Harikrishnan and Anuj finish in top 10 at Sitges Open 2019

by Niklesh Jain - 09/08/2019

GM Sergey Volkov of Russia won 45th Open Internacional d'Escacs Vila de Sitges 2019. There was a three-way tie for the first place with a score of 7.0/9. According to the tie-break score, GM Namig Guliyev of Azerbaijan was placed 2nd and IM Raven Sturt of USA finished at 3rd place. India's young talents IM Ra A Harikrishnan and FM Anuj Shrivatri scored 6.5/9 each. They both tied for the 4th place, according to tie-break score they secured 6th and 9th position respectively. Harikrishnan (2401) performed at 2491 and increased his Elo rating by 12 points. Anuj (2372) performed at 2393 and gained 9 Elo rating points. Anuj is 19 Elo rating points away from fulfilling the rating criteria for IM title. Among other Indians, Sreeshwan Maralakshikari drew the final round, finishing with 5.5/9 at 21st position. Photo: Niklesh Jain

45th edition of International Chess Open of Sitges Village concluded on 30th July 2019. Organizing a tournament of this magnitude for 45 editions, shows the importance and impact chess has in Spain. Unlike every year, this time India did not make a podium finish, however young talents like Harikrishnan and Anuj made the country proud by finishing in top 10.

Get the feel of 45th Sitges International Open 2019 | Video: Niklesh Jain

IM Ra A Harikrishnan and FM Anuj Shrivatri both scored 6.5/9 and finished tied 4th | Photo: Niklesh Jain

GM Sergei Volkov (2548) of Russia scored 7.0/9 and clinched the championship due to a better tie-break score | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Volkov's best win was in the eighth round against GM Oliva Castaneda Kevel (2467) of Cuba.

The podium finishers finished at 7.0/9 each (L to R) - 2nd GM Namig Guliyev of Azerbaijan, 1st GM Sergei Volkov of Russia and 3rd IM Raven Sturt of USA | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Despite remaining undefeated throughout the tournament, three consecutive draws in the last three rounds cost him the championship | Photo: Angela

IM Raven Sturt of USA defeated IM Dylan Isidro Berdayes Ason of Cuba in the final round, who was a strong contender for the title | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Cuban IM Dylan Isidro Berdayes Ason scored 6.5/9 and finished 4th | Photo: Niklesh Jain

IM Dylan Isidro Berdayes Ason was leading the tournament until the penultimate round, however a loss in the final round ended his championship hopes. Dylan managed to score a GM-norm for his fantastic performance and his biggest consolation is defeating the eventual champion of the tournament GM Sergei Volkov in round 6.

Dylan has played some fantastic chess excluding the final round

IM Ra A Harikrishnan was the best finisher among Indians | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Harikrishnan (2401) defeated the highest rated Indian player of the tournament Sreeshwan Maralakshikari (2461) in round 7.

Harikrishnan increased his Elo rating by 12 points

Last time FM Anuj Shrivatri scored an IM-norm, however this time he missed another IM-norm by a whisker but he managed to gain 9 Elo rating points | Photo: Niklesh Jain

In spite of losing two consecutive games in round 3 and 4, Anuj made a strong comeback and scored 4.5/5 in the last five games. His last two wins were impressive

FM Sreeshwan Maralakshikari scored 5.5/9 and won best under-16 trophy | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Colombian WIM Chirivi C Jenny Astrid scored 6.0/9 to win best woman prize | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Final Standings in group - A

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	Gr	FED	RtgI	RtgN	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	3	GM	Volkov Sergey				RUS	2548	0		7,0	0,0	2441	2600	2599
2	2	GM	Guliyev Namig				AZE	2551	0		7,0	0,0	2433	2595	2650
3	8	IM	Sturt Raven				USA	2429	0		7,0	0,0	2360	2526	2573
4	6	IM	Berdayes Ason Dylan Isidro				CUB	2461	0		6,5	0,0	2462	2554	2580
5	4	GM	Munoz Miguel			2495	ESP	2511	2571	Sant Marti C.E.	6,5	0,0	2459	2558	2588
6	12	IM	Harikrishnan.A.Ra	18			IND	2401	0		6,5	0,0	2399	2491	2529
7	19	GM	Pogorelov Ruslan	A		2350	UKR	2347	2458	Escola Escacs Salou	6,5	0,0	2397	2424	2454
8	1	GM	Baklan Vladimir				UKR	2621	0		6,5	0,0	2394	2504	2550
9	15	FM	Anuj Shrivatri	A-18			IND	2372	0		6,5	0,0	2283	2393	2383
10	16	GM	Gaprindashvili Valeriane	A			GEO	2368	0		6,5	0,0	2283	2336	2433
11	9	IM	Valderrama Quiceno Esteban Alb				COL	2423	0		6,0	0,0	2338	2414	2411
12	5	GM	Oliva Castaneda Kevel				CUB	2467	0		6,0	0,0	2334	2405	2419
13	21	FM	Mateus Alejandro	A			COL	2334	0		6,0	0,0	2312	2350	2380
14	17	IM	Lopez Gonzalez Abel Fabian	A			CUB	2355	0		6,0	0,0	2278	2296	2346
15	47	WIM	Chirivi C Jenny Astrid	C	w		COL	2089	0		6,0	0,0	2207	2192	2233
16	27	FM	Meessen Rudolf	A			BEL	2269	0		6,0	0,0	2173	2249	2234
17	18	FM	Herrera Juan Sebastian	A			COL	2353	0		5,5	0,0	2400	2398	2410
18	13	IM	Lacasa Diaz Jose Antonio	A		2398	ESP	2391	2440	Gran Penya Vilanova C.E.	5,5	0,0	2379	2389	2396
19	23	IM	Beltran Rueda Santiago	A		2334	ESP	2326	2408	Sitges Prado Suburenc, C.E.	5,5	0,0	2366	2343	2431
20	30	IM	Vittorino Carlo Giovanni	A			COL	2252	0		5,5	0,0	2350	2327	2325

Complete standings

ChessBase India group tour memeber Fathima Abdeen won the group - B by scoring 8.0/9 and increased her Elo rating by 83 points | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Top 3 podium finishers went to Indians in group - B. Champion Fathima Abdeen 8.0/9, Runner-up Indian origin AIM Seth Peramunetilleke 7.0/9 and second runner-up ChessBase India Power head AFM Ankit Dalal 7.0/9 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Final Standings in group - B

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	Gr	FED	RtgI	RtgN	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	44		Fathima Abdeen	E	w		IND	1652	0		8,0	0,0	1806	2024	2208
2	81	AIM	Peramunetilleke Seth	F-12			HKG	1408	0		7,0	0,0	1767	1962	2077
3	36	AFM	Ankit Dalal	E			IND	1680	0		7,0	0,0	1712	1856	2025
4	49		Amit Panchal	F			IND	1634	0		6,5	0,0	1795	1824	1768
5	24		Gomez Navais Marcal	E-18		1720	ESP	1768	1998	Vilafranca C.E.	6,5	0,0	1725	1815	1940
6	37		Gil Provedo Victor	E-18		1704	ESP	1676	0	Rio	6,5	0,0	1690	1765	1877
7	22		Bernat Pascual Magi	E-18		1844	CAT	1777	2001	Vilafranca C.E.	6,5	0,0	1685	1786	1910
8	6		Flores Linan Jose Luis	D		1766	ESP	1852	2028	Barcelona, Club Escacs	6,5	0,0	1657	1766	1908
9	16		Guasch Guasch Ferran	D		1799	ESP	1806	2012	Valls C.E.	6,5	0,0	1650	1778	1807
10	41		Villa Tornero Alex	E-12		1655	ESP	1657	1885	Montornes C.E.	6,5	0,0	1544	1589	1799

Complete standings

WIM Franco Angela of Colombia took photos for ChessBase India along with playing the tournament | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Oh no what did I do? | Photo: Angela

The Indian kids are giving us a lot of headache | Photo: Angela

Uh-oh I shouldn't have done that | Photo: Angela

At last someone took my photo | Photo: Angela

That's all from 45th Sitges International Open 2019 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Two men who took chess in Sitges to a whole new level. Oscar organizes Sunway Sitges in December every year and Francesco Alonso Gonsalez is organizing Sitges International in July for 45 years | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Like last year, this year also ChessBase India Power team performed fantastic | Photo: Niklesh Jain

We will continue bringing more news from Barcelona...

Translation from Hindi by Shahid Ahmed

Related news:

	Utsab Chatterjee clinches 6th Sant Adria Open 2024 @ 07/09/2024 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Himal Gusain clear first at Ciudad de Oviedo Open for the second consecutive year @ 03/09/2024 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Vladyslav Larkin victorious at 8th RGCC Open 2024, Sanket Chakravarty second @ 02/09/2024 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Suvradeepta Das clinches 18th Santa Eugenia de Ter Below 2400 Rating 2024, Ambarish Sharma second @ 25/08/2024 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Thanneermalai Kannappan wins 48th Sitges Open B 2024, Vihaan Dawda second and Midilesh third @ 18/08/2024 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Midilesh triumphs at 24th Sant Marti Open 2024 Group B, Vihaan Dawda second @ 09/08/2024 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Vihaan Dawda dominates 46th Barbera del Valles Open B 2024 @ 22/07/2024 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Vincent Blom decimates Arona Chess Festival Blitz Open 2024, Savitha Shri third @ 08/07/2024 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Aravindh Chithambaram victorious at 50th La Roda Open 2024 @ 01/04/2024 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Dama Negra Chess Club invites you to VIII Semana Santa Open 2024 @ 27/02/2024 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Indian chess players face robbery in Sunway Sitges Apartments @ 24/12/2023 by ChessBase India (en)
	Gran Hotel Bali 2023: Mitrabha Guha clinches Blitz Nocturno, third in Open A, Sham R wins Aficionados B @ 16/12/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Subhayan Kundu wins 5th Sant Adrià Open 2023, Franco Valencia Angela second @ 10/09/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Omar Almeida Quintana wins 47th Badalona City Open 2023, Kaustuv Kundu second @ 01/09/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Vignesh N R wins 11th Pontevedra Masters 2023, Sarayu Velpula scores IM, WGM and WIM-norm, finishes second @ 24/08/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Himal Gusain clinches 9th Ciudad de Oviedo Open 2023 @ 13/08/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	ईरान की खिलाड़ी सारा खादेम को स्पेन ने दी नागरिकता @ 28/07/2023 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
	Abhijeet Gupta wins Orillas de Mar Open 2023 @ 14/07/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Alexandr Fier wins 49th La Roda Open 2023, Aravindh Chithambaram second and Pranav Venkatesh third @ 12/04/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Titas Stremavicius wins 43rd San Sebastian Open 2023, Swayams Mishra second @ 09/04/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Harikrishnan clinches 34th KCF Rapid Rating Open 2023 @ 11/03/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Harikrishnan dominates Velammal Republic Day Celebration Rapid Rating Open 2023 @ 06/02/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Vitaly Sivuk wins 7th Johor Open 2022, Harikrishnan third @ 12/01/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Kushal dominates 19th Gran Hotel Bali Aficionados B, Aditya Varun Gampa second in Group A and Blitz @ 14/12/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Saidakbar Saydaliev clinches Benidorm Open 2022, Ajay Karthikeyan third @ 12/12/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Arvinder Preet Singh clinches XIX Calvia Amateur Open 2022 @ 18/10/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Gukesh and Harikrishna clinch Spanish Honor League for C A Solvay @ 25/09/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	S L Narayanan wins 23rd Sants Open Barcelona 2022, Vaibhav Suri second @ 14/09/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Ernesto J Fernandez Guillen victorious at 4th Sant Adria Open 2022, Anustoop Biswas second @ 29/08/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Aronyak Ghosh wins 46th Ciutat de Badalona Open 2022, Anuj Shrivatri second @ 15/08/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Vignesh N R dominates 47th Ciudad de Sevilla Open 2022 @ 13/08/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Platon Galperin wins 10th Pontevedra Masters, Leon Luke Mendonca third @ 02/08/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Dylan Isidro triumphs at 22nd Sant Marti Open, Aronyak Ghosh third @ 25/07/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Aravindh Chithambaram wins 41st Villa de Benasque Open 2022, Raunak Sadhwani third @ 16/07/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Harikrishnan wins 9 Sportz All India Rapid Rating Chess Tournament 2022 @ 13/06/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Harikrishnan A Ra and Muthaiah Al win National Club Chess Championships 2021 in Maldives @ 26/01/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	IM Harikrishnan A Ra wins Sivakasi Chess Club Rapid Rating Open @ 14/12/2021 by R Anantharam (en)
	Superb Sethuraman clinches Barcelona Open 2021 @ 27/08/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	सेथुरमन बने सर्किट दे बार्सिलोना शतरंज के विजेता @ 27/08/2021 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
	सर्किट दे बार्सिलोना : हकोबयन से हारे मुरली कार्तिकेयन @ 24/08/2021 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
	सर्किट दे बार्सिलोना : मुरली के पास ख़िताबी मौका @ 23/08/2021 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
	Barcelona Open 2021 R1-5: Hakobyan halts the Jeevitesh juggernaut @ 23/08/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Anuj Shrivatri becomes the youngest IM of Madhya Pradesh @ 24/08/2020 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Ilmars Starostits dominates 15th International Open GEMA63 @ 28/01/2020 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Vitaliy Bernadskiy wins XXXI Roquetas de Mar Open 2020 @ 19/01/2020 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	IM Harikrishnan wins Ramco 2nd FIDE Rated Open 2019 @ 16/12/2019 by R Anantharam (en)
	Pablo Glavina is the winner of IX Open Ciudad de Alfaro @ 13/11/2019 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Sebastian superb at XVI Calvia Amateur Open @ 22/10/2019 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Vila de Sitges 2018: Anuj Shrivatri finishes joint third! @ 31/08/2018 by Niklesh Jain (en)