The 2021 Roquetas Chess Festival unfolded Jan. 2 at the Spanish city of Roquetas del Mar, and a Russian grandmaster is leading the way in the Masters Division after seven rounds of play.
GM Daniil Yuffa (2565) is half-a-point ahead of his closest pursuers in the 10-player, Category 9 (average Elo: 2469), single round robin classical chess competition. Besides Yuffa, the other players competing are GMs Karen H. Grigoryan (2659), Vitaly Sivuk (2550), and Jose Fernando Cuenca Jimenez (2528), IMs Tomas Sosa (2529) and Andres Merario Alarcon (2410), and FMs Carlos Javier Bernabeu Lopez (2404), Marcos Lianes Garcia (2374), Alex Garrido Outon (2359) and Francisco Orantes Taboada (2286). The rate of play is 90 minutes plus 30 seconds increment per move beginning the first move.
Top seed Grigoryan appears to be not in his usual elements, having lost two games to lesser lights Bernabeu Lopez and Lianes Garcia in Rounds 1 and 6 respectively. With two rounds to go, the Armenian GM still has mathematical chances of catching up as he is only a point away from Yuffa.
Standings after Round 7: 1. Yuffam 5½; 2-3. Sivuk, Sosa, 5; 4. Grigoryan, 4½; 5-6. Bernabeu Lopez, Llanes Garcia, 3½; 7. Cuenca Jimenez, 3; 8. Merario Alarcon, 2½; 9. Garrido Outon, 1½; 10. Orantes Taboada, 1.
Yuffa, D (2565)-Cuenca Jimenez, JF (2528) [D30]
Roquetas de Mar (4.4) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.b3 c5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Bb2 Re8 10.Nc3 Bg4 11.Rc1 Bxf3 12.Bxf3 cxd4 13.Nb5 Qa5 14.Nxd4 Qxa2 15.Bc3 Qa6 16.Nf5 Rad8 17.Qd2 Ne4 18.Bxe4 dxe4 19.Qf4 f6 20.Qg4 Bf8 21.Nh6+ Kh8 22.Nf7+ Kg8 23.Nxd8 Nxd8 24.Qd7 Qe6 25.Rfd1 a6 26.Bb2 Nc6 27.Qxb7 Na5 28.Qc7 Nxb3 29.Rc6 Qf5 30.Rxa6 Nc5 31.Ra7 e3 32.Qf7+ Kh8 33.Qxe8 1-0
Sivuk, V (2550)-Grigoryan, KH (2659) [E70]
Roquetas de Mar (5.5) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 0-0 5.Be2 c6 6.e5 Ne8 7.f4 Nc7 8.Be3 d5 9.Nf3 dxc4 10.Bxc4 Nd7 11.0-0 Nb6 12.Bb3 Be6 13.Bxe6 Nxe6 14.Qd3 Bh6 15.Nd2 Nd5 16.Nxd5 Qxd5 17.Ne4 Rad8 18.Rad1 Qxa2 19.f5 Bxe3+ 20.Qxe3 gxf5 21.Rxf5 Qxb2 22.Qh6 Qe2 23.Nf2 Rxd4 24.Rf1 Qd2 25.Qh5 Ng7 26.Rg5 f6 27.Rg3 fxe5 28.Rxg7+ Kxg7 29.Qxe5+ Kg8 30.Qg3+ Kh8 31.Qe5+ Rf6 32.Nh3 Rd5 33.Qxe7 Rxf1+ 34.Kxf1 Rf5+ 0-1
Orantes Taboada, F (2244)-Sivuk, V (2550) [A04]
Roquetas de Mar (6.2) 2021
1.Nf3 c5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nc6 6.Nb3 d6 7.0-0 Be6 8.c3 Qd7 9.Re1 Bh3 10.Bh1 h5 11.Nd4 h4 12.Nxc6 bxc6 13.e4 hxg3 14.fxg3 Rb8 15.Na3 Nh6 16.e5 d5 17.Qd4 Ng4 18.Bf3 a5 19.Nc2 Nxh2 20.Kxh2 Qf5 21.Kg1 Qxf3 22.Qf2 Qh5 23.Qh2 c5 24.Bf4 Bf5 25.Qxh5 Rxh5 0-1
Merario Alarcon, A (2410)-Sosa, T (2529) [D35]
Roquetas de Mar (6.4) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4 Be6 8.Bd3 Nbd7 9.Nge2 g5 10.Bg3 Nh5 11.Qc2 Nxg3 12.Nxg3 h5 13.0-0-0 h4 14.Nf5 Qf6 15.g4 0-0-0 16.Kb1 Kb8 17.h3 Rc8 18.f3 c5 19.Qh2+ Ka8 20.Bc2 cxd4 21.Nb5 dxe3 22.Nc7+ Rxc7 23.Qxc7 Bc5 24.Rhe1 Bb6 25.Qc3 Bxf5 26.Bxf5 d4 27.Qc2 Ne5 28.Be4 Rd8 29.Qe2 Kb8 30.Rf1 a6 31.Ka1 Ka7 32.a3 Qf4 33.Rg1 Rd6 34.Qc2 Rd7 35.Qe2 Rd8 36.Rd3 Rc8 37.Rb3 Rc7 38.Rb4 Qf6 39.Rd1 Rd7 40.Rb3 Qe6 41.Rb4 d3 42.Qe1 e2 43.Rd2 Be3 44.Rxd3 Nxd3 45.Qxe2 Nxb4 46.Qxe3+ Kb8 0-1
Yuffa, D (2565)-Garrido Outon, A (2359) [E94]
Roquetas de Mar (6.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Na6 8.Re1 c6 9.Be3 Ng4 10.Bg5 Qe8 11.Rc1 f6 12.Bh4 Kh8 13.a3 Nh6 14.b4 Nf7 15.Bg3 Bg4 16.dxe5 Bxf3 17.exf6 Bh6 18.Bxf3 Bxc1 19.Qxc1 Ne5 20.Be2 Qe6 21.c5 dxc5 22.f4 cxb4 23.axb4 Nf7 24.Bxa6 bxa6 25.e5 Nd8 26.Ne4 Qd5 27.f5 Nf7 28.fxg6 hxg6 29.Ng5 Kg8 30.Nxf7 Rxf7 31.Qg5 Kh7 32.Qh4+ Kg8 33.e6 Rh7 34.f7+ Kg7 35.Qe7 1-0
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rc1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bf5/d5/xc4 2.Sa6#; 1…Kd6 2.Se4#; 1…Sxc4 2.Ba3#./PN
