Alonso Zapata Ramirez (born August 22, 1958) is a Colombian chess grandmaster. He is an eight-time Colombian Chess Champion.

Chess career

Zapata has won the

Colombian Chess Championship Following are the official winners of the national Colombian Chess Championships from 1928 to date. The first Colombian Men's Championship was held in Cali in 1928, and first Women's Championship in Bogotá in 1965. Men's Champions : Women's C ...

in 1980, 1981, 1995 (joint), 1996, 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2008. Zapata played twelve times for Colombia 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 (1978–1992, 1996–1998, 2002 and 2012). He finished second, behind Artur Yusupov, in the 16th

World Junior Chess Championship The World Junior Chess Championship is an under-20 chess tournament (players must have been under 20 years old on 1 January in the year of competition) organized by the World Chess Federation (FIDE). The idea was the brainchild of William Rits ...

at Innsbruck 1977, tied for third and fourth at Havana 1983, and twice shared first at Cienfuegos in 1980 and Matanzas in 1994 (

Capablanca Memorial The Capablanca Memorial is a chess tournament that has been held annually in Cuba since 1962 in honor of José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera. At the time, it was the best paid tournament in the world. Since 1974 B and C tournaments have been held ...

). Zapata was awarded the

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

(IM) title in 1980 and the GM title in 1984. In 1988, Zapata beat future world champion

Viswanathan Anand Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster. Anand is a five-time World Chess Champion, a two-time World Rapid Chess Champion, a two-time Chess World Cup Champion and a World Blitz Chess Cup Champion. ...

in only six moves. In 2014, shortly after relocating to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Zapata won the Southeast Open, held at

Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...

, with 4.5/5. In 2018, Zapata tied for first place in the inaugural National Senior Tournament of Champions. In 2019, Zapata won clear first place in the Charlotte Chess Center's IM-B Norm Round Robin Tournament held in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

with an undefeated score of 7.5/9. Zapata won the Georgia State Championship five times: 2013, 2014 (tied), 2016, 2021 (tied), and 2022, and the Georgia State Senior Championship four times: 2016, 2019, 2021, and 2024 (tied).

References

External links

* 1958 births Chess Grandmasters Living people Colombian chess players Chess Olympiad competitors 20th-century Colombian people 21st-century Colombian people {{Colombia-chess-bio-stub