By our collaborator, IM Román Torán

Our young Spanish champion and International Master, Juan Manuel Bellón, was the brilliant winner of the 3rd International Chess Tournament of Lanzarote, after finishing tied on points with the Hungarian grandmaster Adorján, but ahead of him according to the Sonneborn-Berger tiebreak system.

It was an extraordinary performance by the young Bellón, who scored the 8 points required under the Elo system to obtain his first norm for the grandmaster title, since the event was category 7. From the first round, the Spanish champion remained at the head of the standings, in a close struggle with Adorján and Tatai, his most dangerous rivals. Bellón managed to finish the tournament undefeated, with five wins and six draws, and his victory over grandmaster Adorján in the fourth round was a decisive factor in surpassing the Hungarian on tiebreak.

Tatai lost in the last round, when he was beaten by Rodríguez, the possibility of obtaining his second grandmaster norm. The likeable and strong Italian master took excessive risks and ended up missing a good opportunity.

Six and a half points were needed to obtain the international master norm, achieved by the young Fraguela after a final phase of the tournament in which he beat Visier with Black and Betancort with White; the first very easily, and the second in dramatic circumstances, since his opponent also had the possibility of achieving his first norm if he won. By contrast, he defeated Visier far too easily, as Visier was well below his usual level.

Grandmaster Díez del Corral risked too much and suffered three incredible defeats: against Rodríguez, Fraguela and Betancort, players much inferior to him. Against them he refused to settle for draws in balanced positions, sacrificing a piece against Rodríguez, for example, and embarking on hazardous and risky lines in the other two games, when three simple draws would have left him in first place in the end.

Pfleger, the German grandmaster, lost to his colleagues Adorján and Díez del Corral and then lost ambition and confidence, finishing in a very low position for a player of his recognised class. On another level, we must also consider the result of former national champion Visier to be very weak. Last year in this event he had obtained his first international master norm. Here it was hoped that he would obtain the second, but he performed below his level in Las Palmas and below his usual standard.