Rowson wins first 5 in Sardinia

After the M-Tel Masters I didn't fly back to Amsterdam, but via Rome to Sardinia. ChessVibes was invited by the organizers of the 2nd Festival Internazionale Capo d'Orso, where Jonathan Rowson is leading with 5 points out of 5 games.

As most of you will probably remember, last year around this time ChessVibes on tour had just started.

Then I also went from Sofia directly to Sardinia, then to actually play myself in the open tournament that was held at a beautiful location near the town of Palau, at the Porto Mannu bay, under the shadow of the Homeric Capo d'Orso (Bear Cape).

Just minutes away from world-renowned Porto Cervo and Porto Raphael, or the magnificent Emerald Coast, the Porto Mannu resort faces the Natural Sea Park and Archipelagus of the La Maddalena Island.

During my tour I took my camera with me and I filmed three interesting lectures that are part of the tournament program: by Jonathan Rowson, Mihail Marin and Jacob Aagaard. The organizers were very happy with the coverage and decided to invite me for the second editition as well.

And so I'm back in Sardinia, where the weather is less good than last year by the way (it's raining cats and dogs). Quite unfortunate but the location and the Porto Mannu Residence is still as beautiful as it was a year ago, and the Italian food seems to taste even better.

Like last year, one of the favorites is British Champion 2004, 2005 and 2006 GM Jonathan Rowson, also known for his excellent book review column in New in Chess Magazine. Except for him the GMs Oleg Korneev, Granda Zuniga, Mihail Marin and Tiger Hillarp Persson (who recently was very succesful at the Sigeman & Co tournament) have a good chance to win this tournament.

Rowson had a great start - in fact, he did "a Chucky", winning his first five games. Today he totally crushed Julio Granda Zuniga.



Rowson has already given his lecture too, by the way, and I hope I can publish it from Sardinia this week. Otherwise it'll come online next week when I'm back in Amsterdam.

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The venue from outside

The view from the venue

The playing hall

The top boards (the back row)

Rowson-Granda Zuniga

Jonathan Rowson

Julio Granda Zuniga

Oleg Korneev

Mihail Marin

Tiger Hillarp Persson

Links:

• Tournament website
• Games round 1-5 in PGN

The eight top boards can be followed live every day. For the coming rounds you'll need the following links : round 6, round 7, round 8 and round 9.