Eduardo Iturrizaga
| Eduardo Iturrizaga | |
|---|---|
Dresden 2016
|
|
| Full name | Eduardo Patricio Iturrizaga Bonelli |
| Country |
 Venezuela
|
| Born |
1 November 1989 Caracas, Venezuela |
| Title | Grandmaster |
| FIDE rating | 2671 (April 2017) |
| Peak rating | 2661 (September 2013) |
Eduardo Patricio Iturrizaga Bonelli (born 1 November 1989) is a Venezuelan chess player who achieved the title of Grandmaster in 2008, making him the first and, to date, only Venezuelan chess grandmaster.
Iturrizaga was born 1 November 1989 in Caracas. He learned to move the chess pieces at age five. "I opened with pawn 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. 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. At age thirteen he attained the title of International Master. Iturizzaga won the Pan American under-16 championship in 2004 and the Pan American junior (U20) championship in 2006, both times in Bogotà.
Iturrizaga won four consecutive national championships from 2005 to 2008, and has been playing for Venezuela at the Chess 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. He qualified for the Chess World Cup 2007 after a shared first place at the American Continental Championship. He was set to face Peter Svidler in the first round, but forfeited the first game due to getting lost between Russian airports. 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 final. He ended up on a shared eight place out of fourteen in the main tournament, scoring 5.5/13. Iturrizaga finished second in the 2008 Iboamerican Championship in Linares, Spain, losing to Julio Granda in the final. 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.
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