The forty fifth Chess Olympiad will happen in Budapest, Hungary from September 10-23, and to commemorate the occasion, we’re highlighting a number of the groups collaborating, alongside a sale on the authors of those groups’ programs.
On this Olympiad Highlight submit, we’re speaking about an old-school powerhouse of the sport: Spain.
The Spanish group in whole has gained a complete of seven medals within the open class, with the ladies’s group having gained three. Going into the 2022 Olympiad in Chennai, they fielded the fourth-strongest group and completed in twelfth place. This 12 months, they’re the Thirteenth-highest-ranked group going into the Budapest Olympiad.
Spain has a wholesome membership chess tradition, with structured leagues and tournaments being widespread all through the nation. It was additionally house to one of the necessary elite tournaments for a few years: The Linares Match held in Linares, within the province of Jaén.
A Temporary Historical past of Chess in Spain
You can not converse of the historical past of chess with out mentioning Spain.
Chess was first launched to Spain by way of Arab conquerors of the Iberian Peninsula who introduced certainly one of its early predecessors, shatranj.
Within the early Sixteenth century, chess began to take its present type in Spain. The best way the bishop and the queen transfer in the present day began in Spain round this time. Many postulate that the queen turned probably the most highly effective piece on the board reflecting the omnipotence of Queen Isabella I, arguably probably the most highly effective individual on the planet presently.
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With such a wealthy historical past of chess, Spain has been producing prime expertise for hundreds of years. One of many first family names in chess was Ruy López de Segura, a Sixteenth-century participant after whom the Ruy Lopez opening is called.
Captain – IM David Martinez- 2390 Customary Score
David Martinez, higher generally known as “El Divis”, is an Worldwide Grasp and well-known persona in chess circles, notably within the Spanish-speaking world, the place he is among the prime commentators of the day. He typically accompanies Pepe Cuenca to offer entertaining commentary on occasions.
He’s additionally a prime coach, having coached the primary board of the open group and second board of the ladies’s group, David Antón and Sabrina Vega, respectively.
His record of accomplishments is lengthy, and his nice teaching fashion and persona have made his programs for Chessable prime hits. Not solely is his catalog in Spanish excellent and well-rounded, however he’s additionally made his means into the English-speaking world with The Dragon Sicilian: Wing Assault.
First Board – GM David Antón Guijarro – 2669 Customary Score
Main the Spanish open group is David Antón, “El Niño” or “The Child”. However there’s nothing infantile about his fierce play, peaking at over 2700 elo.
Together with his formidable fashion and gritty play, there’s little doubt he’s acquired what it takes to return to super-GM greatness, being solely the third Spanish participant to ever attain such a standing, after Olympiad teammates Francisco Vallejo Pons and Alexei Shirov.
Antón exemplifies his typical fashion of play in his sole Chessable course, David Antón Teaches 1.e4 e5, out there in each Spanish and English.
Second Board – GM Alexei Shirov – 2665 Customary Score
Coming in at 2nd board for Spain is Latvian-born legend Alexei Shirov.
Shirov initially switched federations to Spain in 1995, going again to play for Latvia from 2011-2018, and returning to play for Spain from 2018 to in the present day.
In 1994, Shirov was the second-best ranked participant on the planet. In 1998, he defeated Vladimir Kramnik in a match to problem World Champion Garry Kasparov for the title however this match by no means occurred.
He’s recognized for taking part in fiery, tactical chess, which solely is smart as he studied below one of the daring tacticians of all time: fellow Latvian Mikhail Tal.
You may be taught from him and his incendiary fashion along with his aptly named course, Hearth on Board.
Third Board – GM Francisco Vallejo Pons – 2657 Customary Score
Francisco “Paco” Vallejo Pons is one other legend of the Spanish group.
He’s been collaborating in Olympiads for the reason that 12 months 2000 and took house the Silver Medal at 2nd board within the 2010 version.
Along with being a daily Spanish Olympiad participant, he has been topped champion of Spain on a number of events, together with 3 years in a row from 2014-16. At one level, Vallejo was one of many prime 20 gamers on the planet, thanks in giant attributable to his wide-ranging repertoire.
Fourth Board – GM Alan Pichot – 2638 Customary Score
Coming in at fourth board for Spain is Grandmaster Alan Pichot. Earlier than switching to the Spanish group in 2023, Pichot represented his house nation of Argentina within the Olympiad.
He was a teen prodigy, turning into world champion below 16 and Grandmaster at 17.
Pichot likes to play aggressively, as exemplified by his debut course for Chessable in Spanish, Ganando con el Gambito de Rey (Successful with the King’s Gambit).
Fifth Board – GM Jaime Santos – 2624 Customary Score
Jaime Santos will likely be representing the fifth board for Spain. A former top-3 participant in his nation, reaching aranking of 86th worldwide, he’s recognized to be a beneficial asset to the Spanish group.
In 2022, he gained the Fifth Chess Competition of Salamanca, inserting forward of former world champion Veselin Topalov and had an excellent Olympiad, preventing for a medal till the only a few final rounds, so he’ll be keen to higher his outcomes this time.
Whereas the Open group may need greater names, the Spanish Ladies’s group is coming into this event trying fairly sturdy, inserting eighth within the preliminary rankings; examine that to Thirteenth of the boys’s group. This is perhaps one to be careful for.
Under are the gamers representing Spain within the Ladies’s part, which will likely be captained by GM Iván Salgado:
- IM Sarasadat Khademalsharieh – 2489 Customary Score
- IM Sabrina Vega – 2374 Customary Score
- IM Ana Matnadze – 2345 Customary Score
- IM Marta Garcia – 2318 Customary Score
- WGM Monica Calzetta – 2220 Customary Score
IM Sarasadat Khademalsharieh will play first board for the Ladies’s group. Initially hailing from Iran, “Sara” was considerably of a youth prodigy, having gained many necessary tournaments as a teen, together with the World Women Beneath-12 Championship in 2009.
Impressively, she positioned second in a FIDE Ladies’s Grand Prix 2015-16 occasion in her hometown of Tehran, Iran, regardless of being the lowest-rated participant.
It’s price mentioning that the 2nd board for the Ladies’s group, IM Sabrina Vega, re-released the hit course, Calculation: A Full Sensible Information for Match Gamers in Spanish.
Vega has additionally been topped Spanish Ladies’s Champion a powerful eight occasions. This Olympiad will likely be her sixth, and her first in 10 years.
The forty fifth Chess Olympiad will likely be going down from September 10 to September 24, 2024 in Budapest, Hungary.
It is going to be fascinating to see if the groups carry out in line with their preliminary rating or if we’ll see some surprises and new stars come to gentle. Maybe the Spanish groups will take the rostrum. What do you assume?
