From 16 to 26 February, the eighteenth International Costa del Sol Tournament was held in the halls of the Hotel Castillo de Santa Clara in Torremolinos, under the organisation and direction of Eleazar Pereiro. International Master Antonio Medina acted as arbiter, well assisted by Luis Haritver.

Twelve participants representing eight federations made up the field. Among them, at first, stood out the world junior champion Diesen, his compatriot from the USA Tarjan, the Swede Andersson, who had just arrived from the Netherlands, where he had finished third behind Portisch and Korchnoi, and the national junior champion Rivas.

Together with those mentioned, the rest of the group was homogeneous and produced an interesting tournament, as shown by the large public that, from the first day, attended the playing hall. Frankly, at no point were they disappointed, given the tremendous struggle in every game for the point at stake. One need only observe the small percentage of draws in the event, some of which were agreed only after adjournment.

The tournament was category 5 according to the FIDE scale, with an average rating of 2,369 points, so that 8.5 points were required for a GM norm and 7.5 for an IM norm.

Juan Manuel Bellón won after playing an enormous tournament. After losing to Rivas and drawing with Ruiz, he produced high-level chess, winning all his games — except for the draws with GM Tarjan — until reaching the game with the Swede Andersson, where he put everything on the line, because there was no doubt that the grandmaster title was at stake for him in this tournament. He won brilliantly, overcoming the Swede in every department, and the rest was “simple”. Bellón’s triumph was sensational; pending FIDE’s bureaucratic procedure, he achieved the longed-for GM title — the third in Spain in all history — at an age from which the best achievements may be expected. My sincerest congratulations.

The Spanish festival was completed by Javier Sanz’s second place. He also achieved his second IM norm, tying on 7.5 points and beating Swedish GM Andersson on Sonneborn score. It was a magnificent performance by the former national champion, who lost only to Bellón, although later his excessive tendency to draw deprived him of reaching the norm more comfortably. His victory over the North American Tarjan deserves special mention. Very good, Javier!

Honestly, I thought that after his great performance in the Netherlands, Andersson would have no rivals in this Costa del Sol. He led the whole tournament until his confrontation with Bellón in the eighth round, and when he lost, it seemed that he also lost his aspirations, then limiting himself to peaceful play, which pushed him down to third place. Nothing contemptible, but...

The North American Tarjan limited himself to getting through the event, finishing alone in fourth place. Much more was expected from this grandmaster, young and supposedly with greater ambitions.

Another national success may be considered the fine performance of national junior champion Rivas, who came very close to achieving a norm. He was the only one able to defeat the winner and two of the three grandmasters taking part — Damjanović and Tarjan — also drawing with Andersson. I think one cannot ask for more at the moment, and if he does not go wrong, we may have a future figure in the making. Of course — naturally — he must not believe it himself, which at the moment appears to be the Sevillian’s greatest defect. Very good by Rivas!

The Romanian Pavlov improved on his performance from the previous year, and I say this more because of the quality of his play than because of his placing. He was somewhat irregular and had truly brilliant games, which he could not finish off, sometimes because of time trouble.

Piasecki confined himself to passing unnoticed, except for a few good games, such as against Andersson, for example.

The great “defeated” players were, in my opinion, the Yugoslav Damjanović and the North American Diesen, who scarcely reached 5 points out of 11 possible; that is, not even 50 percent. The world junior champion particularly disappointed me because of his poor fighting spirit. Eight draws, one victory and two defeats is very little for a very young player with the slightest aspiration.

The Portuguese Durão, the last to arrive, was surprised in the openings, which denotes an absolute lack of preparation. His tenth-place finish was well deserved.

The Málaga players Ruiz and Durán closed the table, as was expected at the outset. Although something more was expected from Ruiz, given his experience in this competition, Durán pleased me very much because he fought much more and failed incomprehensibly in some endings, where he came close to saving himself. I think he may improve in a future opportunity in this tournament.

The organisation, in general terms, improved greatly compared with previous editions.

The change of playing hall, punctuality at the start, and the arrangement and silence of the room gave this tournament a more serious tone, worthy of the Spaniards, whose merit has been to maintain it for 18 consecutive years, despite the serious difficulties the organisers face every year.

The closing ceremony and prize-giving were presided over by the head of the Spanish Federation, Don Ángel García Fernández, and by the local and chess authorities. For the writer of these lines, who claims to have attended all the Costa del Sol tournaments held, the absence of the former president of the Spanish Chess Federation, Don Félix Heras, owing to illness, should be noted.