Spilimbergo – the biggest open in Italy

Anyone who has played in Spilimbergo once likes to come back – we do too. Five years ago my son Max played his first international tournament in the C-Open, this time he started in the Masters.

There were four tournaments divided by Elo: A, B, C and the “Masters” for players with more than 2000 Elo. In the Masters, more than half of the 154 participants were title holders, including 14 GMs. The high proportion of women was also striking: 18 (almost 12%) in the Masters alone. In the A tournament (1700-2099 Elo), two young women, Elisa Cassi and Kamilla Rubinshtein, even took the first two places!

Despite the record number of participants, there was enough space in the sports hall for everyone.

Nowadays, streamers who broadcast their games live attract a lot of attention at tournaments. Two of them were present in Spilimbergo:

Ukrainian Angelika Valkova, here with black against Max Skembris, did not start well with 1/5, but won the remaining 4 games.

Even better known is Levy “Gotham Chess” Rozman, one of the most successful chess streamers in the world with over 5 million subscribers. A few months ago, the 28-year-old IM announced that he wanted to play more tournaments and become a GM. His games in Spilimbergo were broadcast live, analyzed by him afterwards and commented on in further streams by his trainer Arturs Neiksans and sometimes by Hikaru Nakamura himself!

Levy Rozman with white against GM Alberto David: 1:0. Otherwise, the tournament was rather mixed for him, but in the seventh round he played a game that he himself jokingly referred to as his “immortal”.

GothamChess, who was surrounded by autograph hunters and fans like no other player, was always friendly and communicative not only online but also in person. Here he is analyzing the game he just played with his opponent: The “analysis room” was under shady trees in the open area in front of the tournament hall.

Former world champion Veselin Topalov was invited as a “special guest”. He played a simultaneous game, gave a press conference and an autograph session and, to the delight of the players, made the first move on one of the lower boards.

The nice thing about the whole festival was that a lot of attention was paid to both the professionals and the amateurs, and especially to the many children and young people. Most of the trophies at the awards ceremony went to young players from the weaker tournaments, and the applause for the U8 winner in the C tournament was just as loud as that for the winner of the Masters.

The tournament victory in the Masters was hard fought and open until the last round: The Iranian IM Mahdi Gholami finally secured first place in the tiebreak ahead of GM Marcin Tazbir (Poland) and IM Kundu Kaustuv (India).

From left to right: Andrea Bisaro (main organizer), Luigi Maggi (President of the Italian Chess Federation), Kundu Kaustuv (3rd), Mahdi Gholami (1st), Marcin Tazbir (2nd) Enrico Sarcinelli (Mayor of Spilimbergo)

The reigning U14 World Champion Pawel Sowinski (2nd from left), who achieved an IM norm, also did well. Since the 14-year-old Pole already has an Elo rating of 2467, he will probably soon become an IM. Next to him is WGM Yao Lan (England), who also achieved an IM norm despite a loss in the last round.

The end of the tournament coincides with the Italian holiday Ferragosto on August 15th and with the medieval festival of Spilimbergo, which lasts several days. During these days, the old town is filled with all kinds of interesting characters in historical costumes, musicians, jugglers, craftsmen, knights and nobles, medieval taverns, old games and much more.

Musicians in the historic city center

In front of the cathedral: But without a smartphone it simply doesn’t work.

Final score after 9 rounds

…154 participants

Source: Chess Results

The date for the chess festival is the same every year: August 9-15: a date to remember!

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