SUNWAY SITGES INTERNATIONAL CHESS FESTIVAL 12 to 22 December 2023

[Mick Norris]

Dominguez is top seed

English players include Jonah Willow, Keith Arkell, James Moreby

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I hadn't realised this is in Barcelona. It rings a bell now. I had forgotten how massive these sort of tournaments can be (329 players, 36 GMs - OK not that massive compared to the largest, but not small either). Feel like I should have tried to go to this tournament at some point!

Scottish IM Stephen Mannion is also playing, got the expected win in round 1 and paired with Indian IM Mohapatra Sidhant in round 2.

The full list of ENG players for Group A (there are also six in the Group B section) is:

IM Jonah Willow
GM Keith C. Arkell
FM James Moreby (paired against GM Jingyao Tin in round 2)
FM Laurence E. Webb (paired against IM Mahdi Gholami Orimi in round 2)
(*) 1867-rated Billy Fellowes (defeated 2303-rated player, round 1; paired with 2371-rated Uzbek FM, round 2)
Martin P. Burrows (lost to an IM in round 1)
Jai Kothari
Zain Patel
Harry Bryant
Lior Yedid

(*) Billy Fellowes (born 2011) is a Warwickshire junior (I got this from the ECF and FIDE rating sites) currently rated 2084. Other ENG juniors are Jai Kothari and Zain Patel (both born 2010), Harry Bryant (born 2012) and Lior Yedid (born 2010). Looks like a group of Hammersmith chess players have travelled to play in this event, or even possibly an England Junior squad of some sort?

And Dominguez won in round 1 of course. Plays an American FM in round 2. Will be a few more rounds before the top seeds start to play each other (this is a 10-round Swiss).

[Mick Norris]

Live ratings have Dominguez at 2757.0 with So at 2754.4

[Ian Thompson]

I hadn't realised this is in Barcelona.

It's not in Barcelona. Sitges is about 25 miles from Barcelona. More importantly, when I looked at playing in the tournament a couple of years ago, the rounds start too late in the day to be sure of being able to get back to Barcelona by public transport after a longish game.

[Mick Norris]

Dominguez draws and goes down to 2752.8

[LawrenceCooper]

Dominguez draws and goes down to 2752.8

It could easily have been worse than a draw though.

[Mick Norris]

Dominguez won in round 3 and is black against GM Golubka (2440) in round 4

Jonah Willow drew with GM Leon Luke Mendonca (2611) in round 3 and plays Sasikiran (2596) with black in round 4

[John Moore]

Keith seems to have had a nil point bye in Rd 3 but is back playing in Rd 4.

[LawrenceCooper]

Keith seems to have had a nil point bye in Rd 3 but is back playing in Rd 4.

He mentioned on Facebook that he's had some health issues and didn't feel able to play all ten rounds in a tournament where he's 71st seed.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Of note is that Laurence E. Webb ran into a vastly underrated junior, 12-year-old Adiga Sathvik (1866), who is performing at 2377 and currently gaining 86 rating points.

Similarly, Billy Fellowes (1867) is currently performing at 2244 and gaining 62 rating points, though it is a bit more difficult to tell what his current level is (as most recent opponent was fairly low rated).

Will be interesting to see if Keith can treat this as a 7-round tournament from here on in (strictly speaking, from the point Keith first plays a titled player would be where you would start the count, so this non-pairing in round 3 has effectively turned it into a tournament of 6 rounds of high-intensity chess, instead of more than that if you play the full 10 rounds). If you are going to take (and I presume not all organisers would allow it in advance?) a break in a ten-round tournament, would you do that in round 3 if given the choice? Wouldn't round 4 be more logical?

(I am not questioning the break here, as it should go without question that for any player their health has to come first. Maybe I am misunderstanding and the intent was to play all 10 rounds, but this proved not possible. I think what I am [a bit clumsily] saying is that if a top seed [rather than, as Keith said, being the 71st seed] asked for this, then eyebrows would be raised. But what if a top seed has similar health issues?)

[Derrick Walker]

Keith played the Blitz on the Wednesday evening, after the 2nd Round match, which may have influenced any decision. Sunday is a rest day for the Open, with only a blitz. But, I find Monday's timetable with a blind wine tasting at 11.30 before the 6th Round starts at 16.30 an interesting proposition.

[Keith Arkell]

Hi guys.

I'm 63 in a few weeks and, without wanting to parade any details on here, as you get older health issues play a bigger role in your life. Having said that, I'm still one of the most active titled players around, and have won 19 over the board tournaments this year.

Here I'm the oldest player of the top 180 or so seeds - most are still teens or in their early 20s.  

Sometimes organisers allow GMs byes and sometimes they don't. For example, the Cambridge International this year allowed 2 and I availed myself of one of those. Here you can have as many as you like, but zeros, not half points.   

I'm unlikely to win a top prize - my main motive for coming was to enjoy nice weather in a beautiful part of the world, try to play my best chess and indulge in all the other activities on offer, such as Blitz, bullet, Rapid, and even table tennis and table football competitions!  

Today, having won the 3  games I've played, I get black v a young Israeli GM...

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Today, having won the 3  games I've played, I get black v a young Israeli GM...

Best of luck Keith.

I see there was a bullet tournament (1 minute plus 1 second per move)!

https://chess-results.com/tnr864183.asp ... ES&flag=30

Keith scored 2.5/5 against an Uzbek contingent in the blitz.
Zain Patel gained 112 rating points!

https://chess-results.com/tnr864587.asp ... =30&snr=42

[Ian Thompson]

Zain Patel gained 112 rating points!

https://chess-results.com/tnr864587.asp ... =30&snr=42

Is that all? One of Keith's opponents gained 240 points - expected score 0.5/9; actual score 6.5/9.

[Brian Valentine]

I think the rating for him is just wrong. The FIDE site has him as a more reasonable 2111.