The Magistral Ciutat de Barcelona Tournament 2015 commenced yesterday in Barcelona, Spain. The tournament features a total of 6 players, who will fight it out over the course of five rounds in the round-robin format. World No. 44 Alexander Morozevich, who currently boasts a FIDE rating of 2695, is the top-seeded player in the event.
The first round saw only one decisive result as GM Morozevich, playing the black side of a Sicilian Najdorf, overcame IM Asis Gargatagli. This came as a bit of a surprise as it was the latter who held the advantage for the major part of the game. However, Morozevich, putting all his experience into play, outplayed the Spanish IM in the endgame. Asis Gargatagli resigned on move 46.
Meanwhile, the other two battles – GM Bachmann vs GM Balogh and GM Narciso Dublan vs GM Karen Grigoryan – ended in draws. This allowed Morozevich to take an early lead in the tournament.