Andorra Chess - March Overview - The Catalan circus shadows the Queens

et’s get back to the heart of this blog—bringing you the latest chess updates from Andorra! March has been packed with action, with two major highlights: Women’s tournaments and the conclusion of the Catalan league.

Part 1 – Queens in the Spotlight

If you remember our last post (Of course you do! 😏), Andorra hosted a Chess.com tournament to celebrate International Women’s Day. While the prizes were Chess.com diamond memberships, the real excitement came from having titled players competing in the event. Congratulations to WFM Leancy Fernández, who not only won but also streamed the tournament live! Be sure to follow her on YouTube and Twitch to keep up with her content! 🎥♟️

The fun didn’t stop there! FIDE also organized the "Queens' Online Chess Festival 2025", an international online tournament that has been growing since its debut in 2021. If you’re unfamiliar with it, here’s how 2025 works:

🌍 Four qualifiers (Africa, Europe, Asia, and America) played in a 9-11 round Swiss System (3+2)
💡 The Top 25 players from each region advance to the semifinals, an 11-round Swiss System
🏆 The Top 8 then qualify for the final, played as a 7-round round-robin (5+5)

This year, two players from Andorra joined the competition: Alexandra Muratet and Júlia Muratet. While we’ve had more Andorran participants in past editions, scheduling conflicts with round 7 of the Catalan league made it challenging for some to compete.

Both players delivered strong performances in the European qualifier. Júlia scored an impressive 6.5 out of 11, finishing in 20th place, while Alexandra secured 5 points and placed 46th. Since only the top 25 players advanced to the semifinals, it was Júlia who moved on in the tournament.

The Andorran dream came to an end in the semifinals, as Júlia didn’t make it into the top 8—a tough challenge considering the high level of competition and the number of stronger players in the field.

Stay tuned for the finals, which will be held on March 28th!

Part 2 – Shadows Over the Catalan League

Now, let’s move on to the second highlight of March: the conclusion of the Catalan Team League. Remember, Andorra had three teams (A, B, and C) competing in the 2025 edition, all aiming to avoid relegation from their respective divisions. Unfortunately, Team C was already relegated earlier, as their division had a shorter schedule.

As for Andorra’s first team, their season could only be described as miraculous. Despite losing key players from the 2024 squad and being forced to play six out of nine matches away, the team managed to secure their place in the division with one round to spare—scoring 4 points out of 8. 💪

Good thing we had already done our homework, because the last round turned into a full-blown circus. And I’ll let you decide which definition of "circus" fits best:

1. A Roman-style spectacle—because cramming 180 players into a tiny venue was a show in itself. Add as well some live music played while games were on.

2. A travelling act—We couldn’t host our final match at home—not because of bad weather or venue issues. No, it was because of what I’m now calling pairing-fixing: a brilliant invention where you're the “home team” but need to travel 400 km for your match.

3. A chaotic mess—and this is the one I’ll lightly touch on now, saving the rest for a future post. 😉

So, why am I calling it chaotic? Well, when the Catalan Federation tried to justify what many might consider "pairing-fixing", one of their arguments was that it was done to "promote chess." Here's the catch: all teams were informed two weeks in advance that they’d be playing at the same venue (which, to be clear, could’ve been anywhere in Catalonia), and the event’s promotion on social media? It showed up just 48 hours before it happened. I’ll let you decide if that really counts as meaningful promotion… or just an excuse.

But wait, there’s more! If you remember from a previous blog, I appealed the "pairing-fixing" decision. And guess what? I got the Appeals Committee's response the night before the event. Now, you can probably guess how that turned out—but what you won’t guess is who made the final decision from the Appeals Committee: the very same arbiter from the league, who just so happened to be… the arbiter for the last round as well! 

Unfortunately, my frustrations didn’t stop there. The rules for the final round clearly stated that electronic devices were not allowed. Yet, my opponent—who is also a board member of the Catalan Federation—was wearing a smartwatch while playing. I raised the issue with the arbiter, who shrugged it off with, “It’s fine, he can’t communicate with it.” Later, he was seen laughing and joking with the player, even playfully telling him to “hide it.” And yes, if you’re wondering how obvious the smartwatch was… you can spot it in this blog’s thumbnail! 🧐 (sorry, it is a bit blurry but this was the official photo of the event)

Let’s be honest: I’m not saying he was cheating. But when you're playing against a board member (who’s also kind of an organizer) and you see him casually joking with the arbiter—who also happens to be part of the Appeals Committee—it really makes you feel like you’re part of a circus. 🤡 

You’ll see it in my game too: I had zero motivation to play and settled for a quick draw just to bring the curtain down on the season.

Unfortunately, Andorra’s B team faced relegation from their division this season. They were hit by what I like to call the "accordion effect"—whenever players were missing from Team A, members of Team B had to step up to fill those gaps, weakening their own lineup in the process.

That said, there were still some standout individual performances that leave us feeling optimistic. With the right momentum, earning promotion again in 2026 looks like a very realistic goal! 💪

And with that, we wrap up all of March’s chess action. Stay tuned for the April update—some of our players will be boarding a plane for what promises to be the biggest highlight of the month! ✈️♟️