Eduardo Iturrizaga

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Eduardo Iturrizaga

Full name

Eduardo Patricio Iturrizaga Bonelli

Country

Born

Venezuela

1 November 1989 (age 25)

Caracas, Venezuela

Title

Grandmaster

FIDE rating

2612 (June 2015)

Peak rating

2661 (September 2013)

Eduardo Patricio Iturrizaga Bonelli (born 1 November 1989) is a Venezuelan chess player.
[1]
He achieved the title ofgrandmaster in 2008, making him the first and only Venezuelan chess
grandmaster.[2][3]
Contents
[hide]

1 Chess career

2 Playing style

3 References

4 External links

Chess career[edit]
Iturrizaga was born 1 November 1989 in Caracas. He learned to move the chess pieces at age
five. "I opened withpawn to e4, then moved my knights, and put pawns on h3 and a3
for castling and to connect the rooks. For me that was all", he recalls.[3] He moved to Peru when
he was seven, and it was upon his return to Venezuela at age nine he started to take the game
seriously.[3] At age thirteen he attained the title of International Master.[4]
Iturrizaga won consecutive national championships from 2005 to 2008, and has been playing
for Venezuela at theChess Olympiad since 2004. His best performance came at the 37th
Chess Olympiad (2006), when he scored 8.5/11 points playing second board. The result
earned him an individual bronze medal.[5] Iturrizaga qualified for the 2007 Chess World
Cup after a shared first place performance at the American Continental Championship.[6] He
was set to face Peter Svidler in the first round, but forfeited the first game due to getting lost
between Russian airports.[7] He lost the second game. In 2008, Iturrizaga won an online
qualifier for the C-group in the 2009 Corus Chess Tournament, defeating GM Alexandr Fier 3-1
in the finals.[8] He ended up on a shared eight place out of fourteen in the main tournament,
scoring 5.5/13.[9] Iturrizaga finished second in the 2008 Iboamerican Championship in Linares,
Spain, losing to Julio Granda in the finals.[10] Iturrizaga was the last person to arrive at the
tournament, had to play one game at night, and nearly arrived late for one of the matches. [11]
After sharing first place at the Zonal 2.3 Chess Championships in San Jose, Costa
Rica with Lzaro Bruzn, Iturrizaga qualified for the Chess World Cup 2009. He was knocked
out by Baadur Jobava in the second round, having defeated Sergei Tiviakov 3.5 - 2.5 in the first
round.[12] The same year, Iturrizaga won the 12th Dubai Open Chess Championship with 7
points out of 9, besting a field consisting of 36 GMs and 154 players total. [13]
Iturrizaga placed fourth in the 2010 Iboamerican Championship held in Mexico City. He
defaulted the third-fourth playoff, despite winning the first game, after arriving an hour late for
the second.[14] In February 2011, Iturrizaga participated in the A-group of the Aeroflot Open. He
scored 4/9, with a performance rating of 2542.[15]
Iturrizaga's FIDE rating is 2645 (June 2013), making him number 117 in the world, and the 8th
highest rated player in the Americas.

Playing style[edit]
As of 2010, Iturrizaga mostly plays queen's pawn openings, and the English Opening with the
white pieces, and the Accelerated Dragon Sicilian Defence with black. He has expressed
dissatisfaction that this opening will often lead to draws, due to his opponents being aware of it.
"I play Taimanov and the Caro-Kann, but I lack repertoire", he told El Nacional.[3] Iturrizaga
admires Bobby Fischer and is a follower of Levon Aronian's playstyle.[3]

References[edit]
1.

Jump up^ "Title Applications". FIDE. November 2007. Retrieved 20 January 2011.

2.

Jump up^ "Festeja la UNAM Campeonato Iberoamericano de Ajedrez 2010" (in

Spanish). Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico. 12 November 2010. Retrieved 20
January 2011.

3.

^ Jump up to:a b c d e "El ajedrecista venezolano Eduardo Iturrizaga: "Puedo llegar lejos,
pero necesito ayuda"" (in Spanish). El Nacional. 22 November 2010. Retrieved 16
February2011.

4.

Jump up^ "Iturrizaga persigue la gloria en ajedrez" (in Spanish). El Universal. 5

December 2006. Retrieved 17 February 2011.

5.

Jump up^ "Iturrizaga, Eduardo". OlimpBase. Retrieved 16 February 2011.

6.

Jump up^ Polgar, Susan (20 July 2007). "5 tie for 1st at the Continental
Championship". Susan Polgar. Retrieved 16 February 2011.

7.

Jump up^ Greengard, Michael (23 November 2007). "World Cup 2007 Begins". Mig
Greengard. Retrieved 16 February 2011.

8.

Jump up^ Greengard, Michael (10 November 2008). "Hazaas

Latinoamericanas!". Mig Greengard. Retrieved 16 February 2011.

9.

Jump up^ "Corus 2009 pairings and results". Chessdom. Retrieved 17 February 2011.

10.

Jump up^ Woisin, Nadja (7 March 2008). "Iberoamericano: Granda nuevo

campen" (in Spanish). ChessBase. Retrieved 17 February 2011.

11.

Jump up^ Pradas, Marisol (7 March 2008). "Iturrizaga la gran figura del
Iberoamericano de Ajedrez" (in Spanish). Boletn Digital Universitario de la Universidad de
Carabobo. Retrieved 17 February 2011.

12.

Jump up^ "Chess in Khanty-Mansiysk". FIDE. Retrieved 17 February 2011.

13.

Jump up^ "GM Iturrizaga wins 12th Dubai Open" (in Spanish). Confederation of Chess
for America. Retrieved 17 February 2011.

14.

Jump up^ Crowther, Mark (22 November 2010). "III Iberoamerican Championships
2010". The Week in Chess. Retrieved 17 February 2011.

15.

Jump up^ "GM Iturrizaga, Eduardo". Aeroflot Open. 17 February 2011. Retrieved 17
February 2011.

External links[edit]

Eduardo Iturrizaga rating card at FIDE

Eduardo Iturrizaga player profile and games at Chessgames.com

Eduardo Iturrizaga player profile at the Internet Chess Club

Eduardo Iturrizaga on Twitter

Categories:

1989 births

Living people

Chess grandmasters

Venezuelan chess players