Àlvar Alonso is a Spanish Grandmaster, analyst, and coach.
He stood out early in his career, winning the Catalan and Spanish age-group championships, and obtaining good results in European and World Championships. For example, in 2004 he finished 5th in the U-12 World Championship, ahead of Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So, whom he defeated in their individual game.
In 2011 he won his first title of Spanish Absolute Champion, at the age of 19, being the second youngest Spanish Champion in history. Only the legendary Arturo Pomar (child prodigy disciple of Alexander Alekhine, 4th World Champion) achieved it before at the age of 15 in 1946.
Despite studying mathematics and having a full-time job, Àlvar has remained a regular player in Open and Team tournaments, keeping his ELO in 2500+ points. In 2018, he won the very strong Sitges Chess Festival, starting as pre-qualifier #27, and scoring 8/10 ahead of extra-class players like Vassily Ivanchuk and Dmitry Andreikin (former World title candidates).
In addition, Àlvar collaborates regularly with various chess publications, he is a coach of junior players and in his spare time he runs a YouTube channel.
In his first two-part Chessable course for casual to expert-level players, Àlvar has created a masterpiece on the opening he is most excited about: the Catalan. With almost 20 years practicing it (and the approval of SuperGM Peter Leko...), in this course (In Spanish, at the moment), Àlvar shows the universe of the Catalan, offering a lot of alternatives for you to shape your repertoire in the way that best suits you.
But why fantasize about it when you can try it? Start studying ¡Catalana! Part 1&2 today!
