Open Chess Menorca 2022
Better late than never…
This blog post was written a long time ago, but for some reason I never published it. And although it has been a long time since I returned from Spain, I still decided to share it with you...
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Hi everyone! 😊
As I promised, I am sharing my impressions of my trip to Menorca.
To begin with, my visit to Menorca was not the first time. Back in 1996, I visited this beautiful island with my Mom and sister. My sister and I took part in the World Junior Championships among children in our age categories, I played in the category under 10 years old, my sister - in the category under 14 years old.
Back in the winter, when I was looking through the list of tournaments on the FIDE website, I noticed the Menorca tournament, and I got very interested in this event. I did not immediately decide to organize this trip, but I kept this idea in mind. When the question arose about finding a suitable tournament, I decided that it would be Menorca!
The official dates of the tournament were from April 20 to April 25, 2022, and this includes the day of arrival and departure. It seemed to be a very short tournament, therefore, I decided to go on my trip early to spend a couple of free days on the island. At the end of this blog post, I share the most beautiful pictures of my time spent there.
The event was held according to the Swiss system in 7 rounds. Since the deadlines were tight, we had two days with double rounds.
Many thanks to the organizers for giving me the opportunity to take part in group A, although my rating was below 2000.
Official Website of the Tournament
Link to the Group A Tournament
Round No. 1:
Round No. 2
Round No. 3
Round No. 4
Round No. 5
Round No. 6
When I planned this trip, I had a choice: fly back home on the day of the last round, or stay one extra day, play the last game, attend the closing ceremony and spend another day on the island. The choice fell on the departure on the last round day. The fact is that upon returning home, I had less than a week before the Championship of Kyrgyzstan. I had to go back to work, work for a week, and start playing in the Championship.
Therefore, the last game turned out to be quite short. I knew that I had less than two hours at my disposal, so I tuned in to an unusually fast game for me. My opponent took the game more seriously. Having got a good position, in the end I had no choice but to offer a draw, and fortunately my opponent agreed. I would not like to resign and give a whole point...
Round No. 7
So, quick draw, check-out and run to the bus to the airport, where I had 3 flights ahead of me to get home. I have to say that although every trip like this takes a lot of time and energy, I still love airports and long trips.
In addition to the main tournament, the program of the event included several lectures from Spanish grandmasters, and a night blitz tournament, which actually took place very late and ended after midnight. However, if I'm not mistaken, I scored 5.5 points out of 9. Unfortunately, I don't have the standings to share with you.
And although it was a rather short trip, I still had a lot of nice memories. Great place, delicious food, meeting old and new friends! One of my new friends is a streamer Dave Bland (Dave's Twitch Channel), who "invented" Saturday Chess Night with Sangria! 
Also, I would like to express my gratitude to the organizers of the tournament, who helped with the invitation to the tournament, accommodation and other issues. I hope this will not be my last visit to Spain!
Thank you very much for reading! 
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