The 2nd UNAM Chess Festival, the largest festival of its kind in Mexico, took place from 16-25 November, in Mexico City at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

The university played host to myriad event events for all skill levels from beginners to supergrandmasters, during this extraordinary week of chess, including simuls, opens, vote chess, and a children's tournament.

Photos: UNAM chess festival

The chess glitterati were represented by Magnus Carlsen and Judit Polgar, who faced off Sunday in the final of a four-player knockout rapid and blindfold tournament. Carlsen reached the final by defeating Lázaro Bruzón from Cuba and Polgar bested Manuel León Hoyos of Mexico.

Magnus Carlsen and Lázaro Bruzón

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The final match between Polgar and Carlsen started with a bang when Polgar dropped a bombshell with black in the first game, of rapid chess:

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Magnus Carlsen and Judit Polgar

True to form, Carlsen bounced back strongly to win the blindfolded second game, which gave the audience a thrilling blitz tiebreak. Replay all four games in full below:

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Alongside the super GMs, close to 150 players participated in the open tournament dominated by the rating favorite*, Bartłomiej Macieja from Poland, who finished with an impressive score of 8.5/9. Replay Macieja's games:

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Update: Macieja told us that in fact he wasn't the rating favorite. Timur Gareev was, but he missed the first and fourth round and then withdrew from the event.

There was 30 minutes of delay allowed, and Timur missed it twice by a very small margin,

said Macieja.

In the final of the women's tournament, it was IM Olga Alexandrova over WGM Lisandra Teresa Ordaz Valdes. Incidentally, Alexandrova is married to GM Miguel Illescas, who was providing live commentary throughout the week.

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Olga Alexandrova and Lisandra Teresa Ordaz Valdes