The III. four nations tournament started in the magnificent facilities at the Spa Vichy Catalan hotel, Caldes de Malavella. As much as 11 of 16 participants were GMs! Top seed was R. Felgaer of Argentina - Elo 2624.

Round 1:
Euskadi, on the paper the weakest team surprised Catalonia in the first round. Illescas signed draw with Cifuentes and left the responsability in the hands of other three team members. Granados (Catalonia) was trapped with a tactical trick on h7 that left him exchange down in a hopeless position and was soon forced to turn over his King in a game vs the Chilean-Basque Varas. Comas employed risky Volga gambit and found himself in a double-edged position with both sides losing their chances. All in all he was flagged when his position was already clearly lost. Comas and Granados were the two who stayed in the hotel room 13 - a double curse? Romero scored the only win for Catalonia as he beat González de la Torre winning the mere pawn first. In the other match Romania-Argentina 4 draws left the 2-2 on the scoreboard; with draws on top two boards on the third board Cámpora saved inferior position and on the contrary Adla failed to turn clear advantage into a win on board #4. The joke of the day was that there were calls from Moncloa (official residence of Spanish prime minister) proposing 8 different names of the tournament (this joke may not be possible to understand for non-Spanish readers; probably it refers to the fact that Spanish central goverment strongly opposes nationalistic movements in the Basque Country and Catalonia; and the Cuatro Naciones tournament sees these two having their own teams and not united Spanish team; they both have their own languages too).

Round 2:
Catalunya lost its second match 1½ to 2½, despite the second consecutive victory for Romero. Lluis Comas signed the draw and saw Illescas and Granados losing their games. In the other match, Argentina beat Euskadi 3-1 with draw on top boards and couple of wins at bottom boards.

Round 3:
Romania have been proclaimed winners of the third edition of the 4 Nations thanks to their clear victory over Euskadi by 3-1. Argentina, who arrived as leaders in the morning, luckilky drew the Catalan team 2-2 (had Argentinians won 2½-1½ they would have finished in tied first). With three draws already signed, Granados (Catalonia) came to the ending with a Knight and a pawn vs two pawns of Adla, but the latter found the way to force exchange of pawns.

/ Based on report from www.ajedreznd.com /