Alcalà de Xivert
The International Grand Master Miguel Illescas will take part in the Alcala de Xivert Chess Club’s 40th Anniversary Celebrations
![[Img #22023]](upload/img/periodico/img_22023.jpg)
On 10th August, the Alcala de Xivert Chess Club will be all decked out to welcome Miguel Illescas, the International Grand Master and eight times Champion of Spain, as part of the celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary since the Alcala club was founded.
Miguel, a computer specialist, was contracted by IBM to programme a computer capable of winning the world championship, and he did it, beating the then champion Gary Kasparov.
Among other exploits, he was placed 30th in the world championship list in 1996, when he obtained 2640 points ELO (a chess ranking). No other Spaniard has achieved this.
There is no doubt that he has made his mark, and one can talk of Spanish chess before and after the arrival of Miguel to the sport.
The 47-year old from Barcelona has won the Teams Spanish Championship 7 times. He won bronze in the Chess Olympiad. In 1966 he was awarded the silver medal of the Sports Merit Royal Order. He has also been the analyst of Grand Master Vladimir Kramnik’s play. He is a specialist journalist, writing daily articles in the Vanguardia newspaper.
He has beaten Karpov, Topalov, Korchnoi, Judith Polgar, Leko, Short..... in fact the whole bunch of the best players in the world.
So we urge you to attend the conference to take place in the Alcala de Xivert Pensioners’ Hall at 17.00h on Saturday 10th August, which will be about “How is a champion made?”. And at 18.30h on the same day, you can follow Miguel who will play against 25 members of the club and invited players in the Church Square.
On 10th August, the Alcala de Xivert Chess Club will be all decked out to welcome Miguel Illescas, the International Grand Master and eight times Champion of Spain, as part of the celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary since the Alcala club was founded.
Miguel, a computer specialist, was contracted by IBM to programme a computer capable of winning the world championship, and he did it, beating the then champion Gary Kasparov.
Among other exploits, he was placed 30th in the world championship list in 1996, when he obtained 2640 points ELO (a chess ranking). No other Spaniard has achieved this.
There is no doubt that he has made his mark, and one can talk of Spanish chess before and after the arrival of Miguel to the sport.
The 47-year old from Barcelona has won the Teams Spanish Championship 7 times. He won bronze in the Chess Olympiad. In 1966 he was awarded the silver medal of the Sports Merit Royal Order. He has also been the analyst of Grand Master Vladimir Kramnik’s play. He is a specialist journalist, writing daily articles in the Vanguardia newspaper.
He has beaten Karpov, Topalov, Korchnoi, Judith Polgar, Leko, Short..... in fact the whole bunch of the best players in the world.
So we urge you to attend the conference to take place in the Alcala de Xivert Pensioners’ Hall at 17.00h on Saturday 10th August, which will be about “How is a champion made?”. And at 18.30h on the same day, you can follow Miguel who will play against 25 members of the club and invited players in the Church Square.
