The seventh edition of EL LLOBREGAT OPEN CHESS is taking shape. With three months to go before the event, 37 players have already registered; interestingly, all of them hold international titles: 16 grandmasters, 13 IMs, 5 FIDE masters and 3 candidate masters. We expect a large number of entries through federations such as those of Poland and Uzbekistan, which have taken part in previous editions. The players registered so far represent 19 different countries.
Among the titled players, the highest-rated with more than 2,600 ELO points is the Peruvian GM (who plays under the Mexican flag) José Martinez Alcántara, with 2,650 points, who will take part in EL LLOBREGAT for the first time. He is an outstanding player who is part of the “Top 100” of the world chess rankings (currently ranked 67th). Next in rating order is Chilean GM Cristóbal Enríquez Villagra, with 2,603. Enríquez has already enjoyed considerable success in the 2024 edition (3rd place) and 2025 edition (runner-up).
The presence of a large number of grandmasters and the average ELO rating of the open (which has exceeded 2,300 points in every edition) provide the perfect setting for players seeking title norms to achieve them at EL LLOBREGAT OPEN CHESS. One example we are particularly proud of came in the 2025 edition, when Álex Villa achieved his third norm to earn the International Master title. Throughout 2026, he has continued his upward progression and has reached a FIDE ELO rating of 2,460. He has just competed in the Spanish Absolute Chess Championship, held in Linares and concluded on 25 August. He reached the ninth and final round undefeated, where he played for the title of Spanish Champion in a winner-takes-all clash against Spanish-Argentine grandmaster Alan Pichot (who took part in the 2023 edition of EL LLOBREGAT OPEN CHESS). It was not to be: after an intense game with the black pieces, he lost. That does not diminish his remarkable achievement: an outstanding final position, best Catalan player and best under-18 player (Álex is 16 years old). We are following Álex Villa’s progress closely and hope that he can achieve a grandmaster norm in the next edition of EL LLOBREGAT OPEN CHESS. His father, Roberto Villa, from Sant Boi and a Catalan master, began playing at the Ciutat Cooperativa de Sant Boi chess club; to date, Roberto has guided Álex’s sporting development.
The Open will be played from 3 to 8 December. The games will take place at the municipal facilities of Can Massallera, in Sant Boi. On Sunday, 6 December, at 10 a.m., we will hold the school championship, designed to encourage chess participation among younger players. For the school year now beginning, we will continue our programme of extracurricular classes for schools in L’Hospitalet and the Baix Llobregat: an introduction to chess. We provide instructors to deliver this training. The first schools to take advantage of this collaboration have been those in Castelldefels, whose City Council and local chess club supported us in launching the initiative.
For this seventh edition, we will introduce technical improvements to our website to enhance the live broadcast of the games played by the top 120 players: sharper image quality, the ability to view several games simultaneously on screen, analysis, live commentary and interviews, and connections with streamers specially invited to the tournament. This year, we aim to surpass the highest audience figures achieved in previous years (150,000 page views).
Anyone interested can consult the Open regulations and the news we publish at lavanguardia.com/elllobregat by clicking on the “Open Chess” tab on the top navigation bar, on the right.
