Chess festival in Benidorm

Special simul by the World Champion Vishy Anand

The Benidorm Chess festival took place this week in the traditional chess venue Hotel Bali. The chess fans could enjoy a true celebration of chess as close to 1000 chess players assited to the event. It consisted of two amateur groups, one U16 group, a blitz tournament, an advanced chess demonstrative matches, a Masters event (with GM Delchev, GM Dreev, etc.), and a tournament of "stars" (GM Malakhov, GM Jobava, GM Tkachiev, GM Fedorchuk, FM Recuero, WIM Nebolsina).

The cherry of the cake was a simul by the World Chess Champion himself, Vishy Anand.

Anand simul

The World Chess Champion Vishy Anand played a simul against 35 players on the 5th of December. On 35 tables Vishy played 25 different openings showing the best of his repertoire. Vishy started with 10 fast victories. Then came the first surprise of the day. In a KID, Ivan Rasskin got a draw against Anand. Only five minutes later F. Beckinh (Belgium) won his game on table 7. J.A. Soler, Miguel Cubillo, David Gomez Benitez, A. Bendayan also got draws. The final score of the simul +29 -1 =5.

Download the PGN from the simul

Vishy lives quite close to Benidorm, in Collado Mediano, Spain. A nice gesture by the World Champion, to assist one of the most massive chess events in Spain this year. Last year, a similar gesture was made by Veselin Topalov, who came during the previous edition of the festival.

Tournament of the stars

The third edition of "El torneo de estrellas de Benidorm" was a six players round robin event, similar to the Mtel Masters format. It featured GM Tkachiev, GM Jobava, WIM Nebolsina (U20 World Champion), FM Recuero Guerra, GM Malakhov, and GM Fedorchuk. The Georgian top GM Jobava had a nice start and was leading the tournament after the first five rounds. However, with a very nice second half, soon became leader. In round six Malakhov won against Jobava and continued with victories over FM Recuero, GM Fedorchuk, WIM Nebolsina, and a draw against GM Tkachiev secured the first place for him. This way GM Malakhov joins the previous winners, GM Judith Polgar and GM Veselin Topalov.

Download the PGN file of the tournament

Final standings

1. GM Malakhov 8,5
2. GM Jobava 8,0
3. GM Tkachiev 6,5
4. GM Fedorchuk 3,5
5. FM Recuero 2,0
6. WIM Nebolsina 1,5

Round 1

WIM Nebolsina Vera ½ - ½ FM Recuero Guerra David
GM Tkachiev Vladislav 1 - 0 GM Fedorchuk Sergey A
GM Jobava Baadur 1 - 0 GM Malakhov Vladimir

Round 2

FM Recuero Guerra David 0 - 1 GM Malakhov Vladimir
GM Fedorchuk Sergey A 0 - 1 GM Jobava Baadur
WIM Nebolsina Vera 0 - 1 GM Tkachiev Vladislav

Round 3

GM Tkachiev Vladislav ½ - ½ FM Recuero Guerra David
GM Jobava Baadur 1 - 0 WIM Nebolsina Vera
GM Malakhov Vladimir 1 - 0 GM Fedorchuk Sergey A

Round 4

FM Recuero Guerra David 0 - 1 GM Fedorchuk Sergey A
WIM Nebolsina Vera 0 - 1 GM Malakhov Vladimir
GM Tkachiev Vladislav ½ - ½ GM Jobava Baadur

Round 5

GM Jobava Baadur 1 - 0 FM Recuero Guerra David
GM Malakhov Vladimir 1 - 0 GM Tkachiev Vladislav
GM Fedorchuk Sergey A 1 - 0 WIM Nebolsina Vera

Round 6

FM Recuero Guerra David 0 - 1 WIM Nebolsina Vera
GM Fedorchuk Sergey A ½ - ½ GM Tkachiev Vladislav
GM Malakhov Vladimir 1 - 0 GM Jobava Baadur

Round 7

GM Malakhov Vladimir 1 - 0 FM Recuero Guerra David
GM Jobava Baadur 1 - 0 GM Fedorchuk Sergey A
GM Tkachiev Vladislav 1 - 0 WIM Nebolsina Vera

Round 8

FM Recuero Guerra David 0 - 1 GM Tkachiev Vladislav
WIM Nebolsina Vera 0 - 1 GM Jobava Baadur
GM Fedorchuk Sergey A 0 - 1 GM Malakhov Vladimir

Round 9

GM Fedorchuk Sergey A 0 - 1 FM Recuero Guerra David
GM Malakhov Vladimir 1 - 0 WIM Nebolsina Vera
GM Jobava Baadur ½ - ½ GM Tkachiev Vladislav

Round 10

FM Recuero Guerra David 0 - 1 GM Jobava Baadur
GM Tkachiev Vladislav ½ - ½ GM Malakhov Vladimir
WIM Nebolsina Vera 0 - 1 GM Fedorchuk Sergey A

GM Delchev with the bronze medal from ETCC

Masters group

The Masters group of the Benidorm chess tournament had strong participation. Top seeded was the ETCC bronze medalist GM Aleksander Delchev, followed by GM Alexey Dreev, GM Kogan, GM Moskalenk, IM Sanchez Joseph, IM Garcia Fernandez, etc. It was an 11 round Swiss event with time controk 15 min + 15 sec. The exciting battle which was not resolved until the last round. GM Delchev was constantly leading the event, but never got an advantage of more than 1/2 point. The competition got very close after round 10. GM Delchev was still first with 8,0, but he had to share the lead with GM Dreev and IM Sanches. GM Delchev won against FM Hristodorescu with black to secure the first place on a better tiebreak. GM Dreev won his game as well and took the second place. IM Sanchez secured the third place by drawing his game

With that Delchev won 1500 eur. GM Dreev got 1000 eur, and IM Sanches got 600 eur.

Download the PGN file

Final standings

1 GM Delchev Aleksander BUL 9,0
2 GM Dreev Alexey RUS 9,0
3 IM Sanchez Joseph PHI 8,5
4 IM Campos Gambuti Luis Maria ESP 8,0
5 GM Moskalenko Viktor UKR 8,0
6 GM Kogan Artur ISR 7,5
7 IM Reyes Larena Juan PER 7,5
8 IM Garcia Fernandez Carlos ESP 7,5
9 IM Purtseladze Maka GEO 7,5
10 WGM Djingarova Emilia BUL 7,5
11 IM Granero Roca Antonio ESP 7,0
12 FM Hristodorescu Daniel ROU 7,0
13 FM Valmaña Canto Jaime ESP 7,0
14 Scharrer Patrick ITA 7,0
15 FM Motyka Michal POL 7,0
16 Torres Sanchez Jose ESP 7,0
17 IM Vidarte Morales Arturo ESP 7,0

More info: official website