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.
Eight rounds have already finished and there is one player standing alone at the top, Venezuela’s number one player GM Eduardo Iturrizaga. He has achieved the impressive score of 7.5/8 points, with a rating performance of 2857 so far.
Iturrizaga has three grandmasters’ scalps under his wing. He beat Igor Naumkin, Julio Granda and Ni Hua in the last three rounds. His win over the Chinese was a very sharp affair where he gave some tactical shots to take the full point leading the black pieces.
Half a point behind, lurking around the leader, are early leader Maxim Rodshtein and Bulgarian GM Aleksander Delchev, who will face the leader in the penultimate round.
Veteran GM Elizbar Ubilava is the best local representative so far. He is in the pack with 6.5 points.
Standings after 8 rounds:
1 GM ITURRIZAGA Eduardo VEN 2642 7.5
2 GM RODSHTEIN Maxim ISR 2641 7.0
3 GM DELCHEV Aleksander BUL 2614 7.0
4 GM GRANDA ZUNIGA Julio E PER 2679 6.5
5 GM SHYAM Sundar M. IND 2505 6.5
6 GM LALIC Bogdan CRO 2489 6.5
7 GM NEELOTPAL Das IND 2445 6.5
8 GM UBILAVA Elizbar ESP 2490 6.5
9 GM NI Hua CHN 2661 6.0
10 GM ZOLER Dan ISR 2538 6.0
11 IM NARODITSKY Daniel USA 2486 6.0
12 GM VOCATURO Daniele ITA 2536 6.0
13 GM GOLOD Vitali ISR 2578 6.0
14 GM GEORGIEV Kiril BUL 2636 6.0
15 IM FORCEN ESTEBAN Daniel ESP 2493 6.0
16 IM BURG Twan NED 2479 6.0
17 GM KHARITONOV Alexandr RUS 2538 6.0
18 GM MOSKALENKO Viktor ESP 2529 6.0
19 FM FENOLLAR JORDA Manuel ESP 2397 6.0
20 IM GUERRA MENDEZ Jose Angel CUB 2505 6.0
21 GM MOVSZISZIAN Karen ARM 2499 6.0
22 GM CORI Jorge PER 2543 6.0
23 GM BURMAKIN Vladimir RUS 2559 6.0
24 IM KJARTANSSON Gudmundur ISL 2444 6.0
25 WGM CORI T. Deysi PER 2439 6.0
26 GM DEEPAN Chakkravarthy J. IND 2468 6.0
27 GARCIA LOPEZ Miguel Angel ESP 2251 6.0
28 IM GARZA MARCO Sergio ESP 2462 6.0
29 GM KOVCHAN Alexander UKR 2577 6.0
30 FM LILLO CASTANY Victor ESP 2328 6.0
31 IM ALEXANDROVA Olga ESP 2449 6.0
32 GM VAZQUEZ IGARZA Renier ESP 2571 5.5
33 GM ARIZMENDI MARTINEZ Julen Luis ESP 2580 5.5
34 IM CASTELLANOS RODRIGUEZ Renier ESP 2504 5.5
35 IM BARRIA ZUNIGA Daniel CHI 2428 5.5
36 DIAZ HERRERO Alvaro ESP 2153 5.5
37 GM GOMEZ ESTEBAN Juan Mario ESP 2462 5.5
38 GM ANTON GUIJARRO David ESP 2564 5.5
39 GM DEL RIO DE ANGELIS Salvador G ESP 2505 5.5
40 GM NAUMKIN Igor RUS 2443 5.5
41 GM ILLESCAS CORDOBA Miguel ESP 2613 5.5
42 GM DE LA VILLA GARCIA Jesus Mari ESP 2472 5.5
43 GM GORDON Stephen J ENG 2521 5.5
44 IM TAN Matthew NED 2435 5.5
45 GM NISIPEANU Liviu-Dieter ROU 2670 5.5
46 IM VIDARTE MORALES Arturo ESP 2344 5.5
47 GM STEINGRIMSSON Hedinn ISL 2557 5.5
48 GM KOMLJENOVIC Davorin CRO 2408 5.5
49 ARON Teh Eu Wen MAS 2145 5.5
50 IM MILLIET Sophie FRA 2396 5.5
51 GM FIRMAN Nazar UKR 2526 5.5
52 IM KHAETSKY Roman UKR 2424 5.5
53 IM ARRIBAS LOPEZ Angel ESP 2494 5.5
54 GM ANDERSSON Ulf SWE 2557 5.5
55 FM BOIX MORENO Daniel ESP 2324 5.5
56 MARTIN DUQUE Jesus ESP 2271 5.5
57 ROCHE SIMON Manuel Angel ESP 2122 5.5
58 IM BACHES GARCIA Guillermo ESP 2394 5.5
59 GM WESTERINEN Heikki M.J. FIN 2283 5.5
60 BERMEJO MARTINEZ Jorge ESP 2305 5.5
Very impressive.