By José M.ª González, from Torremolinos

From 6 to 20 February, the fifteenth edition of the oldest tournament in Spain was held in Torremolinos, Málaga, after fifteen consecutive editions.

The organisation, as usual, was handled by the Málaga Chess Federation, with the Hotel Cervantes as the venue. Worth noting was the presence of charming hostesses in every round, who were in charge of moving the pieces on the demonstration boards and who added a note of beauty and sympathy to the tournament.

This competition was undoubtedly organised with the idea of promoting our young talents, and I consider that it was an appropriate occasion for obtaining some norm, because, although it still gathered the sufficient category in the FIDE scale, the truth is that it was a “sweet little pear” for all those aspiring to promotion in category.

The good judgement of the organisers, with Eleazar Pereiro at the head in this respect, deserves praise. It is a pity that afterwards our players did nothing positive, although Bellón came close to achieving it, and they remained far from any possibility.

I would have liked to see here our national junior champion Ochoa de Echagüen, and the Madrid player Hernando, who had such an excellent performance in the recent Orense tournament, but it is already known that opportunities must be given to everyone. The important thing is that they should not be forgotten.

The Hotel Cervantes provided a good setting, making its halls available to the Málaga Federation. The international master Antonio Medina acted as arbiter, without complications, and we note the presence at the prize-giving and closing ceremony of Don Félix Heras.

In short, one more Costa del Sol tournament, whose organisers are already studying, with their usual perseverance, next year’s event, which will undoubtedly be another success.

On the sporting side, mention should be made of the victory of the Bulgarian Radulov, undefeated, who played at the head almost from the beginning and in the end simply maintained his advantage without taking any risks.

Quinteros, tied for first place, I think could have won outright if he had decided to “force” some of his last games. Keene, third on Sonneborn score, also played too conservatively, conceding many draws.

Bellón was completely different from what we saw in Orense — the tournament was also “easier” — and it was a real pity that he lost his poor game against the American Tarjan, since a win there would have given him his first grandmaster norm. Otherwise, his performance was magnificent, because he played to win at all times, even risking his shirt in classic drawish positions.

We liked the Mallorcan player, who, if he continues in this line — which is in fact his own — will very soon achieve the longed-for promotion. Tarjan has improved greatly in recent tournaments and is a dangerous opponent for anyone. The Filipino Cardoso was also a quite different man from the one we saw in Orense. He improved positively and developed good play, which made him fearsome.

Benko played far below his possibilities, and his low placing was the consequence of his lacklustre performance on the board. Garcia, from Cuba, simply fulfilled expectations. From this very young Cuban we can expect much more than what we saw, because... there is talent.

The Peruvian Rodriguez has still not quite settled into play, and six points in this tournament for someone aspiring to a first GM norm seems to us very little.

Weinstein, from the United States, won only one game, losing three and drawing the rest. It was the first time he had played here, and naturally he did not live up to his ELO rating, which stands at 2465 points.

Pares was called in at the last minute and, given his lack of experience in international tournaments, we can excuse his score and placing. We will have to see him more.

Fraguela, Ruiz and Martín closed the table with 3.5 points. The player from Málaga, Ruiz, managed to “escape” from last place, and we still like his play. It is a pity that his performances are limited only to the Costa del Sol. Fraguela is a young player who, several years ago, when he took part in San Sebastián in the junior championship, encouraged us because we saw possibilities in him. In Torremolinos, apart from his victory over the Peruvian Rodriguez, he played without spark. We believe this is his first international tournament and, naturally, many factors played a role. We hope to see him again in order to judge him more fairly.

We have spoken about Martín on other occasions, and we sincerely consider him one of our best national talents, but... he must prove it.