Montcada: Indian invasion of Spain

Montcada: Indian invasion of Spain

Himal had been playing some impressive chess in the past six months, making a jump of more than a hundred points in this period. He was one norm short of becoming an international master. He finished third, ahead of a line of grandmasters, in the Mumbai Mayors Cup tournament, and despite that, thanks to a hilariously tragic technicality, had missed out on a deserving norm. Visakh Nr., the winner, too, missed a GM norm. A host of talents, also, missed their IM norms. The culprit was the same technical detail—they hadn't played enough players of foreign federations.

Sitting in a hotel in Mumbai, towards the end of the event, I seriously questioned Himal, why wouldn't he make a trip outside India, to Spain for example, and compete for norms and titles? Himal gave a characteristic smile and left the whole table in splits when he answered, "Man, I think tours and travels agencies should open special packages for chess players, naming it 'Chess Tournaments Tour to Spain'!"

There is a grain of truth in Himal's joke, and I decided that I will take up this opportunity next year and do the needful by opening a travel package to Spain for Indian players. I was excited by the prospects until I realized that Indians don't need a tours and travels agency.

XXIV Open Internacional Ciutat De Montcada began on 25 June 2016 at Montcada, a municipality in Catalonia, Spain. The charm of this tournament is that it is a part of the Catalonian circuit of chess tournaments that are all held in the same region, one after the other. For a travelling chessplayer, a centralized rented apartment would mean he/she gets a series of back-to-back chess events, for a reasonably small investment. A quality tournament with an average rating of 2200, with only one round per day, is indeed a dream scenario for enjoying a chess tournament and at the same time do a  bit of tourism.

The Indians, traditionally, have made a beeline for playing the Catalonian circuit, often going in groups to play and enjoy. The year 2016, though, saw Indians invade Spain. A total of 117 players are participating in the Montcada tournament and 32 of them are Indians! The group is second-highest by numbers, behind the Spanish themselves. The day is not far when the Indian contingent will make for the most number of players in a non-Indian tournament.

More than anything, this speaks volumes about chess in India. Nevertheless, quality wise, Indians do have a lot of catching up to do.

The game had been a see-saw battle, arising out of a strange opening. The Spanish GM had to decide between taking on e7 and b5. What would you choose?

Though objectively it may not be the strongest idea—16... hxg4!1 17. h5 Ne4 18. Nxe4
f6 19. Qh4 g5 20. h6+ Kh7 21. Qh5 Bxe4 22. Nd3 Bxh1, not good—but Black took with the bishop, instead, and the game ended in a blistering attack on the kingside.

The balance swung like a pendulum in a grandfather clock, and in the end, Shyam took the round.

Indian Pairings for Round 07: