The “San Sebastian City” 38th International Chess Open was held 28th March to 4th April, 2015, in Donostia – San Sebastián, a coastal city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain.
The event was a 9-round Swiss tournament valid for FIDE rating and norms.
Kuwaiti CM Bader Al-Hajiri (2115) became the surprising winner of the tournament, finishing with 7,5/9 and leaving the nearest followers half a pont behind.
Al-Hajiri lost only against the runner-up, GM Marko Tratar, in the third round of the competition, but scored the impressive 5,5 points in the last six rounds. The winner fulfilled an IM norm and added 73 new Elo points to his rating.
Slovenian GM Marko Tratar edged GMs Renier Vazquez Igarza from Spain and Misa Pap from Serbia on tie-break after the whole group finished the event with 7 points.
Final standings (top finishers):
1 CM AL-HAJIRI Bader KUW 2115 7.5
2 GM TRATAR Marko SLO 2475 7
3 GM VAZQUEZ IGARZA Renier ESP 2596 7
4 GM PAP Misa SRB 2459 7
5 GM EPISHIN Vladimir RUS 2563 6.5
6 GM LIBISZEWSKI Fabien FRA 2514 6.5
7 GM ORATOVSKY Michael ISR 2486 6.5
8 IM ESPINOSA ARANDA Angel ESP 2408 6.5
9 GM CHABANON Jean-Luc FRA 2491 6.5
10 IM ANDRES GONZALEZ Alberto ESP 2515 6.5
11 FM SANCHEZ BOTELLA Luis Javier ESP 2259 6.5
12 GM GALEGO Luis POR 2461 6.5
13 FM ANDRES GONZALEZ Ivan ESP 2360 6.5
14 CAPOTE ROBAYNA Nathaniel ESP 2277 6.5
15 PRIETO ARANGUREN Alain ESP 2216 6.5
16 FM CRUZ LLEDO Pablo ESP 2284 6
17 FM HERNANDEZ Elvis DOM 2308 6
18 IM PROSVIRIAKOV Vladimir USA 2227 6
19 WIM ARANAZ MURILLO Amalia ESP 2319 6
20 FM SANCHEZ SAEZ Francisco ESP 2281 6
21 IM BORICSEV Oleg HUN 2356 6
22 FM NAVA PEREDA Carlos ESP 2266 6
23 BAYO MILAGRO Alvaro ESP 1996 6
24 IM ARGANDONA RIVEIRO Inigo ESP 2412 6
25 IM BORSOS Bogdan UKR 2202 6