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. 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.
In the penultimate round, an out of sorts Julio was smashed out of the race for top places by Bulgarian IM Silvio Danailov (2448).
[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"]
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
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.
[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"]
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
Black delightfully played 39...Ba6, skewering the white rooks. But Kuzubov had an ace up his sleeve. What did he play?
[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"]
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.