Benasque: Sasikiran triumphs with 9.0/10

by Priyadarshan Banjan - 20/07/2016

The 36th Benasque International Tournament was held from 07-16 July 2016 in the cool and serene town of Benasque in Huesca province of Spain. GM Krishnan Sasikiran had a fantastic tournament. He already raced away to a commanding 5.0/5, and then settled for draws with GM Andrey Baryshpolets (2551) and GM Yuriy Kuzubov (2635). Then he reeled off three more victories to claim the first place undisputed. An illustrated report.

Benasque: Sasikiran triumphs with 9.0/10

The 36th Benasque International Tournament was held from 07-16 July 2016 in the cool and serene town of Benasque in Huesca province of Spain. The chess festival consisted of an open tournament and a blitz event for the major attractions.

The picturesque town of Benasque.

Top seed: GM Julio Granda Zuniga (2699) had a forgettable tournament, losing 27 points.

In the penultimate round, an out of sorts Julio was smashed out of the race for top places by Bulgarian IM Silvio Danailov (2448).

[Event "XXXVI OPEN INTERNACIONAL "]
[Site "Benasque"]
[Date "2016.07.15"]
[Round "9.6"]
[White "DANAILOV, Silvio"]
[Black "GRANDA ZUNIGA, Julio E"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A06"]
[WhiteElo "2448"]
[BlackElo "2699"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[EventDate "2016.07.07"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 c6 3. c4 e6 4. Qc2 Nd7 5. g3 Ngf6 6. Bg2 b6 7. O-O Bb7 8. b3
Rc8 9. Rd1 c5 10. Nc3 dxc4 11. d5 cxb3 12. axb3 Bxd5 13. e4 Ba8 14. Rxa7 Rc7
15. Ra2 Qc8 16. Bf4 Bc6 17. Bxc7 Qxc7 18. e5 Ng4 19. Nb5 Bxb5 20. Nd4 1-0

GM Krishnan Sasikiran (2639) in action, en-route to a 2800 performance and +19 in Elo

Sasikiran had a fantastic tournament. He already raced away to a commanding 5.0/5, and then settled for draws with GM Andrey Baryshpolets (2551) and GM Yuriy Kuzubov (2635). Then he reeled off three more victories to claim the first place undisputed.

[Event "XXXVI OPEN INTERNACIONAL "]
[Site "Benasque"]
[Date "2016.07.15"]
[Round "9.2"]
[White "SETHURAMAN, S.P."]
[Black "SASIKIRAN, Krishnan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2656"]
[BlackElo "2639"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2016.07.07"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Nh4 Bg4 7. h3 Bh5 8. g4
Bg6 9. Bg2 Na6 10. g5 Nd5 11. e4 Ndb4 12. O-O Nd3 13. Be3 e5 14. dxe5 Bc5 15.
Qe2 Qb6 16. Nd1 O-O-O 17. a5 Qb4 18. Bd2 Bh5 19. Qxh5 Qxd2 20. Nf3 Qf4 21. Nc3
g6 22. Qh6 Bf8 23. Qh4 Qxh4 24. Nxh4 Nxe5 25. Nf3 Nd3 26. e5 Nac5 27. Nd2 Nxe5
28. Rad1 Bg7 29. f4 Ned3 30. Nxc4 Nxb2 31. Nxb2 Bxc3 32. Nc4 Rxd1 33. Rxd1 Rd8
34. Rc1 Bd4+ 35. Kh2 Nd3 36. Rb1 Nxf4 37. a6 b5 38. Na5 Bb6 39. Nxc6 Rd2 0-1

Russian GM Andrey Baryshpolets (2551) took the second place with 8.5/10.

Ukrainian GM Yuriy Kuzubov (2635) took thie third place with 8.0/10.

White to play

Black delightfully played 39...Ba6, skewering the white rooks. But Kuzubov had an ace up his sleeve. What did he play?

[Event "XXXVI OPEN INTERNACIONAL "]
[Site "Benasque"]
[Date "2016.07.15"]
[Round "9.3"]
[White "KUZUBOV, Yuriy"]
[Black "VOCATURO, Daniele"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2635"]
[BlackElo "2582"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "6rk/p1p4r/b1N2b2/3n3p/3N4/7P/PP2R1PB/5R1K w - - 0 40"]
[PlyCount "11"]
[EventDate "2016.07.07"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]

40. Rxf6 Nxf6 41. Be5 Rf7 42. Rf2 Kg7 43. Ne6+ Kg6 44. Bxf6 Rxf6 45. Ne5+ 1-0

GM S.P. Sethuraman (2658) could only muster up 7.5/10.

GM G.N. Gopal (2565) also scored 7.5/10.

GM Neelotpal Das (2467) scored 7.0/10.

Sasi with his trophy

Best Women's Prize: Georgian IM Nino Batsiashvili (2466)

The winners atop the podium

Final Standings:

#	Title	Name	Club	Elo	Points	Des 1
1	GM	SASIKIRAN Krishnan	IND	2639	9,0	2485
2	GM	BARYSHPOLETS Andrey	UKR	2551	8,5	2481
3	GM	KUZUBOV Yuriy	UKR	2635	8,0	2472
4	GM	ITURRIZAGA BONELLI Eduardo	VEN	2624	8,0	2435
5	GM	MOVSZISZIAN Karen	ARM	2485	8,0	2354
6	IM	VERA SIGUENAS Deivy	PER	2492	8,0	2306
7	FM	SANTOS RUIZ Miguel	ESP	2410	7,5	2452
8	GM	VOCATURO Daniele	ITA	2582	7,5	2416
9	IM	CASTELLANOS RODRIGUEZ Renier	ESP	2481	7,5	2415
10	GM	CORDOVA Emilio	PER	2620	7,5	2402
11	GM	GOPAL G.N.	IND	2565	7,5	2379
12	GM	UBILAVA Elizbar	ESP	2482	7,5	2371
13	GM	BURMAKIN Vladimir	RUS	2549	7,5	2369
14	GM	CORI Jorge	PER	2602	7,5	2367
15	GM	BAKLAN Vladimir	UKR	2618	7,5	2365
16	GM	SETHURAMAN S.P.	IND	2656	7,5	2343
17	IM	BATSIASHVILI Nino	GEO	2466	7,5	2332
18	IM	ARDELEAN George-Catalin	ROU	2493	7,5	2253
19	GM	ZOLER Dan	ISR	2484	7,5	2242
20	FM	LOPEZ MULET Inigo	ESP	2348	7,5	2146

See comeplete standings here.

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