The top division of the Spanish League is run in two phases, the Kasparov Marcote Chess School coming out ahead. Many of the teams need to import some top-ranking stars in order to compete in this division.
Indeed, as only two of the six players in any match must be Spanish, the richer teams can have as many as four (high-ranking) foreigners (generally on the top boards). There were nine 2700+ players involved of which only one (Shirov) is considered to be Spanish.
| Rank | Seed | Team name | Played | + | = | - | Match pts. | Game pts. |
| 1 | 1 | ESCUELA I. KASPAROV MARCOTE | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 16 |
| 2 | 7 | C.A. SOLVAY | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 13,5 |
| 3 | 3 | C.A. LINEX-MAGIC | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 13,5 |
| 4 | 8 | C.A. REVERTE ALBOX | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 11 |
| 5 | 4 | SCC SABADELL | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 13 |
| 6 | 5 | MERIDA PATRIMONIO | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 12,5 |
| 7 | 2 | C.A. SESTAO NATURGAS | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 11 |
| 8 | 9 | C.E. BARBERA | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10,5 |
| 9 | 6 | GROS X.T. | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 |
| 10 | 10 | U.G.A. | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 9 |
In the first round (23rd of August) Marcote only drew but followed up with three victories.
Solvay pulled off a surprise and indeed continued their strong form throughout.
| 1 | ESCUELA I. KASPAROV MARCOTE | 3 : 3 | 6 | GROS X.T. |
| 7 | C.A. SOLVAY | 4 : 2 | 2 | C.A. SESTAO NATURGAS |
| 3 | C.A. LINEX-MAGIC | 2½:3½ | 8 | C.A. REVERTE ALBOX |
| 9 | C.E. BARBERA | 2 : 4 | 4 | SCC SABADELL |
| 5 | MERIDA PATRIMONIO | 4 : 2 | 10 | U.G.A. |
Second round (24th of August):
| 4 | SCC SABADELL | 2½:3½ | 7 | C.A. SOLVAY |
| 8 | C.A. REVERTE ALBOX | 3½:2½ | 5 | MERIDA PATRIMONIO |
| 2 | C.A. SESTAO NATURGAS | 2 : 4 | 1 | ESCUELA I. KASPAROV MARCOTE |
| 6 | GROS X.T. | 1½:4½ | 3 | C.A. LINEX-MAGIC |
| 10 | U.G.A. | 2½:3½ | 9 | C.E. BARBERA |
The top two seeds met and Sestao lost out again thus already indicating that they wouldn't finish in the top four.
Third round (25th of August):
| 7 | C.A. SOLVAY | 3 : 3 | 8 | C.A. REVERTE ALBOX |
| 1 | ESCUELA I. KASPAROV MARCOTE | 4 : 2 | 4 | SCC SABADELL |
| 3 | C.A. LINEX-MAGIC | 3½:2½ | 5 | MERIDA PATRIMONIO |
| 9 | C.E. BARBERA | 3 : 3 | 6 | GROS X.T. |
| 2 | C.A. SESTAO NATURGAS | 3½:2½ | 10 | U.G.A. |
Marcote achieved the biggest wins in both of the third and fourth rounds.
Fourth Round (26th of August):
| 8 | C.A. REVERTE ALBOX | 1 : 5 | 1 | ESCUELA I. KASPAROV MARCOTE |
| 3 | C.A. LINEX-MAGIC | 3 : 3 | 7 | C.A. SOLVAY |
| 6 | GROS X.T. | 2½:3½ | 2 | C.A. SESTAO NATURGAS |
| 5 | MERIDA PATRIMONIO | 3½:2½ | 9 | C.E. BARBERA |
| 4 | SCC SABADELL | 4½:1½ | 10 | U.G.A. |
In the fourth round the clash between the two big Basque teams (and eternal rivals!) ended with a narrow win for Sestao (a suburb of Bilbao) over Gros (San Sebastian).
The top four qualify for the semi-finals, starting today whereas the bottom four are at the same time going to be involved in play-off matches to avoid relegation.
Here is a list of the strongest possible team that the semi-finalists can put out:
Kasparov-Marcote:
| 1 | Gashimov, Vugar | 2719 | AZE |
| 2 | Vallejo Pons, Francisco | 2697 | ESP |
| 3 | Inarkiev, Ernesto | 2671 | RUS |
| 4 | Smeets, Jan | 2669 | NED |
| 5 | Gustafsson, Jan | 2643 | GER |
| 6 | Salgado Lopez, Ivan | 2607 | ESP |
Solvay:
| 1 | Harikrishna, P. | 2646 | IND |
| 2 | Ganguly, Surya Shekhar | 2655 | IND |
| 3 | Negi, Parimarjan | 2615 | IND |
| 4 | Delchev, Aleksander | 2632 | BUL |
| 5 | Ubilava, Elizbar | 2528 | ESP |
| 6 | Bernal Moro, Luis J. (MI) | 2443 | ESP |
Linex Magic:
| 1 | Shirov, Alexei | 2749 | ESP |
| 2 | Ponomariov, Ruslan | 2734 | UKR |
| 3 | Caruana, Fabiano | 2697 | ITA |
| 4 | Sargissian, Gabriel | 2673 | ARM |
| 5 | Cheparinov, Ivan | 2661 | BUL |
| 6 | Perez Candelario, Manuel (MI) | 2517 | ESP |
Reverte Albox:
| 1 | Dreev, Alexey | 2660 | RUS |
| 2 | Krasenkow, Michal | 2628 | POL |
| 3 | Mchedlishvili, Mikheil | 2625 | GEO |
| 4 | Matlakov, Maxim | 2603 | RUS |
| 5 | Rivas Pastor, Manuel | 2525 | ESP |
| 6 | Ibarra Jerez, Jose Carlos (MI) | 2520 | ESP |
Here are the other notable players present in Sestao and their clubs:
Gros:
| 1 | Bacrot, Etienne | 2720 | FRA |
| 2 | Kasimdzhanov, Rustam | 2699 | UZB |
| 3 | Van Wely, Loek | 2677 | NED |
Sabadell:
| 1 | Navara, David | 2731 | CZE |
| 2 | Laznicka, Viktor | 2638 | CZE |
Merida:
| 1 | Almasi, Zoltan | 2717 | HUN |
| 2 | Jobava, Baadur | 2710 | GEO |
| 3 | Le, Quang Liem | 2681 | VIE |
| 4 | Rublevsky, Sergei | 2688 | RUS |
Barbera:
| 1 | Bruzon Batista, Lazaro | 2653 | CUB |
| 2 | Postny, Evgeny | 2577 | ISR |
| 3 | Quesada Perez, Yuniesky | 2603 | CUB |
Sestao:
| 1 | Nakamura, Hikaru | 2729 | USA |
| 2 | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2723 | FRA |
| 3 | Short, Nigel D | 2690 | ENG |
| 4 | Moiseenko, Alexander | 2667 | UKR |
For more information concerning the event go to the Official site
