Brazilian Championship: democracy restored

Brazilian Championship: democracy restored

By Albert Silver

Over a frenetic period of four days, in which seven rounds of classical games were played, two qualifying events for the Brazilian national championship took place, one in the northernmost city Belém, and one in tropical Rio de Janeiro. Aside from the beautiful vista, seen below in the pictures, it also established an important change in the structure of the national championship, shrugging off the old format, used in many countries still, for a far more democratic structure.

The gorgeous view of the bay as seen from the balcony of the venue

Brazil has a modest total of eleven grandmasters, not all of whom are active, such as GM Sunye Neto, Brazil’s second grandmaster after legend Mecking, and in an effort to guarantee that the very best players fought for the title, a number of seeds used to be handed out to the top rated players, enabling them to bypass the onerous qualification process. Even so, the event did not always feature a top roster, and what happened instead was that the extra spot were then distributed either to an unlucky player who missed his chance, or anyone the Federation might be feeling friendly to. Favoritism and corruption were constant shadows in this process.

With four spots into the Brazilian championship, and prizes going down to the 20th
place, it was a hard-fought competition.

GM Rafael Leitão, the number one rating in Brazil, was not there as a benevolent
spectator, he was fighting for his own spot.

FM Alberto Mascarenhas, the president of the Rio de Janeiro Chess Federation,
watches the game by IM Diego Berardino (left) against FM Luiz Abdalla.

IM Christian Toth was not an Elo favorite, due to inactivity, but as the former teacher
of GM Giovanni Vescovi, his experience and knowledge reaped their rewards. He came
in second by tiebreak and was one of the qualifiers.

FM Ricardo Teixeira (right) came hoping for a repeat of his Cinderella result in 2002
when he came equal first in the national championship, for the right to play a match
against GM Darcy Lima for the title (Lima won). Sadly there were no glass slippers this time.

This time, the only players guaranteed a spot beforehand are the top three players from the previous year, while players automatically seeded due to their rating are a thing of the past. The Brazilian Federation retains the right to include a player of its choosing, as does the sponsor of the event. The final seven spots must all be decided in the heat of battle, and the result was two ‘Semifinals’ qualifying four and three spots respectively. Grandmasters wanting to add this feather to their cap must revalidate their favoritism by beating their lower-rated peers.

Many players brought their families as support or as players. Three-time Rio de Janeiro
State Champion Wagner Guimarães (right) chats with his son Lucas (left).

Could you wish for a more uplifting cheerleader?

One of the semifinals took place in Rio de Janeiro, and was held at the beautiful club of Vasco da Gama. Vasco today is best known for its football team, just like Flamengo or Fluminense among others, but just as these other well-known clubs, it was not founded as a football club, not even in this football-crazed country. In fact, they are all called the ‘Clube de Regatas’ which means the ‘yacht club’. Football and many of the other sports (basketball, volleyball, and more) championed by these clubs, including chess, are but pieces to a larger puzzle.

The view to the left of the club, with the flag of Vasco rippling in the wind

For decades Vasco competed actively in the State Team championships winning many titles, with a healthy rivalry with Tijuca Tênis, and others. Sadly, some twenty years ago, the club withdrew its support of the game of kings whether due to an apparent lack of interest, or simple cost-cutting. The club has changed this stance and is now actively seeking to revert this, by hosting event after event at its headquarters.

The TV media was there in full force, represented by SporTV, a cable channel
dedicated to sports. you can see the full video clip (four minutes long) of the
report here.

The cameras weren't always as discrete as the players might wish, but such
is the price of fame.

The top rated player in the competition was none other than the top rated player in Brazil, grandmaster Rafael Leitão, five-time Brazilian champion, and now a columnist in the Chess Informant. With 2634 FIDE, he came with a towering 200-plus Elo over the rest of the field, and showed his class by tearing through the players left and right with an untouchable 6.0/6. His only draw was in the last round, where with a 1.5 point lead, and guaranteed first, he could not muster the motivation to go for his opponent’s jugular with the same verve as earlier.

GM Rafael Leitão

GM Rafael Leitão commented his victory in round six:

The team of arbiters did a great job of keeping a smooth event

This effectively left three qualifying spots to be fought over by the rest, and a six-way tie for 2nd-7th meant a rapid tiebreaker would need to be organized to decide them. At the top of the list was IM Diego Berardino (2504), followed by IM Roberto Molina, IM Rodrigo Disconzi, IM Christian Toth, FM Renato Quintiliano, and FM Cesar Umetsubo. After seven rounds none had been able to outshine the others and it would now be a cutthroat round-robin rapid tournament played at 15 minutes, with no increment. After the dust had settled, the next three qualifiers for the Brazilian championship were Berardino, Molina, and Toth.

As the last round ended, the sun set on the bay

Final standings

Click here for full standings

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