FIRST NEOCLASSICAL TOURNAMENT
First Neoclassical chess tournament
The first edition of the I Torneo Masters “Neoclassical chess”, a closed rapid-play chess tournament which featured the elite of Spanish chess took place place in Hotel Holiday Inn Madrid-Bernabéu. Francisco Vallejo, Spanish no. 1 ranked player and U18 world champion in 2000, four Spanish grandmasters (GM) and three International masters (IM) played the tournament. This was the strongest Madrid-based tournament in a decade, with an average ranking of 2.557 ELO points. The I Masters “Neoclassical chess” also featured next top-ranked Spanish grandmasters Iván Salgado, David Antón, Miguel Illescas and José Carlos Ibarra, together with International Masters Daniel Forcén, Ángel Espinosa y Anna Matnadze.
Gabriel F. Bobadilla, promoter and director, has devised neoclassical chess which will played for the first time in tnis Tournament and is explained in this website. The principal arbiter of the tournament, also in the Organizing Team, was be Luis Blasco de la Cruz, International Arbiter (IA) of the chess International Federation (FIDE). The eight masters met in a round-robin, rapid-play format (20 minutes for each player plus a 10-second increment). The Masters “Neoclassical chess” also featured a Group B, where eight experienced amateurs from Madrid played.
The competition begun on Saturday, May 9th at 9:45 am. The games were also transmitted live on the internet from the tournament web, which was launched on May 5th.
The Madrid and Spain chess federations (Federación Madrileña de Ajedrez and Federación Española de Ajedrez) kindly lend chess equipment and institutional support.
TOURNAMENT VENUE:
HOTEL HOLIDAY INN MADRID-BERNABÉU
Plaza de Carlos Trías Bertrán, 4, 28020 Madrid
DATE: Saturday May 9th since 9:45 a.m. until 8:00 p.m.
TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR: Gabriel F. Bobadilla
CO-ORGANIZER AND MAIN ARBITER: Luis Blasco de la Cruz
LIVE COMMENTARY : Alejandro Moreno Trujillo (MI)
AVERAGE RANKING: 2.557 ELO points
CATEGORY: XIII