Fourteen years will be fulfilled since the new management team joined the Catalonian Chess Federation Board very soon. For this very reason we are pleased to announce the holding of an international tournament, composed by World´s prestigious and the best Catalan players, amongst others. In 2004 we organized the 75th Anniversary of the Catalan Opening, named after the famous Tournament of Barcelona 1929, with famous players like Capablanca or Tartakower in it. On this occasion we were able to count on the participation of the great Viktor Korchnoi, whos recent passing away we deeply regret, keeping an unforgettable memory of the record. Since then, we have organized a tournament for grandmasters and international masters in Barcelone every year. During these editions a lot of renowned chess players have participated, such as Felgaer, Marin, Moskalenko, Granda, Ivanchuk, Bologan, Beliavsky, Vaganian, Krasenkow, Dreev, Georgiev, Timman, Jobava, Andersson, Jussupow, Inarkiev, Spraggett, Seirawan, Smirin, Sokolov, Nielsen, Balogh, Li Chao, Nakamura, Dominguez, Illescas, Gulko, Nikolic, Morozevich; as well as two amazing players who unfortunately passed away already - Gashimov and the aforementioned Korchnoi. These and many other players we had the opportunity to see during these thirteen editions, have been facing the best Catalan players of the moment.

This 2016 Edition of the Chess Magistral Ciutat de Barcelona will be the last one I will experience as the President of the Catalonian Federation. My mandate ends next year, and as I have announced already, I will not stand for re-election.

This year's Edition will be featured by 8 players, mostly very young ones, who have already accumulated significant achievements and in a great progress. Yet two other tournaments will be held with the top Catalan players at the same time, under-10 and under-12, continuing the formula we tried two years ago for the first time and that we love and value highly. This year though, in addition, these two promotion closed tournaments will be called Arturo Pomar In Memoriam, in memory of the great chess player, and a child prodigy of his era, who also left us this year unfortunately.

The tournament will take place at the Catalan Chess Federation offices, Fabra i Coats complex, belonging to Sant Andreu district in Barcelone. Besides of the unique opportunity to follow the games in situ, we will be offering live commentary with a bunch of prestigious players for the public. Also the participants will be commenting their own games every single day just after finishing those.

Last but not least, I would like to thank the Barcelona City Council for their support which I greatly appreciate. Without their help it would not have been possible to organize this event. I hereby would like to thank the presence and participation of the many catalan fans of our wonderful sport who attend and support the game of chess day by day.

Antoni Ayza Casamitjana
President
Catalan Chess Federation


REGULATIONS

Tournament website



GM Arkadij Naiditsch (2684)
Azerbaijan

Born in Riga (Latvia) in 1985
GM since 2001
European U-10 Champion
German Champion 2007
Gold in the European Team Chess Championships (board 1) 2007
Winner: Dortmund Sparkassen 2005, 15th International Neckar Open, Grandmaster Group B of Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2013, 2nd Grenke Chess Classictournament in Baden-Baden, Zurich Christmas Open 2014 and 2015, Basel Chess Festival 2015 and 2016.

GM Jan Krzysztof Duda (2678)
Poland

Born in Krakow (Poland) in 1998
GM since 2013
World U-10 Champion
European U-14 Champion
European Rapid Chess Champion 2014
European Blitz Vice - Champion 2014
Silver at the World Junior Championships in 2015
Winner: Olomuc 2012, Budapest First Saturday 2013, Lake Sevan (Armenia) 2015

GM Vadim Zvjaginsev (2673)
Russia

Born in Moscow in 1976
GM since 1994
European U-16 Champion
Gold with the Russian team at the World Team Chess Championships in 1997
Olympic Gold with the Russian team 1998
Silver medalist with the Russian team at the Olympiad 2004
Winner: Vidmar Memorial (Portoroz 1997), Essen (2000 and 2002), Russian Cup (2011)

GM David Antón (2628)
Spain

Born in Murcia in 1995
GM since 2013
World U-18 Vice - Champion 2013
European Vice - Champion 2014
Spanish Blitz Champion in 2014 and 2015
Spanish Vice - Champion in 2015 and 2016

GM Josep Manuel López (2547)
Spain (Catalonia)

Born in Barcelona in 1980
GM since 2007
Spanish Junior Champion in 1999 and 2000
Spanish Vice - Champion in 2004 and 2007
Winner of Memorial Garcia Ilundáin 2006

GM Fernando Peralta (2577)
Argentina

Born in Lomas de Zamora (Argentina) in 1979
GM since 2004
Champion of Argentina 2006
Vice - Champion of Argentina Argentina in 2001 and 2007
Has participated in 7 Chess Olympiads with the Argentinian National Team
Winner of many tournaments in Catalonia

GM Miguel Muñoz (2471)
Spain (Catalonia)

Born in Junín (Peru) in 1975
Catalonia Blitz Champion 2006, 2009, 2010
Catalonia Champion in 2012
Spanish Vice - Champion 2012

MI Hipólito Asis (2499)
Spain (Catalonia)

Born in Barcelona in 1986
Spanish U-18 Champion 2004
Catalan U-18 Champion 2003, 2004 and 2015
Vice – Champion of Catalonia in 2016