“No region in Spain offers such a wide range of chess as Chamartín,” says Niala Collazo, International Master and head of the Capablanca association, which has organised a day full of chess for the people of Madrid to come to Chamartín to observe and develop this sport. .of the mind.
This is the twelfth Multidisciplinary Chess Sports Day, which will take place this Sunday at the Nicolás Salmerón Cultural Center, starting at ten in the morning. The activities are multiple and allow for fun at both professional and amateur levels. After the opening ceremony, the Chamartín councilor, Yolanda Estrada, will move the first piece, accompanied by the Spanish champion Eduardo Iturrizaga, to start this dynamic day.
Simultaneously, the International Semi-Rapid Games Tournament and the Children’s Rapid Games Tournament will begin. The first is a seven-round competition that awards points valid for the international ranking. There will be 100 players, all federated, who will compete in the championship.
Among these 100, there will be 26 international masters, an honorary title awarded to the most erudite chess players in the world. This competition will be the one in which the aforementioned Eduardo Iturrizaga will participate, a Venezuelan nationalized Spanish in 2021, who has won the Absolute Individual Spanish Championship for three consecutive years.
The open will feature the prodigies of the sport, already federated although they are old enough to participate in the specific activity for children. The tournament for the little ones will also have seven rounds and each match will last ten minutes. And even if all the registrations are already sold out for both modalities, it will be interesting to witness them because they are played non-stop; there will not be a minute without a match taking place.
In any case, the chess day in Chamartín invites not only spectators, but also anyone who wants to participate in the game. There will be giant pieces that can be enjoyed in a special way. From 10:30 am, the activity will allow a demonstration of tactics and critical thinking of the citizen through pawns, bishops, knights, rooks and great kings.
The Chamartín councilor, aware of the virtues generated by this practice, explains it as follows: “It is a strategic sport that improves attention, memory and cognitive abilities.” In addition, it is presented as an option given the high consumption of technological devices. “At Chamartín we support this practice as an alternative to the use of screens,” he says.
This neighborhood has a clear connection with the game, at least since the current century. In 2008, the Municipal Chess School was created, considered the best in Madrid. This statement is not gratuitous, since the number of Spanish champions who have graduated from the institution is quite relevant. Names like Lulú Zhou or Gabriel Quispe stand out. The International Grandmaster, Irisberto Herrera, affirms that the school has received visits from several of the best in the world, such as Alexei Shirov or Leinier Domínguez.
Likewise, the sculptures inspired by the pieces of the game, found in the Pablo Sorozábal gardens, unite the heritage of the neighborhood with this sport. They are the largest chess sculptures in the world, made by the artist Gustavo Herrrera. It is this important link that generates days like the one that will be experienced today, or the International Simultaneous that will take place on Sunday 29th.
