A dramatic last-round highlighted the close of the Ninth Ibero-American Championship which concluded February 20th in Mexico City. Tournament leader GM Jaime Santos Latasa was leading the field by half-point but had to face top seed GM Jorge Cori. As it was, Latasa was beaten by Cori and the champion became GM Sandro Mareco of Argentina, winning the event by the provebrial skin of his teeth.
Marecoās 7Ā½ points was half-a-point better than the 7 points of Latasa, IM Guillermo Vasquez, Cori, GM Juan Carlos Obregon Rivero, GM Emilio Cordova, and GM Carlos Daniel Albornoz Cabrera.
The Ibero-American Chess Federation (or FIBDA, Spanish for FederaciĆ³n Iberoamericana de Ajedrez) was created in 2004 and started organizing tournaments for the belonging countries since 2006. The countries under the Federation include Brazil, Cuba, Spain, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Mexico, Portugal, Andorra, Colombia, and Portugal.
The top 15 in the standings: 1. Mareco, 7Ā½; 2-7. Santos Latasa, Vasquez, Cori, Obregon Rivero, Cordova, Albornoz Cabrera, 7; 8-15. Meier, Cuenca Jimemez, Sanchez Alvarez, Fier, Cardoso, De la Fuente, Avila Rodriguez, Ibarra Chami, 6Ā½.
Mareco,S (2643)-Almeida Quintana,O (2535) [C41]
Mexico City (9.3) 2022
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.Rg1 c6 6.g4 g6 7.Be3 b5 8.a3 a6 9.g5 Nh5 10.Qd2 Be7 11.Ne2 Qc7 12.Ng3 Nxg3 13.hxg3 Bb7 14.c4 exd4 15.Qxd4 0-0 16.Qc3 Nc5 17.Nd2 Rfe8 18.f4 Rad8 19.Rc1 Bf8 20.Bxc5 dxc5 21.e5 Rd4 22.Nb3 Rdd8 23.Be2 Qe7 24.Rh1 h6 25.gxh6 f6 26.Qc2 fxe5 27.Qxg6+ Kh8 28.f5 Rd6 29.Qg4 Rxh6 30.Rxh6+ Bxh6 31.Qh5 Qf8 32.g4 Re7 33.g5 Qxf5 1-0
Cordova,E (2534)-Mareco,S (2643) [A05]
Mexico City (5.2) 2022
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.e3 g6 3.d4 Bg7 4.Be2 0-0 5.0-0 d6 6.c4 Nbd7 7.Nc3 e5 8.a4 a5 9.b3 Re8 10.Ba3 e4 11.Nd2 Nf8 12.Nb5 h5 13.Rc1 Bd7 14.Rc3 N8h7 15.Qc2 h4 16.c5 dxc5 17.Rxc5 Bf8 18.Nxc7 Bxc5 19.Qxc5 Rc8 20.Rc1 Be6 21.Qe5 Re7 22.Bxe7 Qxe7 23.Rc5 b6 24.Nd5 Nxd5 25.Rxc8+ Bxc8 26.Qxd5 Qb4 27.Nxe4 Be6 28.Qd8+ Kg7 29.d5 Bg4 30.f3 Qe1+ 31.Bf1 Qxe3+ 32.Nf2 Bxf3 33.d6 Ng5 34.Qc8 h3 35.d7 hxg2 36.Bxg2 Qe1+ 37.Bf1 Be2 38.Qc3+ Qxc3 39.d8Q Qe1 40.Qd4+ Kg8 41.Qd8+ Kh7 0-1
Santos Latasa,J (2640)-Meier,G (2631) [C10]
Mexico City (8.2) 2022
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Nxf6+ Nxf6 7.c3 c5 8.Be3 Qc7 9.Bb5+ Bd7 10.Bxd7+ Nxd7 11.d5 e5 12.Qc2 Bd6 13.0-0-0 0-0 14.h4 b5 15.h5 c4 16.g4 Bc5 17.Qf5 Bxe3+ 18.fxe3 Qd6 19.Ng5 Nf6 20.h6 g6 21.Qf3 Rab8 22.Rhf1 Rb6 23.Rf2 a5 24.Rdf1 Qe7 25.Nxf7 Rxf7 26.g5 b4 27.gxf6 Qf8 28.cxb4 Qxh6 29.Qg3 axb4 30.Qxe5 Ra6 31.Kb1 Qf8 32.Qd4 c3 33.e4 Ra5 34.e5 1-0
Cori,J (2650)-Santos Latasa,J (2640) [A13]
Mexico City (9.1) 2022
1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nf3 b6 5.b3 Bb7 6.Bb2 Nbd7 7.Be2 Bd6 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Nb5 Be7 10.Nbd4 c6 11.Rc1 Rc8 12.h4 Ne4 13.Qc2 Nd6 14.Nf5 Nxf5 15.Qxf5 Bf6 16.d4 Be7 17.Ne5 Nf6 18.h5 0-0 19.Bd3 c5 20.dxc5 Rxc5 21.Rxc5 bxc5 22.Nc6 Bxc6 23.Bxf6 g6 24.hxg6 fxg6 25.Qe6+ Rf7 26.Rxh7 1-0
Rodriguez Vila,A (2461)-Obregon Rivero,J (2536) [A45]
Mexico City (8.4) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Qa5 5.Nf3 Ne4 6.Be2 Nc6 7.0-0 Nxc3 8.bxc3 Qxc3 9.Rb1 c4 10.Rb5 e6 11.e4 dxe4 12.Ng5 a6 13.Bh5 g6 14.d5 axb5 15.dxc6 Qf6 16.g3 Be7 17.Nxe4 Qf5 18.Nd6+ Bxd6 19.Qxd6 Qd5 20.Bf3 Qxd6 21.Bxd6 Ra6 22.Be5 f6 23.Bxf6 Rf8 24.cxb7 Bxb7 25.Bxb7 Rb6 26.Be5 Rxb7 27.Rb1 Kf7 28.c3 Rd8 29.a4 Ra8 30.axb5 Ra5 31.Re1 Rbxb5 32.Bd6 Rd5 33.Bf4 e5 34.Bg5 Ke6 35.h4 Ra3 36.Rb1 Rxc3 37.Rb8 Rd7 38.Kg2 Rb3 39.Re8+ Kf7 40.Rxe5 Rc7 41.Bf4 c3 42.Re3 Rc8 43.Rf3 Kg8 44.Bh6 Rb1 0-1
Cordova,E (2534)-Alonso Rosell,A (2570) [A04]
Mexico City (9.4) 2022
1.Nf3 e6 2.g3 b5 3.Bg2 Bb7 4.0-0 a5 5.Re1 Be7 6.e4 d6 7.d4 Nf6 8.Nbd2 Nbd7 9.a4 b4 10.c4 bxc3 11.bxc3 c5 12.Nh4 cxd4 13.e5 Nd5 14.Nf5 dxc3 15.Nxg7+ Kf8 16.Nc4 h5 17.Nxh5 Nxe5 18.Nxe5 dxe5 19.Qg4 Ke8 20.Rxe5 Qc7 21.Ng7+ Kf8 22.Rxe6 Nf6 23.Rxf6 Bxf6 24.Ba3+ Be7 25.Nf5 Bxa3 26.Qg7+ Ke8 27.Qxh8+ Kd7 28.Qd4+ Kc8 29.Bxb7+ Kxb7 30.Rxa3 c2 31.Rb3+ Ka6 32.Qd3+ Ka7 33.Qe3+ Ka6 34.Rc3 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.f7!, and Blackās futile options are: 1…Bxf7 2.Qe5#; 1…Nf6/g5 2.f8=N#; 1…Ke7 2.fxg8=Q#; 1…Qxe3+ 2.Rxe3#; 1…Qh5 2.Ng4#.
