My son, Joseph, recently  competed in the Sants International Chess Tournament in Barcelona (Open Internacional Escacs de Sants, Hostafrancs i la Bordeta). I have been asked to write a little about the trip. This was a great tournament to be involved in and I would recommend it to anyone wishing to gain experience at an international tournament.

The event was friendly and well run with many side activities (even a football competition) and excellent (air-conditioned) playing conditions. There were even some nice freebies:  commemorative t-shirt  and pen.  And of course it was all set against the backdrop of a magnificent city.

It would be fair to say that the Sants area is not the most fashionable in Barcelona but it is still very central (very near the main Railway Station) and we found it to be very agreeable with many good eating places. We found prices to be very reasonable right across the city. Standard fare such as Tapas was great value, seafood a speciality, and reasonably priced. You could make 10 public transport journeys for less than 10 euros, travelling out even out as far as the airport.

Sants itself was within walking distance of some major tourist hotspots such as the magic fountains and even the Camp Nou stadium (more on that later). The chess tournament coincided with the annual Sants festival which lasts around 8 days. There were street parties and music every night and various other community activities. It was loud until very late most nights (to be honest this started to get be a bit annoying after several days so if you do plan on attending you might want to stay a little way from the immediate area). But Barcelona is a late night city. After Joseph finished chess on the Wednesday evening at about 9.20 we headed to the Camp Nou for the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup Final between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. Kick off was 11pm. Yes, 23.00 hours local time. The stadium was about three quarters full, so just 75,000 in attendance. For the record, it was 0-0, Messi missed a penalty and Atletico had a man sent off. Barca won on away goals. It was still a great experience though.

I had better say something about the chess. There were over 350 entrants in Group A and a similar number in B. The A group contained 23 GMs and 28 IMs. Joseph competed in Group A and was seeded 130 with a Fide grade of 2157. He scored 6 out of 10 with 4 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses. He played only 2 non-titled players (but no GMS).  Several of the top seeds were ranked just in or outside the world top 100 and the tournament was won by the Indian GM Baskaran Adhiban with 8.5 out of 10. There were just a couple of other English entrants (Lorin D’Costa and Graham Burton) and also an Irish player (John Delaney). There was large Spanish field of course but also a big international contingent from right across the globe. The aim of the trip from a chess point of view was to gain experience at a strong international tournament and hopefully boost Joseph’s FIDE grade. So this represented a successful outcome.

Full results are available here http://chess-results.com/tnr109076.aspx?art=4&lan=1&fed=TUR&turdet=YES&flag=30&wi=821

The tournament website http://www.cotxeres.org/open/

Peter McPhillips