Georg Meier wins VII Marcel Duchamp Cup in Montevideo

From February 1-9, 2024, Montevideo hosted the seventh Marcel Duchamp Cup, organized by IA Sabrina de San Vicente. This tournament, established in the South American circuit, distributed $6000 in prizes and brought together the finest chess players from America in the Uruguayan capital.

This competition would not have been possible without the initial support of Argentine entrepreneurs International Master Tomas Darcyl and Atty. Ricardo Costianovsky, who secured the main prize fund.

Additinal support was provided by the ‘Asociacion Española Primera de Socorros Mutuos’ for visiting masters, and the Duchamp International Organization, which contributed prizes for the Women’s and Senior categories.

This year, the tournament also carried the name „300 Years of Montevideo,“ thanks to the support of the Departmental Board, which included the tournament as part of the city’s founding celebration framework. The tournament was also supported by FIDE as part of its 100th-anniversary celebration, commemorated in 2024.

Thanks to the support provided by the Montevideo Municipality, once again, the competition took place in the Red and Golden Rooms of the Conference Center, which with their excellent facilities, spaciousness, well-lit, and air-conditioned rooms, provided the necessary comfort to all participants. The event brought together over 130 participants, including 31 titled players (6 GMs, 1 WGM, 5 IMs, and 2 WIMs), representing a total of 12 countries.

Among the contenders were some strong favorites before the start: former champions GM Leonardo Tristan (3rd edition, 2019) and IM Pablo Ismael Acosta (4th edition, 2020), both from Argentina. They were joined by GMs Leandro Krysa, Pablo Salinas, and Carlos Garcia Palermo from Argentina, Chile, and Italy respectively, as well as the top-rated player, the current Continental Champion of the Americas GM Jorge Meier, from Uruguay, who made his debut in this tournament.

The top seed, Georg Meier (pictured above), stormed out of the gates with six straight wins and took the lead, but he could not feel safe as one of his main rivals, Leonardo Tristan, was just a half-point behind. Two draws by Georg in Rounds 7 and 8 allowed Leonardo to catch up with the leader. Going to the final ninth round on 7/8, both had the white pieces. After Tristan made a quick draw with Pablo Salinas, Meier tested Pablo Ismael Acosta in an equal ending for a while but eventually had to settle for a draw.

As a result, Meier and Tristan tied for first place with 7.5/9, but ‘Jorge’, as he Georg likes to be called since representing Uruguay, emerged as the winner thanks to a slightly better Buchholz. He became the became the first Uruguayan to win this event. The winner and the runner-up were the only unbeaten players in the competition.

The podium was completed by GM Pablo Salinas from Chile with 7 points, as well as GM Carlos Garcia Palermo and IM Pablo Acosta, who finished fourth and fifth respectively.

Final standings:

In the Women’s category, the best-placed players were WGM Claudia Amura from Argentina and WIM Inna Agrest from Sweden, with 6.5 points each, finishing ninth and tenth respectively. They earned higher prizes according to the overall standings. Therefore, the prizes in the Women’s category went to WIM Milagros Brizzi and WFM Anahi Meza, both from Argentina, and the Uruguayan players WFM Andreina Quevedo and Nahiara Fabra.

In the Senior +65 category, the best-placed player was GM Carlos Garcia Palermo, who finished fourth in the overall standings, so the three prize winners were IM Leon Piasetski from Canada, FM Alejandro Bauza from Uruguay, and Mario Sepliarsky from Argentina.

In the Sub 2000 category, the top three players were Jairo Araque from Venezuela, Adriano Gaspar de Lima from Argentina, and Marcelo Lanzilotta from Uruguay.

Mauricio Errazola came out on top in the Sub 1800 category, followed by Mauro de los Reyes, both from Uruguay. Nicolas Jasper from Argentina finished third.

In the Sub 1600 category, the best-placed player was Emanuel Menezes, followed by Nahiara Fabra and Francisco Borgiani, all from Uruguay.

The event was streamed at TacticaMenteAjedrez YouTube channel, and there were also live comments by FM Jose Riverol on his Twitch channel Nau64ajedrez, which were viewed by more than 60 thousand unique visitors. Additionally, the main boards could be followed live on the chess.com platform.

This year, the first edition of the Marcel Duchamp Promotional Tournament was held exclusively for players with less than 1500 FIDE rating and not rated. This tournament was an excellent opportunity for those making their first steps in chess to compete on an equal footing with their peers.

The first edidtion, held from February 4-9, attracted 38 players with a significant participation of youngsters seeking to establish themselves in national chess.

Marcos Gonzalez Prestes, born in 2013, delivred a standout performance scoring scoring the maximum points 5/5. Additionally, he became the Sub 12 champion. The podium was completed by Luca Tessadri and Juan Borgiani, who netted 4 points and had better tiebreaks over participants with the same score.

In the Sub 14 category, the best-placed player was Julius Werle. In the Sub 20 category, the Luca Tessadri lifted the trophy. Among those over 65, the first place was achieved by Diego Roselli, who was also the best unrated player. In the Women’s category, Milagros Costa was crowned champion.

All participants enjoyed this true chess festival and received a tournament t-shirt as a gift.

You can see all the results of the VII Open here.
You can see all the results of the I Promotional here.
Photos of the event can be viewed on the tournament’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

Photos: Julian Zen, Gaston Fernandez, Edgardo Campora