Benidorm Chess Festival

28th of November - 8th of December in Gran Hotel Bali

The 7th Festival de Ajedrez de Benidorm will take place 28th of November - 8th of December 2008 in Gran Hotel Bali. It will consist of a number of events, including the Stars Tournament, Open Masters, blitz events, U2300 events, U16 club cup, and an innovative nocturnal tournament.

Torneo de las Estrellas

The main event of the festival will be the Stars Tournament. Invited players are Vassily Ivanchuk, Alexey Shirov, European U18 champion Xavi Vila, Sabrina Vega Gutierrez, European Women Champion Kateryna Lahno and European Champion Sergei Tiviakov. The tournament format should be a double round robin, like the last year, but we still don't have the confirmation.

Alexey Shirov and Vassily Ivanchuk

5th Open Masters

The 5th Open Masters chess tournament will be a 9-round swiss affair. Top players in the list are winner of the Magistral Casino de Barcelona GM Alexey Dreev (RUS 2670), GM Alexander Delchev (BUL 2632), GM Ruben Felgaer (ARG 2591), GM Arthur Kogan (ISR 2561), IM Jean-Noel Ryff (FRA 2512), IM Cyril Marzolo (FRA 2484), IM Kevin Terrieux (FRA 2455), IM Vidarte Morales (ESP 2437), IM Reyes Larena (PER 2435) etc.

Other Events

During the festival there will be several events U2300, which will be surprisingly strong. Over 15 titled players (FMs, WIMs) will participate among a total of 450 players. Unfortunately, there will be no advanced chess tournament - it has been canceled. The reason was that until 24th of November the minimum of 64 players was not reached and this has been one of the conditions for tournament to take place.

The first international night tournament, for U2000, U2100, and U2200 players, is scheduled for 28th of November, playing time 23:00-2:00. Swiss pairing system, 5-minutes per player.

The first U16 Club Cup is taking place on 4-8th December. Thus far, 18 teams have registered.

More information

Impressive prize list

Full schedule

Official website