The 33rd Benasque International Open is being played over 10 rounds of Swiss system from 4th to 13th July at the Sport Pavilion in Benasque, Spain.
An impressive field of no less than 428 players is present at the heart of the Pyrenees, in the province of Huesca. 37 countries are being represented, ranging from Malaysia and Hong Kong to Mexico and Peru. The strength of the event is also impressive: 36 grandmasters and 25 international masters are participating.
Given the huge rating differences in the top boards, most of the first seeds (in this case, we can call first seeds to the 40 best rated players!) did not have a problem to get to 2/2.
The third round already brings some interesting match-ups, including the GM battle between Ni Hua and Davorim Komljenovic, or the game between Kiril Georgiev and Sophie Milliet.
The fight for the 4.000 Euros first prize is just beginning.
Standings after 2 rounds (top 25):
1 GM ARIZMENDI MARTINEZ Julen Luis ESP 2580 2.0
2 GM ANDERSSON Ulf SWE 2557 2.0
3 IM NARODITSKY Daniel USA 2486 2.0
4 GM CIFUENTES PARADA Roberto ESP 2464 2.0
5 GM GRANDA ZUNIGA Julio E PER 2679 2.0
6 GM NISIPEANU Liviu-Dieter ROU 2670 2.0
7 GM NI Hua CHN 2661 2.0
8 GM ITURRIZAGA Eduardo VEN 2642 2.0
9 GM GEORGIEV Kiril BUL 2636 2.0
10 GM RODSHTEIN Maxim ISR 2641 2.0
GM ILLESCAS CORDOBA Miguel ESP 2613 2.0
12 GM DELCHEV Aleksander BUL 2614 2.0
GM GOLOD Vitali ISR 2578 2.0
14 GM VAZQUEZ IGARZA Renier ESP 2571 2.0
15 GM BURMAKIN Vladimir RUS 2559 2.0
16 IM BARRIA ZUNIGA Daniel CHI 2428 2.0
17 GM ANTON GUIJARRO David ESP 2564 2.0
18 GM KHARITONOV Alexandr RUS 2538 2.0
19 GM CORI Jorge PER 2543 2.0
GM VOCATURO Daniele ITA 2536 2.0
21 GM ZOLER Dan ISR 2538 2.0
GM FIRMAN Nazar UKR 2526 2.0
23 GM MOSKALENKO Viktor ESP 2529 2.0
24 GM GORDON Stephen J ENG 2521 2.0
25 GM DEL RIO DE ANGELIS Salvador G ESP 2505 2.0
Anderson still plays?