Iturrizaga's third crown in Spain 2023/10/23

For the third consecutive time, the grandmaster Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli, from Caracas, won the title of national champion of Spain, in the XXVIII edition. Iturrizaga (2,615) has been playing for the Spanish flag for three years. Among the most important results was the victory with the black pieces he achieved over Pedro Antonio Ginés Esteo (2,490), in the fourth round, and the draw in the last round with Alan Pichot, (2,650), who represented Argentina. The champion achieved 7 real points like Pichot and grandmaster Maksim Chigáev (2,626), third place.

Masterful game by Jan Smeets. Two-time Dutch national champion Jan Smeets (April 5, 1985) produced an illustrative game in the second round of the Masgterklass. Smeets is a chess player who won the GM title in 2004 and surely one of his main performances is the second place he achieved in Challengears de Wijk aan Zee in 2005, which he shared with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in a competition that Teimour Radjábov dominated. In 2008, the year in which he crossed the 2,600 mark, he finished third in the Howard Staunton Memorial in the United Kingdom, after Michael Adams and Liek van Wely and ahead of notables such as Jan Timman, Ivaán Sokolov and Nigel Short.

In this game, the player of R, D and bishops of different colors performs offensive maneuvers on the weakness of g7 and asserts his best structure on the kingside.

White: Jan Smeets, Netherlands, 2,548. Black: David Van Kerkhof, Netherlands, 2,373. Opening Four Horses, C47.

R-2, Netherlands Masterklass Tournament, 10-06-2023.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Nxe4 6.Nxe4 Qe7 7.Bd3 Nxd4 8.0–0 d5 9.Bc4 dxc4 10.Qxd4 Be6 11.Bg5 Qd7 12.Qc3 f5 13. Rad1 Qf7 14.Qd2 Qg6 15.Nc3 Bb4 16.Bf4 c6 17.a3 Bxc3 18.Qxc3 0–0 19.Rd6= Qf7 20.Re1 Bd5 21.Re3 Rae8 22.h3 Rxe3 23.Qxe3 b6 24.Qg3 Re8 25 .Be5 f4 26.Bxf4 Re6 27.Rd8+ Re8 28.Rxe8+ Qxe8 29.f3 Qf7 30.Be5 h6 31.Kh2= Kh7 32.Qg4 Qg6 33.Qd7 Qf7 34.Qd6 Qg6 35.Qb8 Qf5 36.Bd4 b5 37. c3 a5 38.Qc7 Qf7 39.Qe5 a4 40.f4 Qg6 41.g4 h5 42.Kg3 hxg4 43.hxg4 Kg8 44.Qb8+ Kh7 45.Qc7 Qf7 46.Qd8 Qe6 47.Be5 Be4 48.Qh4+ Kg8 49.Qd8+ Kh 7 50.Qf8 Qg6 51.f5 Qh6 52.Bd4 Qg5 53.Qf7 Bd5 54.Qc7 Kg8 55.Qb8+ Kf7?? 56.Qc7+ Best: 56.Bc5! with image and matte sequence. 56...Kg8 57.Qa7 Qh6 58.Qe7 Bf7 59.g5 Black surrenders. After the D move, White would play g6. 1–0.

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