After a long absence, the chess competition once again brings the boards and pieces to life in the minds of our athletes, who responded with great participation in quantity and quality and with a magnificent overall performance.
And what better place for it than our school! The San Fernando it has traditionally been the venue for the Sports Chess Games and has been the chosen place for this return to normality.
This Sunday, June 13, more than fifty athletes have gathered at the Sanfer to play the local phase of the Sports Games of the Principality of chess. As is customary, an important part of them, 21, wore our colors. This competition is one more step in the effort of the entire sports community to return to normality, although the consequences of the invisible “cizañero” that has accompanied us for the last year and a half are still noticeable. In the case of chess, this edition will not have the traditional final phase, which is accessed by qualifying in local tournaments. That made some of the best players from Aviles prefer to rest. Even so, the tournament had a strong roster, including several champions from Asturias, such as Claudia Canel and Nico Martín, as well as many of the winners of this competition in recent years. Among our representatives, Sara Zapatero, Rodrigo Martino and Luis Ávila stood out, as well as many “covered” who were waiting for their opportunity.
After the pertinent medical controls, the watches started at 10:30 in the morning and the pieces came back to life after several months stored in their boxes. The pace, 10 minutes per player, and the youth of the players invited speed and the tournaments progressed rapidly. In addition, the refereeing team, led by Mario Menéndez, had decided that the tournaments would not wait to start the rounds synchronized, so the competition progressed with great fluidity, in just three hours the names of the champions began to be known.
In the sub 16 category, the podium was occupied, in this order, by Pablo Zapatero and Pelayo Sanchez, both from San Fernando, and Eloy Mariscal del Santo Tomás. In the sub 14, Ángel Cuartas, from the Principality, was proclaimed champion, followed by Rodrigo González Martino and Sara Zapatero, from Sanfer. Our colleague Lucía Arnanz settled for 4th place. In the very strong sub 12 category, the favorite did not disappoint and Nicolás Martín, from Villalegre, won with relative comfort. Iker Camacho, from Marcos del Torniello, got a worked silver medal and Lucas Alonso, representative of Sanfer, a bronze of great merit. In addition to him, the performance of Alex Labra that started as number two and finished in 5th place was noteworthy. Neither did Claudia Canel, from the Canal, fail in the sub-10 category. Luanco claimed her number one and prevailed in all games. The surprise of the tournament, Martín Pérez, from the Principado school, rose to second place, while Luis Ávila, from the San Fernando completed the honor roll. Gunnar Villanueva and Álvaro Ribera obtained a meritorious 4th and 5th position, very close to hanging a medal. In the youngest category, only one player had a ranking, but with less than 8 years of age, surprises are the order of the day. It was not the case and despite the great fight displayed on the boards, Aimar García, representing the Good Council, proved to be the best and won all their matches. Lucía Cobas, from Santo Tomás and Rafael Serrano, from Sanfer, were in second and third place respectively. Our other representative, Carmen Peláez, paid dearly for her inexperience and finished in 7th position, the next time she will surely improve.
In short, a magnificent representation in number and quality: one gold, two silver, four bronze and representatives on all the podiums. A great harvest for him San Fernando in the return to the face-to-face competition.