The good news of the Argentine chess semifinal: names on the rise and surprising young prodigies

come inside Argentine Chess Club is to breathe history. His traditional home in Paraguay in the 1800s is filled with anecdotes of games and characters from the “science of games”. Going up the imposing wooden staircase you can see the portraits of the world champions. Soon the Chinese one will shine there Ding Lirenbrand new successor of Magnus Carlsen. And above it is the mythical table matches of 1927 among Cubans José Raúl Capablanca and the Russian, nationalized French, Alexander Alechino. It is played on all levels. And from April 29 to May 7, it hosted the tournament that ranked six finalists at the Argentine championship.

With 144 participants and a prize pool of 600,000 pesos, the fight for each of those six places for the final of which it is still to be determined where it will be played and who will complete the drawing by ranking or special invitations, the Open which functioned as a semifinal left Good news. Because the young masters will debut in the final. And why the new generation of national chess is on fire.

The FIDE master Raffaele Miranda (ELO 2324), born in Las Flores 30 years ago and residing in La Plata, won undefeated with 7.5 points in 9 rounds. His pace was so overwhelming that in the end he pretty much secured the two-wheeler classification and sealed it with quick draws in the last two rounds.

“Being able to play in my first Argentine championship is a reward for the work of so many years. The best way to bounce back from setbacks is to study. So I did. And luckily I can live on chess with lessons on line“, She said clarion minutes before the awards ceremony.

Not only will the champion make his debut in an Argentine final. So will three of the other five classified, which culminated with 7 units: the international master Julian Villa (2351), from the Atahualpa de Salta circle; the master of FIDE Ariel Tokman (2330), of Torre Blanca; AND Luke Silva (2256), of the Justo José de Urquiza Cultural Association. While the master FIDE Charles David Gomez (2312) will play his second final and the international master Pablo Costa (2498) is already a starter and has just secured a place to play the World Cup in Baku.

Below an amazing painting with a portrait of the huge grand master Michael Najdorf and with historical photos of national and international chess, the main game room offered battles throughout, supervised by international arbiter Juan Durán. The level was thus also that of the twelve best classified, only Acosta and Villca qualified for the final.

Three members of the new powerful generation of national chess players were about to be finalists. Brothers Joachim (15 years old, brand new international master) e Francesco Fiorito (12, FIDE masters) faced each other in the final round. Whoever won would qualify. They drew after 78 moves and fell within a pace. Dad Fabián, international teacher and coach, and mom Roxana no longer knew what to do with their nerves because of this duel between their children.

“He thought one would leave out the other. Disbelieve But every day they play with each other and help each other prepare for matches, so they get to know each other too much,” said Fabián. “The coolest thing is to see them finish and leave the room with a smile after so many hours of play and tension,” Roxana summed up.

Now, if there’s one player who stole attention, it was golden faustin. Hyperkinetic, sitting on his lap, considerate when he plays and wasted sympathySeeing him participate in the tournament and then analyze his matches with astonishing lucidity makes you believe in magic. The thing is Fausti he is 9 years old and he is the best player under 10 in the world. a true crack.

His talent is overwhelming and his much older rivals already know it well. No one in the history of chess has ever exceeded 2,300 ELO points at his age. And in this semifinal he won points again to increase his ranking. “We follow him. Let it be. And we feel what it generates for others,” said Alejandro, his father clarion.

Fausti he was half a point away from becoming the youngest Argentine league finalist in history. And in his last match he entered an amazing combination, with a sacrifice of a queen, with a tactical line so complicated that he could not continue for a move and then Tokman found a way to beat him. The kid added 6 points, like Ilan Schnaider (12), another former world number one at age 8.

Miranda, Gómez, Acosta, Villca, Tokman and Silva will play in the final. Il Fiorito and l’Oro will play two tournaments from this Tuesday 9 May in the Chess Club of Villa Martelliin tribute to the 70th anniversary of the legendary junior world title Oscar Cloth. Joaquín will compete in one that guarantees a grandmaster standard. “pancho” AND “Fausti”, looking for an international master standard.