Last year, a large Indian delegation played in the Sparkassen Chess Trophy. Aryan Chopra was in the lead for a while, Pranav Anand played a good tournament, but another young grandmaster ended up on the podium. The 17-year-old Leon Luke Mendonca came third in the A-Open and will be back in Dortmund in 2024.
Mendonca had already passed the 2600 mark in 2023 and got off to a very good start in the A-Open of the 50th International Dortmund Chess Days. After 3 winning games, he met the German top player Matthias Blübaum in round 4 and scored a draw before being paired with Black against GM Pranav Anand in round 5. In this top Indian duel, Mendonca won with Black. From then on, he played at the top of the tournament and remained undefeated, finishing the tournament with 7 points from 9 games.
The fine rating secured him the third place, only behind Alexander Donchenko and Frederik Svane. This result gave the exceptional talent a further boost over the next few months, enabling him to achieve his greatest success to date at the start of 2024. He played an outstanding tournament in the Challenger round robin tournament in Wijk aan Zee and won with 9.5 points from 13 games. This qualifies him for the 2025 Wijk aan Zee Masters Tournament.
He felt so comfortable in Dortmund last year that he registered directly for the Sparkassen Chess Trophy 2024. After his recent successes, he is one of the favourites in the A-Open. There is a limit of 200 participants per open, so early registration secures a starting place.
Willow - Mendonca, Sparkassen Chess Trophy 2023
35...Qh6+! 36.Kb1 Ne3! 37.Rxd6 Nf5! 0-1
was a nice way to end the game immediately with the knight forks.