One of the America's most prestigious qualifying tournaments. A total of 75 titled players, including 23 GMs and 15 IMs, will fight it out for 4 qualifying spots for the upcoming World Cup , part of the World Championship cycle. Two Canadian grandmasters are participating.
You can follow Eric at his TWITTER. Eric has brought with him his friend and colleague Robin van Kampen to work as his second, camera man and body guard.
Robin and PIZZA! Part of the job being a second is to test the food before Eric eats. I assume Eric is the taking the photo, waiting to see if Robin turns green. Notice the water: this tournament is too serious for beer!
The following photos and video are from the tournament organizers and more can be found from their TWITTER and YOUTUBE page.
Top seed Julio Granda (with the Black pieces). Julio lives in Spain (Salamanca) very close to where I live in Portugal, and occasionally he comes by to visit.