30th Roquetas de Mar Open

Quick 1-Minute Summary

Lots of chess in Spain right now! The 30th edition of this seaside resort Open, a 9-round event between the 2nd and 7th of January, attracted a very strong contingent of international players, headed by Alexi Shirov.

A total of 178  participants from 22 countries, including 16 GM’s, 25 IM’s and 30 M’s. When the smoke had cleared, the Russian GM Dmitry Frolyanov won the tournament with 7.5 points, followed by Alexi Shirov and 7 others with 7 points each.

Final Classification

Shirov actually defeated Frolyanov in their individual game in round 5, but 3-consecutive draws by Alexi allowed Frolyanov to pass ahead of him.

After his convincing victory in Arica, Chile a short while ago, Alexi continues to perform at a very high level. As written before here on this blog, I think that 2019 will witness Shirov returning to his old form, when he could defeat any player in the world.