Donostia Chess Festival

San Sebastian is in northern Spain close to the Cantabric Sea. It has 180.000 inhabitants and tourism and commerce are very important for its daily-live.

Chess has also been highly tied to San Sebastian. In february and march of 1911 an important tournament was held in the Casino. 15 of the best player of that time came to San Sebastian:  Akiba Rubinstein, Aaron Nimzowitsch Frank James Marshall or Siegbet Tarrasch played that tournament. Cuban player Jose Raul Capablanca won the tournament. Next year the Casino organized the tournament again, 11 players came to San Sebastian and Akiba Rubinstein won the tournament.

Later, in the 80s and thanks to the effort of the Gipuzkoan Chess Federation, the International San Sebastian Chess Open was started. In 2009 the 32nd edition of the tournament was played in the same venue of the tournament of 1911 and the venue of this tournmanet: the Town Hall, the old casino.

Nowadays there are 4 chess clubs in San Sebastian Club Deportivo Fortuna, Añorga Kirol eta Kultur Elkartea, Gros Xake Taldea and Easo Xake Taldea; and one of them, Gros Xake Taldea, is the organiser of this tournament.

Gros Xake Taldea has teams in all local and regional leagues and has played Spanish and European Team Championships. It has also organized many Open Tournaments and the Spanish Team Championships in 2006.

Sources:

• http://www.worldchesslinks.net/szqa6.html
• http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donostia
• http://nimzowitsch.com/Tourn_and_Match/sanseb11.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Sebastian_chess_tournament
• Town Hall photo (CC-BY-SA): http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlosmatilla/2582987947/sizes/s/
• 1911 Tournament players: http://nimzowitsch.com/Tourn_and_Match/sanseb11.htm