Beauty and the Beast!

This past Sunday in Barcelona I participated in the qualifying heat of the traditional COPA CATALANA, a popular and VERY strong team championship (15-minutes per game).  My team, EEBCN, Escola d’Escacs de Barcelona, took first place!  We fielded a team of  4, GM Alex Rakhmanov, myself, GM Marc Narciso and IM Antoni Gual.  The finals is to be held in the spring.

Below is a photo that I found on the net (WGM Ana Matnadze’s popular twitter) featuring my round 5 game against the lovely Ana, the last game to finish.  The game ended in a frustrating and very hard fought draw, our team tieing 2-2.

The Georgian born Ana, rated approximately 2500, now resides in Barcelona and plays for the Spanish National Team (women’s team). At the last Olympiad she won a silver medal. The photogenic Ana is often featured on my blog, and she confesses to be an avid reader!