10) 2022
1.d4 g6 2.Nf3 Bg7 3.g3 c5 4.d5 b5 5.Bg2 d6 6.a4 b4 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Re1 0-0 9.e4 Nbd7 10.h3 a5 11.c4 bxc3 12.Nxc3 Rb8 13.Nb5 Ba6 14.Bf1 Bxb5 15.Bxb5 Ne8 16.Bd2 Bxb2 17.Rb1 Bg7 18.Re3 Ne5 19.Nxe5 Bxe5 20.Qe1 Bd4 21.Bxa5 Qc8 22.Reb3 c4 23.Ba6 Qxh3 24.Rxb8 Qxg3+ 25.Kf1 Qh3+ 26.Kg1 Nf6 27.Qf1 Qh4 28.Rxf8+ Kxf8 29.Qg2 c3 30.Bd3 Ng4 31.Bb6 Bxb6 32.Rxb6 Ne5 33.Bc2 Qf4 34.Qh3 Qc1+ 35.Kg2 Qxc2 36.Qh6+ Ke8 37.Rb8+ Kd7 38.Qe3 Qxa4 39.Rb7+ Kc8 40.Ra7 Qxa7 41.Qxa7 c2 42.Qa8+ Kc7 43.Qa5+ Kb7 44.Qb4+ Kc7 45.Qc3+ Kd7 46.Qxc2 g5 47.Qc1 h6 48.Qh1 1-0
Grieve,H (2330)-Karthik V (2506) [B23]
Roquetas de Mar (6.11) 2022
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 a6 3.g3 b5 4.Bg2 Bb7 5.Nge2 e6 6.d4 cxd4 7.Nxd4 b4 8.Na4 Nf6 9.0-0 Qc7 10.Re1 e5 11.Nf5 h6 12.c4 Bc6 13.c5 g6 14.Nd6+ Bxd6 15.cxd6 Qa5 16.b3 Bxa4 17.bxa4 Kf8 18.Bb2 Nc6 19.f4 h5 20.h3 Qc5+ 21.Kf1 Qc4+ 22.Re2 Qe6 23.Rc1 Re8 24.fxe5 Nh7 25.Rf2 Kg7 26.Rc5 Rhf8 27.Qc1 Rc8 28.Kg1 Na7 29.Bf1 Rc6 30.Rxc6 Nxc6 31.Bc4 Qxh3 32.Qf4 g5 33.Qf3 Kg6 34.Bxf7+ Kh6 35.e6 dxe6 36.Qb3 e5 37.Rh2 Qd7 38.Bxh5 Qxd6 39.Bg4+ Kg7 40.Bf5 Rh8 41.Qd5 Qc7 42.Rc2 Qb6+ 43.Qc5 Qd8 44.Qxc6 Qd1+ 45.Kg2 Nf6 46.Qc7+ Kf8 47.Qc5+ Kf7 48.Qa7+ Kf8 49.Qc5+ Kf7 50.Qa7+ Kf8 51.Rc8+ Ne8 52.Qc5+ Kg7 53.Qxe5+ 1-0
Fier,A (2572)-Vrolijk,L (2473) [C88]
Roquetas de Mar (7.1) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nbd2 Qd7 12.Nxe5 Nxe5 13.Rxe5 Nf4 14.Nf3 Nxg2 15.Kxg2 a5 16.a4 Ra6 17.Bf4 Rf6 18.Re4 Bxe4 19.dxe4 Qxd1 20.Rxd1 bxa4 21.Bg5 Rg6 22.Bxa4 Bxg5 23.Ne5 Rd6 24.Rd5 Rxd5 25.exd5 Bf6 26.Nc4 Rd8 27.Bc6 a4 28.c3 Bg5 29.d6 cxd6 30.Bxa4 d5 31.Ne5 Rb8 32.Nd3 Rb6 33.Bd1 Kf8 34.Bf3 Rb5 35.Kf1 Ke7 36.Ke2 Kd6 37.Kd1 Ra5 38.Ke2 Ra1 39.Bg2 Bc1 40.Nb4 Bxb2 41.Nxd5 Ba3 42.Ne3 Ra2+ 43.Ke1 Bc5 44.Nf5+ Ke5 45.Nxg7 Bxf2+ 46.Kd1 Be3 47.Bf3 Rd2+ 48.Ke1 Rh2 49.Bg4 Bd2+ 50.Kf1 Bxc3 51.Nf5 Kf4 0-1
Sedlak,Nikola (2503)-Kaasen,TF (2446) [A06]
Roquetas de Mar (8.4) 2022
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.0-0 e5 5.d3 Ne7 6.Nc3 0-0 7.e4 Nbc6 8.Nxd5 Nxd5 9.exd5 Qxd5 10.Re1 Qd7 11.Rb1 a5 12.a3 a4 13.Be3 Re8 14.Ng5 f5 15.c4 h6 16.Nf3 Rd8 17.Qc1 Kh7 18.Rd1 Na5 19.Qc2 Nb3 20.c5 Qf7 21.Qe2 Qf8 22.Re1 Ra6 23.Rbd1 Re8 24.h4 Bd7 25.Bd2 Bb5 26.h5 g5 27.Bb4 Qf7 28.Qc2 Qxh5 29.Bc3 Rae6 30.d4 e4 31.Ne5 Nxd4 32.Rxd4 Rxe5 33.Qd2 Bc6 34.Rd8 R5e7 35.Bxg7 Rxg7 36.Rd1 e3 37.fxe3 Rxd8 38.Qxd8 Bxg2 39.Kxg2 Qe2+ 40.Kh1 Qf3+ 41.Kh2 Qf2+ 42.Kh1 Qxg3 43.Qd5 Qh3+ 0-1
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Be5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bxe5 2.Nxe5#; 1…Rxd5 2.Be6#; 1…Re4/f4 2.Nd6#; 1…Rxg4+ 2.Qxg4#; 1…Rxd3 2.Be2#; 1…Nxb4 2.Rc3#.
