And… Ivanchuk is playing again of course

The most active top 10 player is of course Vassily Ivanchuk, and it won’t surprise you that he’s playing yet another tournament. This week he’s defending his title at the Carlos Torre Memorial in Mexico, which has a new set-up this year. In an open tournament twelve players could qualify for a knockout phase, added by Ivanchuk, Dominguez, Harikrishna and Leon Hoyos. The first two games of the knockout have finished; Ivanchuk eliminated Bruzon 1.5-0.5.

It’s the 20th edition of the tournament that remembers Carlos Torre Repetto (23 November 1905 - 19 March 1978). In his short career Torre was compared to Capablanca and he beat Lasker in a very nice game. For more info on Torre see last year’s article.

The memorial is being held in the “Silvio Zavala Vallado” auditorium of the Olympic Cultural Centre in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico and ends next Sunday. In the knockout phase Vassily Ivanchuk, Lázaro Bruzón, Omar Almeida, José González, Manuel León Hoyos, Yuniesky Quesada, Holder Hernández, Alexander Graf, Lenier Domínguez, Jesús Nogueiras, Emilio Córdoba, Alonso Zapata, Harikshna Pentala, Gilberto Hernández, Georg Meier and Pavel Tregubov are playing.

The first game between Bruzon and Ivanchuk was really one that brought back memories from the past - some generations before Torre that is.

Vassily Ivanchuk

Yunieski Quesada - Manuel Leon Hoyos

Gilberto Hernández

Lázaro Bruzon Batista

Juan Carlos González