S L Narayanan wins 23rd Sants Open Barcelona 2022, Vaibhav Suri second

by Shahid Ahmed - 14/09/2022

Top seed of the tournament GM S L Narayanan, GM Vaibhav Suri and GM Bobby Cheng (AUS) scored 8/10 each. Narayanan won the Playoffs to win 23rd Sants International Open Barcelona 2022. Vaibhav and Bobby were placed second and third. Ten players finished at 7.5/10. Out of them IM Aronyak Ghosh, GM Lalit Rohit and IM C R G Krishna were placed fourth, sixth and eighth according to the Playoffs. The Playoff results remained the same as their initial tie-breaks for the top eight finishers. Sadhana app sponsored, Aronyak earned his maiden GM-norm. Vedant Pimpalkhare and Rutuja Bakshi also scored their first IM and final WIM-norms respectively. Photo: Official site

Aronyak, Vedant and Rutuja score GM, IM and WIM-norms

GM S L Narayanan won the first tournament he played after 44th Chess Olympiad. This is also his second tournament triumph of the year after he won 1st Grandiscacchi Open in March this year. Five out of top ten places and top two out of the podium were claimed by Indian players. The total prize of the tournament was €20020. Top three prizes were €5000, €3000 and €1800 along with a trophy each.

Top 3 (L to R) - 3rd GM Bobby Cheng (AUS) 8/10, 1st GM S L Narayanan 8/10 and 2nd GM Vaibhav Suri 8/10 | Photo: Official site

Champion - GM S L Narayanan 7/10 | Photo: Official site

GM S L Narayanan scored an unbeaten 7/9 and gained 4.7 Elo rating points

Daniel - Narayanan, Round 7

Position after 28...Bxb3

The toughest victory for GM S L Narayanan (2654) was certainly against IM Daniel Garcia Ramos (2435). Although the above position looks relatively easier to play as Black than White, Daniel provided some stiff resistance until he dropped another pawn in the rook and opposite color bishop endgame.

GM S L Narayanan tweeted on his triumph

Runner-up - GM Vaibhav Suri 7/10 | Photo: Official site

Second Runner-up GM Bobby Cheng (AUS) 8/10 | Photo: Official site

4th IM Aronyak Ghosh 7.5/10 | Photo: Official site

The highest rated IM of Indian chess - Aronyak Ghosh | Video: ChessBase India

Aronyak - Harikrishnan, Round 9

Position after 25...Rad8

White is winning positionally in the above position. Find out the winning continuation for White which Aronyak executed in the game. This win helped him earn his maiden GM-norm.

Aronyak scored an unbeaten 7.5/10, scored his maiden GM-norm and gained 14.9 Elo rating points

6th GM Lalit Rohit 7.5/10 | Photo: Official site

8th IM C R G Krishna 7.5/10 | Photo: Official site

Vedant Pimpalkhare scored his maiden IM-norm | Photo: Official site

Vedant Pimpalkhare scored 6/10, performed at 2422 and gained 70.4 Elo rating points

Rutuja Bakshi earned her final WIM-norm | Photo: Official site

Rutuja Bakshi scored 6/10, performed at 2299 to score her final WIM-norm

For more photos, please click here.

23rd Sants Open Barcelona 2022 Highlights | Video: Casinet Cotxeres

A total of 253 players including 13 GMs, 31 IMs and 3 WIMs took part from 31 countries in the Group A (Open) section. The tournaments were organized by Catalan Chess Federation and Secretariat of Entities of Saints in three different rating categories from 19th to 28th August 2022 at Cotxeres de Sants in Barcelona, Spain. The time control was 90 minutes/40 moves + 30 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move.

Final standings in Group A

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	Gr	FED	RtgI	RtgN	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	1	GM	NARAYANAN.S.L			IND	2654	0		8	1	57	71
2	5	GM	VAIBHAV Suri			IND	2600	0	All India Chess Federation	8	2	52	65,5
3	9	GM	CHENG Bobby			AUS	2540	0		8	3	51	63,5
4	12	IM	ARONYAK Ghosh			IND	2512	0		7,5	4	56	68,5
5	38	IM	FERNANDEZ GUILLEN Ernesto J.	A		CUB	2390	2411	Tres Peons C.E.	7,5	5	54,5	67,5
6	8	GM	LALITH Babu M R			IND	2549	0	All India Chess Federation	7,5	6	55,5	68,5
7	18	IM	BERDAYES ASON Dylan Isidro			CUB	2489	0		7,5	7	50,5	63
8	25	IM	KRISHNA C R G			IND	2436	0	Indian Railways	7,5	8	51,5	64
9	3	GM	MOTYLEV Alexander			FID	2636	0		7,5	0	50,5	62,5
10	11	GM	ALSINA LEAL Daniel		2498	CAT	2521	2542	Barbera C.E.	7,5	0	49	61
11	10	GM	CORDOVA Emilio			PER	2533	0		7,5	0	48,5	60,5
12	31	IM	MUTHAIAH Al			IND	2414	0	Chenai	7,5	0	47,5	58,5
13	14	GM	CUARTAS Jaime Alexander		2510	COL	2510	2563	Barbera C.E.	7,5	0	47	59
14	36	IM	HARIKRISHNAN.A.RA	A		IND	2395	0		7	0	53	65
15	15	IM	TERRY Renato			PER	2507	0		7	0	53	64,5
16	2	GM	PICHOT Alan		2575	ARG	2641	2587	Valls C.E.	7	0	50	62,5
17	28	IM	AYATS LLOBERA Gerard		2435	CAT	2430	2501	Barcelona, Club Escacs	7	0	48,5	60,5
18	33	IM	HERNANDEZ Cristian Andres		2406	COL	2404	2483	Catalonia-Joviat E.	7	0	48	60,5
19	19	IM	DIAZ CAMALLONGA Carles		2473	CAT	2474	2542	Colon Sabadell Chessy	7	0	47	59,5
20	29	IM	SANCHEZ Sebastian Felipe			COL	2430	0	Bolivar	7	0	46	58,5