Since 1 June, registration has been open for the seventh edition of EL LLOBREGAT OPEN CHESS TNMT.
The tournament will be held from 3 to 8 December, in Sant Boi, at Can Massallera. In this edition, the open will be structured with two rounds per day, except on 3, 6 and 8 December (a single afternoon round). Players may request two 0.5-point “byes” during the first five rounds of the tournament. The open will be played in a single group; federated players who can prove a FIDE ELO above 2,200 points may register; exceptionally, those who do not have this rating may request an invitation from the organisation, which will be granted on a limited and discretionary basis.
In this edition, we offer players who need accommodation Hotel El Castell, in Sant Boi, as the official hotel of the open.
In previous editions, we organised a Group B, which this year will be replaced by a “rapid” tournament to be played on the afternoons of Saturday (5) and Sunday (6); over eight rounds (4 and 4), for players with a FIDE rapid ELO below 2,000 points. This tournament will be named “Memorial Arturo Pomar”; games will be played at 15 minutes; the regulations can be consulted and registrations processed on this same website.
We can also announce that Grandmaster Juan Manuel Bellón will play in this edition, a veteran who marked an era in modern Spanish chess: five-time Spanish champion. EL LLOBREGAT OPEN CHESS, throughout the six editions held so far, has also welcomed other distinguished veterans who honour us every year with their participation: Victor Vehí, Joan Pomes and Angel Martín, among others.
Probably the greatest achievement of EL LLOBREGAT OPEN CHESS in the six previous editions is having awarded 59 title norms; it is a tournament designed to promote young talents, giving them the opportunity to measure themselves against leading figures of international chess. EL LLOBREGAT has hosted: Gukesh, Narayanan, Abdusattorov, Mateusz Bartel, Erijaisi, Mu-raliu Karthikeyan, Puranik, Alvar Alonso, Maxime Lagarde, Kulkarni Bhakti, Mobina Alinasab, Rakshitta Ravi, Savitha Shri Baskar, Privanka Nutakki, Jaime Santos, Sara Khadem, Sabrina Vega, Lucas Van Foreest, Francisco Vallejo, Yangyi Yu, Ivan Cheparinov, Vladimir Fedoseev, Kiriil Alekseenko, Jaime Santos, Ponomariov, Amin Tabatabaei, Matthias Bluebaum, Vahap Sanal, An-toaneta Stefanova, Hans Niemann, Alain Pichot, Fernando Peralta… and so on up to more than one hundred grandmasters.
Those interested in taking part should bear in mind that, since we prioritise player comfort, capacity is limited. Therefore, anyone wishing to secure their participation should complete their registration as soon as possible. Registrations, as every year, will close as soon as the estimated capacity for Can Massallera is reached.
In this seventh edition, we have implemented technical improvements on our website to broadcast live the games of the top 100 ranked players, display several games on screen, and offer live analysis, commentary and interviews, as well as connections with streamers specially invited to the tournament. This year we aim to exceed the best audience achieved in previous years: 150,000 page views.
All interested parties can consult the open regulations and the news we publish at www.elllobregat.com, by clicking on the tournament emblem, which can be seen on the main page, to the right of our header logo.
