In the final round of the third tournament of the Catalan Chess Circuit, the 44th Vila de Sitges, Anuj Shrivatri managed to hold Abhishek Das to a draw and move to 6.5/9. With this, Shrivatri finished third in the final standings.

The top three finishers of the tournament!

Top seed, GM Gadir Guseinov from Azerbaijan defeated the Cuban IM Luis Lazaro in the final round and made a record by winning his third straight tournament at the Catalan circuit. Before this, Guseinov had won in Barbera and Sant Marti.

Winning three straight GM Opens at the Catalan Circuit right before the Batumi Olympiad, Gadir Guseinov has made clear that Azerbaijan is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the team event. His live rating, too, has shot up to 2672, which is the highest he has reached in his chess career. Since the Barbera Open, Guseinov had constantly been improving upon his play. With a win in the final round, he wrapped up his Spanish trip in style. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Cuban IM Alarcon Rolando finished second in the final standings, scoring 6.5/9 | Photo: Alina L'ami

An interesting detail about Rolando's performance was that he had lost to Guseinov in the antepenultimate round. But after this, luck smiled upon him and he got a walkover in the final round that propelled him straight up to the second place on the leaderboard!

अनुज के खेल जीवन में फिलहाल यह उनका सबसे बेहतर परिणाम रहा और अब इंटरनेशनल मास्टर बनने से वह कुछ  रेटिंग अंक और दो इंटरनेशनल मास्टर नार्म पीछे रह गए है  । मध्य प्रदेश के छोटे से नगर कटनी के रहने वाले अनुज नें वर्ष 2016 में राष्ट्रीय अंडर 13 में तीसरा तो विश्व यूथ शतरंज चैंपियनशिप में चौंथा स्थान हासिल किया था । 

For Anuj, this was the best performance of his chess career so far but he is still two norms and a few rating points away from achieving his International Master title. Hailing from Katni, a small town in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, Anuj had clinched third place in the National Under-13 Championship and fourth in the World Youth (U-14).

Anuj's performance chart

Anuj during his seventh round game against GM Kevel Oliva

That moment comes in the life of every chess player when he gets a measure of his potential. The seventh round of the Sitges Open was that moment for Anuj Shrivatri. He was pitted against the experienced Cuban GM Kevel Oliva and managed to bring down his Grandmaster opponent! This win kindled a new confidence in the young lad, something that he hadn't felt before.

With the black pieces, Anuj played a phenomenal game and forced resignation after 46 moves of play.
Get a glimpse of how Anuj scored the biggest win of his career

Anuj breezed through his norm requirements scoring two comfortable draws in his next two games. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Abhishek Das also played some great chess in Sitges and got is rating back up to 2350. In the final standings, he finished sixth with a score of 6.5/9

Kumar Gaurav finished ninth on the leaderboard with a score of 6.0/9. In the final round, he defeated Bhakti Kulkarni who had shown good form in the tournament | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Harikrishna R A finished in the 15th place having scored 5.5/9 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Deepak Katiyar also finished with a score of 5.5 and took the 16th spot after tiebreaks were applied | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Nitish Berulkar finished 19th

अंAfter back to back losses in the last two rounds, WGM Bhakti Kulkarni finished with 5.0/9 and took the 25th spot but...

...still took the second prize in the women's category behind Filipino WGM Frayna Janelle Mae

Final Standings

Rk.SNo NameTypGrFEDRtgIRtgNClub/CityPts. TB1  TB2  TB3  TB4 
11
GMGuseinov GadirAZE265407,50,0242526422696
210
IMAlarcon Casellas RolandoA2399CUB238906,50,0244424552459
352
Anuj ShrivatriC-18IND209406,50,0242724812474
43
GMMunoz Miguel2486ESP25002486Sant Andreu C.E.6,50,0239924962550
52
GMVolkov SergeyRUS257406,50,0237624942585
617
Abhishek DasAIND232506,50,0230424042480
78
IMArgandona Riveiro Inigo2408ESP24230Eus6,50,0226723622365
85
IMAguero Jimenez Luis LazaroCUB24732474Tora C.E.6,00,0239524442461
957
Kumar GauravC-18IND207406,00,0227823192266
1032
Blasco Coll AndreuB2242ESP22422335Castelldefels, C.E.6,00,0225822992347
119
IMMiciano John Marvin18PHI241106,00,0224523042372
1220
WGMFrayna Janelle MaeAPHI231506,00,0222222892343
1314
IMGrafl Florian Dr.A2364GER23642423Escola D'escacs De Barcelona6,00,0219322612291
1418
IMHernandez Cristian AndresACOL232306,00,0209421812307
1540
Harikrishnan.A.RaB-18IND220405,50,0235522952326
1649
Deepak KatiyarBIND210805,50,0234122922268
1738
Glimbrant TorbjornBSWE221305,50,0229322862321
187
IMFernandez Cardoso AlexeyCUB243905,50,0228123492477
1921
FMNitish BelurkarA-18IND230605,50,0225822732317
2022
FMMitrabha GuhaA-18IND229905,50,0225522342348

Sitges is also a famous tourist destination due to its scenic beauty...

...where the endless ocean reaffirms to you that your potential, like the ocean itself, is endless!
Tournament organiser, Francisco Gonzalez Alonso successfully organised the event yet again for the 40th time! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

This painting at the tournament venue, I think, is enough to amaze everyone! | Photo: Niklesh Jain
Playing in Group B of the tournament, this participant of the Sitges Open is well known for his outstanding inputs to the game of chess. Any guess, who he is? | Photo: Niklesh Jain

He is the organiser of the Sunway Sitges International which is held in this sunny town every year in the month of December

And once again, Oscar Stober invites you with a prize fund of €25000 to the 2018 edition of the Sitges International in December this year! If you would like to participate in the tournament this December, do contact ChessBase India Power to get some amazing travel packages. You can contact us via phone or email. Below are our details:

 

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Translation from Hindi by Aditya Pai