Spain loses a golden opportunity against China

It is very unlikely that Spain will have another opportunity like today to fight for a gold medal in a World Cup in the next decade.

The Spanish were very close to winning the first semifinal match against China, which however ended in a tie (2-2).

And then, as if that upset had hampered their potential, they clearly lost the second (1-3).

Spain will play for bronze with India this Friday while China fights for gold against Uzbekistan.

Only a few minutes before the end of the first round of the semifinals, the triumph of Spain seemed almost certain.

After an impressive victory by David Antón over Xiangyu Xu - "Yes, I think it's a very good game," he later commented to EL PAÍS - and the draw that Alexéi Shírov had wrested from Jinshi Bai, Jaime Santos had a winning advantage against Shanglei Lu on the first board while Miguel Santos was worse, but with a high probability of a draw, against Di Li.

Then a double misfortune happened: Miguel Santos did not realize that he had a few seconds left, and he lost on time.

And Jaime Santos didn't see a winner in a knight ending and had to settle for a draw.

As in the other semifinal, everything was as close as two hours before (the pace is 45 minutes per side plus an additional ten seconds after each move).

"Cheer up, it's a good result and we have another chance," encouraged Javier Ochoa de Echagüen, president of the Spanish Chess Federation (FEDA), acting as captain due to the severe cold suffered by David Martínez.

But subsequent events indicate that this painful setback hindered the performance of the Spaniards in the second round.

The first blow was suffered by Shirov, hunted with a laboratory preparation by Bai that left him almost lost from the opening.

However, hope was still solid: Danil Yuffa (substitute for the traumatized Miguel Santos), and David Antón enjoyed great advantages over Li and Xu, respectively;

and Jaime Santos was fighting in a sustainable position.

But the rosy prospects soon evaporated.

Antón miscalculated a tremendous blow that would have left him on the verge of victory, and he ended up in a draw.

Jaime Santos confirmed that the lack of physical resistance -he usually fails in the last rounds of tournaments- is probably his main weak point, and he ended up losing.

There was still a hope, because Yuffa, after losing his big advantage, was back in a winning position, but this time the decisive blow was very difficult to see under the pressure of the clock, and he had to accept the draw.

Despite the absence of Paco Vallejo (due to fatigue, according to the FEDA) on the first board and Eduardo Iturrizaga (due to a professional commitment in Venezuela) on the fifth, Spain had made good use of the absences of several stars on the other boards until today. equipment, and especially in China.

In addition, yesterday they beat Azerbaijan in the quarterfinals, which has brought its top team.

And they can still win a bronze, which would be the greatest success in the history of the team.

But a negative reading of the same reality can also be made: Vallejo is already 40 years old;

Shirov, 50;

and it is very improbable that the best current sub 20 can reach their height.

There are trains that only run once in a while, although it is true that winning bronze would be an indisputable success.

Subscribe to

Subscribe to continue reading

Read without limits

Keep reading

I'm already a subscriber