Me and some folks from Alverca decided to travel more than 500Km and play some chess. The tournament was very very strong mainly because of tow reasons: the prize money (1st prize was 650 euros plus a libra in gold) and the presence of the strong GM Sergei Tiviakov. GM Tiviakov has a FIDE rating of 2686 and is the European champion. Since its not every time that we, common mortals, have a chance to see such a strong GM live, it contributed to increase the number of participants in the tournament - 172 players. Mr Tiviakov seemed a very relaxed person, a bit reserved, and was always nice and available for some photos. He also gaved 9 free chess lessons (the number of rounds in the tournament :) ) to whoever Swiss Manager decided to put against him. Of course that, after all the games were over and the dust cleared, he was the one taking the first prize :) (results).
I was able to score 5 points out of 9. Not bad, considering the strong nature of the tournament. The most memorable round was the first one, when I went against the IM Mauricio Vassalo (and, of course, I went down in flames).
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| MI Mauricio Vassalo(White) - Sérgio Lopes(Black) |
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| GM Sergei Tiviakov (left) and Ernesto Loureiro from Alverca (right) |
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