COVID-19 At Spanish Championships
Two players who intended to participate in the Spanish championships have tested positive for the coronavirus. They are part of a group of seven who have been quarantined. Thus far, the Spanish Chess Federation has not canceled the championships.
According to a communique from the Spanish Chess Federation published on Wednesday, it all started with the Spanish Team Championship that was held August 24-28 in Linares, Spain. Two participants of that event tested positive for the coronavirus.
Contact research showed that for the individual championships (general and for women), which started right after on August 31 and in the same playing hall in Linares, seven players who intended to play had been in close contact with the two patients.
Those seven participants were immediately put into quarantine in their hotel rooms, were tested for the virus, were not paired for the first round, and "never entered the playing hall," as the Spanish Chess Federation emphasized.
Two of the seven have tested positive as well. For these two, contact research was immediately initiated, and 12 people were determined to have been in close contact with them and have also been confined to their hotel rooms. Although none of them currently have symptoms, they will continue to be tested and must remain in quarantine.
Saying it is in permanent contact with health authorities, the Spanish Chess Federation decided to go on with the championships, claiming the risks are still limited: "In short, the current situation is two positive cases, who at no time have been in the playing hall. The total of close contacts has been 19, out of 146 participants."
Meanwhile, participants describe the situation as "awkward," and several have decided to leave the tournament. One player stated on Facebook that it was a "hard decision" that he had to make, even though he "trusted the federation's protocol and the organization of the tournament."
According to FM Mario Gavilan Diaz, a translator for Chess.com and a participant in the tournament, rumors of new cases led more people to withdraw from the tournament which resulted in several forfeits. The round-three results show eight games ending in a forfeit and 13 players not being paired.
Standings after round 3
| # | Seed | Fed | Title | Name | Pts | BucT | BucM | Mwns | FIDE |
| 1 | 5 | GM | Santos Latasa, Jaime | 3.0 | 6.0 | 2.0 | 3 | 2575 | |
| 2 | 13 | GM | Alsina Leal, Daniel | 3.0 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 3 | 2484 | |
| 3 | 4 | GM | Salgado Lopez, Ivan | 3.0 | 5.5 | 2.0 | 3 | 2584 | |
| 4 | 9 | IM | Espinosa Aranda, Angel | 3.0 | 5.0 | 1.5 | 3 | 2506 | |
| 5 | 33 | FM | Remolar Gallen, Jose | 3.0 | 4.0 | 1.0 | 3 | 2346 | |
| 6 | 19 | IM | Moreno Ruiz, Javier | 3.0 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 3 | 2437 | |
| 7 | 29 | IM | Ayats Llobera, Gerard | 3.0 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 3 | 2376 | |
| 8 | 35 | FM | Martinez Fernandez, Adrian | 3.0 | 2.5 | 0.5 | 3 | 2332 | |
| 9 | 3 | GM | Perez Candelario, Manuel | 2.5 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 2 | 2612 | |
| 10 | 10 | GM | Del Rio De Angelis, Salvador G. | 2.5 | 5.5 | 1.5 | 2 | 2503 | |
| 11 | 1 | GM | Anton Guijarro, David | 2.5 | 5.0 | 1.5 | 2 | 2688 | |
| 12 | 77 | Aguado Doncel, Pablo Luis | 2.5 | 5.0 | 1.5 | 2 | 2105 | ||
| 13 | 15 | IM | Gines Esteo, Pedro Antonio | 2.5 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 2 | 2454 | |
| 14 | 2 | GM | Shirov, Alexei | 2.5 | 4.0 | 1.0 | 2 | 2647 | |
| 15 | 21 | IM | Argandona Riveiro, Inigo | 2.5 | 5.0 | 1.5 | 2 | 2424 | |
| 16 | 25 | IM | Merario Alarcon, Andres | 2.5 | 5.5 | 1.5 | 2 | 2395 | |
| 17 | 17 | IM | Plazuelo Pascual, Juan | 2.5 | 5.5 | 2.0 | 2 | 2448 | |
| 18 | 44 | FM | Ortin Blanco, Inigo | 2.5 | 3.5 | 1.5 | 2 | 2252 | |
| 19 | 34 | FM | Garrido Outon, Alex | 2.5 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 2 | 2339 | |
| 20 | 31 | FM | Domingo Nunez, Ruben | 2.5 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 2 | 2367 |
(Full standings here.)
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
Peter's first book The Chess Revolution is out now!
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