Indian grandmaster M.R. Lalit Babu has won Open A at the Benidorm Chess Open 2026, which concluded on Sunday, 1 November, at Hotel Meliá Benidorm after a week of competition.
The champion scored 7.5 points over nine rounds, ahead of Miroslav Baturin-Vinogradov, competing under the FIDE flag, and Spain’s Malko Martel Bruniaux, who finished second and third respectively with seven points each.
In Open B, Spain’s Aleksandr Nazarov secured the title with eight points; Tristán Alonso Rodríguez finished second on 7.5 and Juan Francisco Donate Villalba completed the podium with seven.
The two open tournaments, designated SUPRA 1800 and SUB 2000, ran simultaneously using a nine-round Swiss system, with a time control of 90 minutes plus a 30-second increment and results counting towards FIDE ratings.
Record participation and additional tournaments
Organised by Club de Ajedrez Caballo Blanco, the event brought together 455 players of 34 nationalities, compared with 416 participants in the previous edition, and distributed a total prize fund of €25,510.
Grandmaster José Carlos Ibarra won the fourth Emilio Pellicer Memorial ahead of Carlos Enrique Mena Crespo and Helgi Ass Gretarsson, in an event featuring 78 players and seven rounds at ten minutes plus five seconds.
The Halloween Chess superblitz competition was won by Ukraine’s Vladyslav Sydoryka, followed by Felix-Antonio Iliaca and José Vicente Jiménez Martínez; all three finished with 7.5 points.
Learning alongside the games
The programme included game analysis and three masterclasses by grandmaster Julen Arizmendi, with one session exclusively for players from Spain’s sports federation for blind people, the Federación Española de Deportes para Ciegos.
There was also a workshop on preparing for games using OSINT and artificial intelligence, delivered by Isaac Lozano Osorio, a lecturer at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos and founder of YottaChess.
Tournament director Alfonso Vilches praised the standard of play at this edition and announced that the organisers are already starting work on the 2027 event.
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