Tag: Barcelona2015

Despite suffering a last round loss to GM Axel Bachmann, Russian GM Alexander Morozevich won the Magistral Ciutat de Barcelona Tournament 2015. Morozevich, scored a total of 3 points, the same as Bachmann. However, Morozevich’s superior tie-break helped him clinch the title, with Bachmann securing the second spot.

The last round of the tournament also featured an upset as IM Asis Gargatagli scored an upset win over GM Karen Grigoryan with the black pieces. This enabled the Spanish IM to finish tied for the 3rd-4th places along with GM Balogh Csaba. The latter had a pretty sedate tournament with all his games ending in draws.

GM Alexander Morozevich scored his second win of the Magistral Ciutat de Barcelona Chess Tournament 2015 by outclassing GM Narciso Dublan in the third round. The remaining two games – GM Bachmann vs IM Asis Gargatagli and GM Balogh vs GM Karen Grigoryan – were drawn.

The Narciso Dublan – Morozevich encounter took off with the latter wheeling out the Sicilian Defence in reply to Narciso’s 1.e4. The Spanish Grandmaster’s opening turned out to be a failure as Morozevich managed to secure a pleasant position right out of the opening. Morozevich never really allowed his opponent to get back into the game and in the end, won the game convincingly.

After 3 rounds, Morozevich has notched up a total of 2.5 points and is leading his nearest competitors by a full point margin.

The second round of the Magistral Ciutat de Barcelona Tournament 2015 saw all the three games end in draws. However, the games were not devoid of some interesting chess.

The most exciting game of the day was top-seed GM Alexander Morozevich’s draw against GM Balogh Csaba. Having commenced the game with 1.b3, Morozevich secured a pleasant advantage out of the opening, which he held right through to the endgame. However, a couple of errors on moves 35 and 36 not only saw the Russian GM lose his advantage but also end up much worse. Balogh, on his part, was unable to take advantage of his opponents errors and the game finally ended peacefully.

After two rounds, Morozevich is leading the field solely with a total of 1.5 points.

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.