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

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

vian

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

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 Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in ...

, 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 in

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

. By the age of 19, he had obtained the title of Grandmaster by the

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...

, 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 (chess), grandmaster and author. Known for his imaginative and unorthodox style of play, he was the second-strongest non-Soviet Union, Soviet player, behind ...

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Argentine Sea, Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón Partido, General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires ...

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 Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...

2007 on

tie-break In games and sport, a tiebreaker or tiebreak is any method used to determine a winner or to rank participants when there is a tie - meaning two or more parties have achieved a same score or result. A tiebreaker provides the additional criterion ...

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 (; born 25 October 1985) is a Latvian-German chess grandmaster who currently represents Bulgaria after previously representing Latvia (until 1997), Germany (1998–2015) and Azerbaijan (2015–2024). Career In 1995 he won th ...

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 sport, 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 ri ...

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

and Kiril Georgiev in the 19th Magistral

Pamplona Pamplona (; ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Navarre, Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. Lying at near above sea level, the city (and the wider Cuenca de Pamplona) is located on the flood pl ...

Tournament. In 2010, he won the 5th Torneo Abierto in

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

. In 2011 he tied for 2nd–7th with

Aleksander Delchev Aleksander Delchev (; born 15 July 1971) is a Bulgarian chess player and writer currently representing Serbia. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1997. Delchev won the Bulgarian Chess Championship in 1994, 1996 and 2001. He playe ...

, Ivan Šarić, Pablo Almagro Llamas, Maxim Turov 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 Romanian ...

the 31st Villa de

Benasque Benasque (; in Benasquese dialect: ''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 peaks in tha ...

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 2½–1½ ...

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

, Norway, Granda reached round four, after knocking out

Hrant Melkumyan Hrant Slavayi Melkumyan (; 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 chess Internet portal. In 2006, ...

Peter Leko Peter Leko (; born September 8, 1979) is a Hungarian chess grandmaster and commentator. He became the world's youngest grandmaster in 1994. He narrowly missed winning the Classical World Chess Championship 2004: the match was drawn 7–7 and s ...

and

Anish Giri Anish Kumar Giri (; ; born 28 June 1994) is a Dutch chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves no hidden information and no elements of chance. It is played on ...

. He was however defeated by

Fabiano Caruana Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an Italian and American chess grandmaster who is the reigning four-time United States Chess Champion. With a peak rating of 2844, Caruana is the third-highest-rated player in history. Born in Mia ...

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 FIDE Onli ...

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

Alexander Shabalov Alexander Anatolyevich Shabalov (; ; born September 12, 1967) is an American chess grandmaster and a four-time winner of the United States Chess Championship (1993, 2000, 2003, 2007). He also won or tied for first place seven times in the U.S. ...

, Rafael Leitao, Isan Reynaldo Ortiz Suarez and Alan Pichot 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 is a major chess event organized by FIDE, the international governing body. History Three different formats have been used: *In 2000 and 2002, it was a multi-stage tournament, with a group stage consisting of 24 players in fo ...

, he played a

rapid Rapid(s) or RAPID may refer to: Hydrological features * Rapids, sections of a river with turbulent water flow * Rapid Creek (Iowa River tributary), Iowa, United States * Rapid Creek (South Dakota), United States, namesake of Rapid City Sport ...

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. The 2024 tournament took place in Porto Santo, Portugal from November 16–29, 2024. Overview Originally, the minimum age w ...

Acqui Terme Acqui Terme (; ) 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'Acqui. The c ...

, 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