70-year-old GM Kevin Spragett wins Portimao Chess Open 2024

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The Portimao Chess Open 2024 took place from 11-28 February in a beautiful port city in the Algarve region, Portimao, Portugal. The event gathered nearly 100 entries competing in Rapid and Classical events for the prize fund of 10.500 euros.

70-year-old GM Kevin Spraggett (Canada, 2447) triumphed in the event after a thrilling last round. Spraggett drew against GM Alexander Kovchan ( Ukraine, 2482) in the last round to secure the podium with the score of 7 points. However, IM Lennis Martinez Ramirez (Cuba, 2442) and IM Lukasz Licznerski (Poland, 2413) won their games to join Spraggett on the top in the tie for the first place.

GM Kevin Spraggett had the best tiebreak criteria and clinched the event, while IM Lennis Martinez Ramirez won silver, and IM Lukasz Licznerski came third. The top-seeded player of the tournament GM Karen Grigoryan, GM Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli, and IM Mitusov S. scored 6.5 points and finished the event tying from 4-10 place. Final rankings can be seen below

70-year-old Kevin Spraggett showed that age doesn’t matter when it comes to playing good chess. Kevin Spraggett is considered the strongest Canadian-born player ever. Spraggett is the only Canadian ever to qualify for the Candidates Tournament, having done so in 1985 and 1988. He won the Canadian Open Chess Championship eight times in his career, and had a peak FIDE rating of 2633.

More information about the event can be found on AXPortugal Facebook page. / Chess-results

Final rankings – Portimao Chess Open 2024:

Rk.		Name	FED	RtgI	Pts.
1	GM	SPRAGGETT, Kevin	CAN	2447	7
2	IM	MARTINEZ RAMIREZ, Lennis	CUB	2442	7
3	IM	LICZNERSKI, Lukasz	POL	2413	7
4	GM	ITURRIZAGA BONELLI, Eduardo	ESP	2602	6.5
5	IM	MITUSOV, Sem	NOR	2487	6.5
6	GM	KOVCHAN, Alexander	UKR	2482	6.5
7	IM	NIEDBALA, Bartlomiej	POL	2382	6.5
8	CM	POVSHEDNYI, Ivan	UKR	2169	6.5
9	GM	GRIGORYAN, Karen H.	ARM	2629	6.5
10	FM	TABUENCA MENDATAURIGOITIA, Daniel	ESP	2344	6.5
11	FM	MARTINS, Bruno Andre Leite	POR	2347	6
12	WGM	XU, Yuanyuan	CHN	2292	6
13		PANJER, Sidney	GER	2059	6
14	NM	DINIS DE SOUSA, Joao	POR	2096	6
15	WGM	LU, Miaoyi	CHN	2369	5.5
16		KREKEN, Eivind Grunt	NOR	2189	5.5
17	IM	STIJVE, Theo	SUI	2348	5.5
18	FM	BARRIA SANTOS, Jose Guilherme	POR	2428	5.5
19	FM	RIBEIRO, Gustavo	POR	2250	5.5
20		GONCALVES, Samuel Jesus P	POR	2219	5.5
21		ZOUNANI, Yacine	FRA	2043	5.5
22	IM	RODRIGUEZ LOPEZ, Rafael	ESP	2160	5.5
23		STREHSE, Nelson	GER	1979	5.5
24		WILKS, Simon	ENG	2053	5.5
25		KOSTOV, Kiril	BUL	2032	5.5
26	FM	AAYUSH, Bhattacherjee	IND	2410	5.5
27		DUMONT, Andre	BEL	1842	5.5
28		LACOMBE, Martin	FRA	1866	5.5
29		MOLDOVAN, Lucas Gabriel	POR	1737	5.5
30		AFONSO, Joao Pedro	POR	1873	5.5
31		MEUTER, Alain	BEL	1399	5.5
32		RYABUKHIN, Roman	POR	1956	5
33	IM	GOMEZ LEDO, Roberto Carlos	CUB	2425	5
34		SILVA, Reinaldo	POR	1759	5
35		FELLOWES, Billy	ENG	1954	5
36		ESTEVES, Goncalo Maria Franco V.	POR	1957	5
37		PAULINO, Jose	POR	1944	5
38		SILVA, Lourenco Santa Clara	POR	1791	5
39		VAN GINKEL, Henk	NED	1806	5
40		YIN, Zeming	CAN	1696	5
41		ARYAN, Mehta	IND	1607	5
42		FERREIRA, Vasco Capitao Mendes	POR	1615	5
43		KUMAR, Sanjit S	ENG	1915	4.5
44		VIERS, Emmanuel	FRA	2032	4.5
45		PATEL, Zain	ENG	1876	4.5
46		KHOO-THWE, Louis	NOR	1791	4.5
47		KOSTOV, Troyan	BUL	1715	4.5
48		VALLADOLID MARTIN, Francisco Jose	ESP	1842	4.5
49		DE LUNA BUTZ, Alberto	ESP	1647	4.5
50		DEEPAK AMBATTU, Rithvik	SCO	1908	4.5
51		BITTNER, Titus	GER	1512	4.5
52		CATURRA, Rafael Dias	POR	1615	4.5
53		ASVESTOPOULOU, Evdokia	GRE	1661	4.5
54		PINHO, Tiago Brandao De	POR	1923	4.5
55		MARCOS HERRERO, Francisco	ESP	1828	4
56		RYABUKHINA, Veronika	POR	1688	4
57		RIBEIRO, Duarte	POR	1870	4
58	NM	MORAIS, Vitor	POR	1811	4
59		PENA, Helio Adelino Silva	POR	1761	4
60		TEVES, Pedro Lopes	POR	1544	4
61		YE, Philipp	GER	1684	4
62		GAMBOA, Quevin Milhano	POR	1697	4
63		LACHEVER, Diogo Freire	POR	1636	4
64		RODRIGUES, Miguel Tiago	POR	1551	4
65		GIERHARDT, Vito	GER	1680	4
66		MOSTAFA, Hazem Farouk Mahmoud	EGY	1638	4
67		JONES, Chris S	ENG	1662	4
68		TACUCHIAN, Marcelo Oliveira	POR	1430	4
69		CAPARROS FERNANDEZ, Xavier	ESP	1753	3.5
70		KAETS, Jona	GER	1289	3.5
71		DE KRUIF, Kees	NED	1807	3.5
72		CORREIA, Margarida	POR	1351	3.5
73		SMEMAN, Lambertus	NED	1526	3.5
74		ALVES, José Pedro Figueiredo	POR	1289	3.5
75		GUTIERREZ BOLADO, Juan Antonio	ESP	1534	3.5
76		TSUZUKI, Yan	BRA	1461	3.5
77		RAPOSEIRO, Vasco	POR	1228	3.5
78		RIBEIRO, Pedro Miguel Paiva	POR	1305	3.5
79		BIBBY, Dalton	AUS	0	3.5
80		PRATA, Jose	POR	1791	3
81		DIAS, Jose Oliveira Gaspar	POR	1393	3
82		CARVALHO, Eduardo Boavida Lopes	POR	0	3
83		KOSTOV, Magnus Konstantin	BUL	1204	3
84		MIKHAILOVA, Milana	FID	1178	3
85		JULLIAN, Herve	FRA	1377	3
86		ZHOU, Daniel Samuel	CHN	0	3
87		BICHO, Ivan-Pi	POR	1235	2.5
88		RIBEIRO, Margarida	POR	1125	2.5
89		MIKHAYLOV, Matvey	FID	0	2.5
90		PATEL, Parisa	ENG	1144	2.5
91		MACHADO, Manuel Domingos J	POR	1317	2.5
92		WANG, Luis	POR	1050	2.5
93		MIHALI, Daniel Jorge	POR	0	2
94		MIHALI, Viktor	POR	1157	2
95		BOTELHO, Adelino	POR	1320	1.5
96		TSUZUKI, Kin	BRA	0	1
97	WCM	PRISHITA, Gupta	IND	1762	0
98	FM	SILVA, Pedro Gil Ferreira Da	POR	2222	0
		SILVA, Jose Lucas Ferreira	POR	1791	0