Vila de Sitges 2018: Anuj Shrivatri finishes joint third!

by Niklesh Jain - 31/08/2018

The Sitges International "Vila De Sitges" Chess Open is believed to be one of the most beautiful stops of the Catalan Chess Circuit. This year, the talk of the event was the performance of Anuj Shrivatri, a 14-year-old boy from Madhya Pradesh, India. Scoring 6.5/9, Anuj not only ascended his rating past the 2350 mark but also finished with a rating performance of 2481 and earned his first International Master norm! What's more, he also finished joint second in the tournament. After tiebreaks were applied, Anuj had taken the third spot on the leaderboard. Another Indian who impressed with his performance in Sitges was Abhishek Das. Abhishek also scored 6.5/9 and finished 6th in the final standings after the application of tiebreaks. The champion's trophy was lifted yet again by Azerbaijani GM Gadir Guseinov. With a score of 7.5/9, Guseinov remained a full point ahead of his nearest rival to complete his 'hat-trick' of title prizes at the Catalan circuit. Gifted with immense natural beauty, the town of Sitges made a perfect setting for the event and every participant enjoyed the tournament to the fullest.

In the final round of the third tournament of the Catalan Chess Circuit, the 44th Vila de Sitges, Anuj Shrivatri managed to hold Abhishek Das to a draw and move to 6.5/9. With this, Shrivatri finished third in the final standings.

The top three finishers of the tournament!

Top seed, GM Gadir Guseinov from Azerbaijan defeated the Cuban IM Luis Lazaro in the final round and made a record by winning his third straight tournament at the Catalan circuit. Before this, Guseinov had won in Barbera and Sant Marti.

Winning three straight GM Opens at the Catalan Circuit right before the Batumi Olympiad, Gadir Guseinov has made clear that Azerbaijan is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the team event. His live rating, too, has shot up to 2672, which is the highest he has reached in his chess career. Since the Barbera Open, Guseinov had constantly been improving upon his play. With a win in the final round, he wrapped up his Spanish trip in style. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Cuban IM Alarcon Rolando finished second in the final standings, scoring 6.5/9 | Photo: Alina L'ami

An interesting detail about Rolando's performance was that he had lost to Guseinov in the antepenultimate round. But after this, luck smiled upon him and he got a walkover in the final round that propelled him straight up to the second place on the leaderboard!

अनुज के खेल जीवन में फिलहाल यह उनका सबसे बेहतर परिणाम रहा और अब इंटरनेशनल मास्टर बनने से वह कुछ रेटिंग अंक और दो इंटरनेशनल मास्टर नार्म पीछे रह गए है । मध्य प्रदेश के छोटे से नगर कटनी के रहने वाले अनुज नें वर्ष 2016 में राष्ट्रीय अंडर 13 में तीसरा तो विश्व यूथ शतरंज चैंपियनशिप में चौंथा स्थान हासिल किया था ।

For Anuj, this was the best performance of his chess career so far but he is still two norms and a few rating points away from achieving his International Master title. Hailing from Katni, a small town in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, Anuj had clinched third place in the National Under-13 Championship and fourth in the World Youth (U-14).

Anuj's performance chart

Anuj during his seventh round game against GM Kevel Oliva

That moment comes in the life of every chess player when he gets a measure of his potential. The seventh round of the Sitges Open was that moment for Anuj Shrivatri. He was pitted against the experienced Cuban GM Kevel Oliva and managed to bring down his Grandmaster opponent! This win kindled a new confidence in the young lad, something that he hadn't felt before.

With the black pieces, Anuj played a phenomenal game and forced resignation after 46 moves of play.

Get a glimpse of how Anuj scored the biggest win of his career

Anuj breezed through his norm requirements scoring two comfortable draws in his next two games. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Abhishek Das also played some great chess in Sitges and got is rating back up to 2350. In the final standings, he finished sixth with a score of 6.5/9

Kumar Gaurav finished ninth on the leaderboard with a score of 6.0/9. In the final round, he defeated Bhakti Kulkarni who had shown good form in the tournament | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Harikrishna R A finished in the 15th place having scored 5.5/9 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Deepak Katiyar also finished with a score of 5.5 and took the 16th spot after tiebreaks were applied | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Nitish Berulkar finished 19th

अंAfter back to back losses in the last two rounds, WGM Bhakti Kulkarni finished with 5.0/9 and took the 25th spot but...

...still took the second prize in the women's category behind Filipino WGM Frayna Janelle Mae

Final Standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	Gr	FED	RtgI	RtgN	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	1	GM	Guseinov Gadir			AZE	2654	0		7,5	0,0	2425	2642	2696
2	10	IM	Alarcon Casellas Rolando	A	2399	CUB	2389	0		6,5	0,0	2444	2455	2459
3	52		Anuj Shrivatri	C-18		IND	2094	0		6,5	0,0	2427	2481	2474
4	3	GM	Munoz Miguel		2486	ESP	2500	2486	Sant Andreu C.E.	6,5	0,0	2399	2496	2550
5	2	GM	Volkov Sergey			RUS	2574	0		6,5	0,0	2376	2494	2585
6	17		Abhishek Das	A		IND	2325	0		6,5	0,0	2304	2404	2480
7	8	IM	Argandona Riveiro Inigo		2408	ESP	2423	0	Eus	6,5	0,0	2267	2362	2365
8	5	IM	Aguero Jimenez Luis Lazaro			CUB	2473	2474	Tora C.E.	6,0	0,0	2395	2444	2461
9	57		Kumar Gaurav	C-18		IND	2074	0		6,0	0,0	2278	2319	2266
10	32		Blasco Coll Andreu	B	2242	ESP	2242	2335	Castelldefels, C.E.	6,0	0,0	2258	2299	2347
11	9	IM	Miciano John Marvin	18		PHI	2411	0		6,0	0,0	2245	2304	2372
12	20	WGM	Frayna Janelle Mae	A		PHI	2315	0		6,0	0,0	2222	2289	2343
13	14	IM	Grafl Florian Dr.	A	2364	GER	2364	2423	Escola D'escacs De Barcelona	6,0	0,0	2193	2261	2291
14	18	IM	Hernandez Cristian Andres	A		COL	2323	0		6,0	0,0	2094	2181	2307
15	40		Harikrishnan.A.Ra	B-18		IND	2204	0		5,5	0,0	2355	2295	2326
16	49		Deepak Katiyar	B		IND	2108	0		5,5	0,0	2341	2292	2268
17	38		Glimbrant Torbjorn	B		SWE	2213	0		5,5	0,0	2293	2286	2321
18	7	IM	Fernandez Cardoso Alexey			CUB	2439	0		5,5	0,0	2281	2349	2477
19	21	FM	Nitish Belurkar	A-18		IND	2306	0		5,5	0,0	2258	2273	2317
20	22	FM	Mitrabha Guha	A-18		IND	2299	0		5,5	0,0	2255	2234	2348

Sitges is also a famous tourist destination due to its scenic beauty...

...where the endless ocean reaffirms to you that your potential, like the ocean itself, is endless!

Tournament organiser, Francisco Gonzalez Alonso successfully organised the event yet again for the 40th time! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

This painting at the tournament venue, I think, is enough to amaze everyone! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Playing in Group B of the tournament, this participant of the Sitges Open is well known for his outstanding inputs to the game of chess. Any guess, who he is? | Photo: Niklesh Jain

He is the organiser of the Sunway Sitges International which is held in this sunny town every year in the month of December

And once again, Oscar Stober invites you with a prize fund of €25000 to the 2018 edition of the Sitges International in December this year! If you would like to participate in the tournament this December, do contact ChessBase India Power to get some amazing travel packages. You can contact us via phone or email. Below are our details:

Hotline and Whatsapp: 09106908500 (10 a.m to 8 p.m. IST)

Email: accommodations@chessbase.in

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Translation from Hindi by Aditya Pai

Related news:

	Anuj Shrivatri becomes the youngest IM of Madhya Pradesh @ 24/08/2020 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Harikrishnan and Anuj finish in top 10 at Sitges Open 2019 @ 09/08/2019 by Niklesh Jain (en)