Julio Ernesto Granda Zúñiga (born February 25, 1967) is a

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

vian

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

grandmaster and four-time champion of the Americas.

Career

Born in

Camaná Camaná is the district capital of the homonymous province, located in the Department of Arequipa, Peru. In 2015, it had an estimate of 39,026 inhabitants. It lies 180 km from Arequipa, on the Panamerican Highway The Pan-American Hig ...

, he learned how to play chess at the age of five. In 1980 he won the World Infant Cup in Mazatlàn, Mexico. In 1984 Granda won the

Pan American Junior Chess Championship The Pan American Junior Chess Championship is an annual chess tournament open to players in the Americas who are under 20 years of age. The tournament has been held since 1974 with occasional interruptions. Beginning in 1995, a separate championsh ...

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...

. By the age of 19, he had obtained the title of Grandmaster by the FIDE, the World Chess Federation, after surpassing the chess rating of 2500. He finished 1st with

Bent Larsen Jørgen Bent Larsen (4 March 1935 – 9 September 2010) was a Danish chess grandmaster and author. Known for his imaginative and unorthodox style of play, he was the second strongest non-Soviet player, behind Bobby Fischer, for much of the 19 ...

at Mar del Plata 1993. He is a five-time chess champion of Peru, winning in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, and 2002. Granda won the 4th American Continental Championship at Cali 2007 on

tie-break In games and sports, a tiebreaker or tiebreak is used to determine a winner from among players or teams that are tied at the end of a contest, or a set of contests. General operation In matches In some situations, the tiebreaker may cons ...

between the five first-place finishers at 8/11. This victory qualified him for the

Chess World Cup 2007 The Chess World Cup 2007 served as a qualification tournament for the World Chess Championship 2010. It was held as a 128-player single-elimination tournament, between 24 November and 16 December 2007, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. In an event att ...

where he lost his first round match to

Arkadij Naiditsch Arkadij Naiditsch ( az, Arkadi Naydiç; born 25 October 1985) is an Azerbaijani (since 2015) chess grandmaster who previously represented Latvia (until 2005) and Germany (2005–2015). Career In 1995 he won the European Under-10 champ ...

½–1½. In 2008 he won the 2nd Iberoamerican Championship in Linares, Spain by defeating in the final Eduardo Iturrizaga 2½-1½. In December 2009, he tied for 1st–4th with

Georg Meier Georg "Schorsch" Meier (; 9 November 1910 – 19 February 1999) was a German motorcycle racer famous for being the first foreign winner of the prestigious Senior TT, the Blue Riband race of the Isle of Man TT Races, in 1939 riding for the f ...

Viktor Láznička Viktor Láznička (born January 9, 1988, in Pardubice) is a Czech chess grandmaster. Chess beginnings After learning the game at age six, he progressed quickly to playing junior tournaments and achieved many prize-winning performances in the na ...

and Kiril Georgiev in the 19th Magistral

Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...

Tournament. In 2010, he won the 5th Torneo Abierto in Guadalajara. In 2011 he tied for 2nd–7th with Aleksander Delchev, Ivan Šarić,

Pablo Almagro Llamas Pablo is a Spanish form of the name Paul. People *Pablo Alborán, Spanish singer *Pablo Aimar, Argentine footballer * Pablo Armero, Colombian footballer * Pablo Bartholomew, Indian photojournalist *Pablo Brandán, Argentine footballer * Pablo Bren ...

Maxim Turov Maxim Turov (; born 7 December 1979) is a Russian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1999. Turov participated in the 1st Children's Chess Olympiad, held in Linares in 1993, as part of Russia "A" team, which won the ...

and

Mihail Marin Mihail Marin (born 21 April 1965) is a Romanian chess player and writer. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE. Marin's first major success in international chess was in qualifying for the Interzonal in 1987. He has won three Romania ...

the 31st Villa de

Benasque Benasque (; in Benasquese dialect: ''Benás''; an, Benás) () is a town in the comarca of Ribagorza, province of Huesca, (Spain). It is the main town in the Benasque Valley, located in the heart of the Pyrenees and surrounded by the highest p ...

Open. In the

Chess World Cup 2013 The Chess World Cup 2013 was a 128-player single-elimination chess tournament, played between 11 August and 2 September 2013, in the hotel Scandic Tromsø in Tromsø, Norway. It was won by Vladimir Kramnik, who defeated Dmitry Andreikin 2½–1� ...

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies in Northern Norway. The municipality is the ...

, Norway, Granda reached round four, after knocking out

Hrant Melkumyan Hrant Melkumyan ( hy, Հրանտ Մելքումյան; born April 30, 1989, in Yerevan) is an Armenian chess Grandmaster and European Blitz Champion in 2011. Chess career He won the international Internet championship organized by the ICC ches ...

, Peter Leko and Anish Giri. He was however defeated by

Fabiano Caruana Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, Caruana became a grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, and 20 days—the youngest grandmaster in the history of both Italy and the United Sta ...

with two losses. Julio Granda played for Peru in the

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 an ...

s of 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2014. Granda tied for first place with

Samuel Shankland Samuel L. Shankland (born October 1, 1991) is an American chess grandmaster. He won the U.S. Chess Championship in 2018. Shankland was California State Champion in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012, and Champion of State Champions in 2009. He won bronz ...

, Alexander Shabalov, Rafael Leitao, Isan Reynaldo Ortiz Suarez and

Alan Pichot Alan Pichot (born 13 August 1998) is an Argentine chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2016. Chess career Pichot was Argentine champion at the U10, U12, U14 and U18 levels, achieving the latter victory at the age o ...

at the 9th American Continental Chess Championship in 2014. Thanks to a better tiebreak score he took the gold medal. To earn a spot in the

FIDE World Cup The FIDE World Cup refers to three different events over the years. Since 2000, it has been a major chess event organized by FIDE, the International Chess Federation. Since 2005, it has been a 128-player single-elimination chess tournament, form ...

, he played a rapid playoff with the five other players who finished joint first. He came second with 3/5 and qualified for the World Cup 2015. Here he knocked out Alexandr Fier in the first round, Cristobal Henriquez Villagra in the second, then he lost to Radoslaw Wojtaszek in the third. In 2017, Granda won the 50+ section of the

World Senior Chess Championship The World Senior Chess Championship is an annual chess tournament established in 1991 by FIDE, the World Chess Federation. Overview Originally, the minimum age was 60 years for men, and 50 for women. Since 2014, the Senior Championship is split i ...

Acqui Terme Acqui Terme (; pms, Àich ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Alessandria, Piedmont, northern Italy. It is about south-southwest of Alessandria. It is one of the principal winemaking communes of the Italian DOCG wine Brachetto d'A ...

, Italy.

Notable chess games

Julio Ernesto Granda-Zuniga vs Yasser Seirawan, Buenos Aires, 1993, English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, King's Knight Variation (A15), 1-0Julio Ernesto Granda-Zuniga vs Gata Kamsky, cat. 16 1996, Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto, Check Variation Intermezzo Line (E15), 1-0Julio Ernesto Granda-Zuniga vs Alexander Beliavsky, Bled Olympiad 2002, Bird Opening: General (A02), 1-0Julio Ernesto Granda-Zuniga vs Rafael Duailibe Leitao, Copa ENTEL 2004, Slav Defense: Chameleon Variation (D15), 1-0

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Granda, Julio 1967 births Living people People from Camaná Province Chess grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors World Youth Chess Champions World Senior Chess Champions Peruvian chess players 20th-century Peruvian people 21st-century Peruvian people