Grandmaster (2008); Argentinian Junior Champion (2001); Champion of Argentina (2005, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2019); FIDE Trainer (2024).
Preamble
Flores was born in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, which is part of Spain.
Grandmaster norms
Diego Flores won his three qualifying GM norms at the 40th Capablanca Memorial Premier in May 2005 in Havana with the requisite 9.5/13; the 18th International Narciso Yepes Memorial Tournament in June 2007 where he scored the requisite 6.5/9 and at the 2nd IberoAmerican Championship held in Linares in Spain, where he scored 8/11, a point above the requisite for the GM norm. Consequently on the 8 March 2008 at the conclusion of the Iberoamerican Championship, Flores gained his GM title with immediate effect as his rating was already above 2500. At the time he was aged 25 years 2 months and 18 days.
Tournaments
<1999-2004> Flores won the Buenos Aires A event in 1999 with 6.5/7. He was =6th with 6.5/9 at the 32nd Mar del Plata Open held in April 2001, 1.5 points behind the winner Sergio Slipak, and half a point behind the four co-runners up. He was clear 3rd behind Fernando Peralta and Bernardo Roselli Mailhe at the category 4 Army of the Andes tournament held in Guaymallen in May-June 2001 at the foot of the Andes. He won the category 4 13th ITT Torre Blanca held in Buenos Aires in October 2001, 1.5 points clear of the field. In February 2003, he was =1st at the 3rd Olavarria Masters tournament in Argentina and followed up with =2nd behind Sergio Carlos Giardelli at the same event in February 2004. Other good results in 2004 included 3rd behind Cuban champion Lazaro Bruzon Batista and Yuniesky Quesada Perez at the category 8 G. Garcia Memorial Tournament in Cuba in 2004; winning the category 4 round-robin Chacabuco event in Argentina ahead of Lucas Liascovich winning the Ricardo Bosco Memorial; and winning the 11th Villa Martelli Pro-Am Open held in November.
<2005-2006> In 2005 his best results were first at the 5to Magistral in February, first at the Capablanca Memorial Premier Open where he won his first GM norm, 2nd at the 13th G. Garcia Memorial tournament half a point behind Jesus Nogueiras, first at the Ciudad de Vicente Lopez in July, =1st alongside Pablo Ricardi at the Final Superior in September in Argentina, and 1st on tiebreak ahead of Rodrigo Vasquez Schroeder at the Zonal 2.5 in November (which qualified him for the World Cup 2005). In 2006 he won the 6th Olavarria Masters tournament in February, the 37th Open at Mar del Plata in April, placed 2nd to Pablo Lafuente at the Cullera International in July, won the Albacete International Open and placed =2nd to Anton Kovalyov at the IV Magistral de Pinamar in Argentina.
<2007-2009> The year started with a win at Zonal 2.5 in March, qualifying Flores to compete in the World Cup of 2007. Immediately afterwards he placed =2nd at Mar del Plata behind Andres Rodriguez Vila. In June we was =1st alongside Aleksa Strikovic, Kevin Spraggett, Sergey A Fedorchuk and Vladimir Baklan at the Narciso Yepes Memorial, where he gained his second GM norm. Soon afterwards, he was =4th with 6.5/9 behind the three co-leaders Salvador del Rio de Angelis, Branko Damljanovic and Maxim Rodshtein. In June 2008, he was second to Ruben Felgaer at the Abierto de la Despedida played in Buenos Aires. In October 2008, he won the 15th Proam Open Tournament with 7.5/9. 2009 started with a strong 8/9 win at the Norberto Laporta Legislature Cup in April.
<2010-2011> The year started with a win at the 41st Mar del Plata. There followed =2nd behind Sandro Mareco at the Simon Bolivar Cup, 2nd behind Neuris Delgado Ramirez at the Colombian Bicentennial of Independence International, =2nd behind Felgaer at the Bicentennial Masters Tournament in Argentina, and =3rd behind Granda Zuniga and Delgado Ramirez at the Latin American Cup in Peru in August, finishing the year with =3rd at the JAVH McGregor behind Sergei Tiviakov and Emilio Cordova and by winning the category 12 Marcel Duchamp masters on tiebreak ahead of Mareco. In April 2011, he again won the International Open in Mar del Plata and was =2nd behind Jorge Cori at the Marcel Duchamp International in September. In November 2011 he was =1st alongside Alexandr Fier at the Latin American Cup and outright 1st at the "COPA Dr. Norberto LA PORTA" (Premier) Legislature Tournament staged in Buenos Aires.
<2012-2013> April 2012 saw Flores placing clear second, half a point behind the winner Sandro Mareco, at the annual Mar del Plata International and in May was =1st at the Panno Masters played at the Club Philidor in Moron alongside Mareco and Ernesto Real de Azua. He finished 2012 with an =1st alongside Fier and Krikor Sevag Mekhitarian at the XI ITT Regina Helena Marques Prol in Brazil and =1st alongside Mareco at the 5th City of Buenos Aires Legislature Tournament. May 2013 saw Flores placing =1st alongside Gilberto Hernandez Guerrero at the University of La Punta masters tournament, "Sueno Panamericano 2019" (2019 Pan American Dream - referring to the upcoming Pan American Games in 2019).
<2014-2015> In July 2014, Flores won the Masters Tournament celebrating the 93rd anniversary of the city of Rio Grande. In November 2014, he was =1st alongside Andres Rodriguez Vila at the ProAm International Open and in December 2014, was =3rd at the University of La Punta International Open behind Peralta and Federico Perez Ponsa. 2015 started with Flores winning the Arica International Open in Chile in January. In September 2015, he was equal first at the 3rd Salto Sports Club Open alongside Uruguayan legend Andres Rodriguez Vila.
Championships
<Youth> Flores competed at the World U12 Championship in 1994 staged in Szeged in Hungary, and in the World U16 Championship in 1998 and the World U18 Championship in 1999, both staged in Oropesa del Mar, and without troubling the leader board. He had better luck in the Pan American U18 Championship that was staged in Bento Goncalves in 2000, where he placed =3rd behind Pablo Della Morte and Laureano Rissotti.
<Junior (U20)> Flores competed in the Argentinian U26 championship in 1997. He won Argentina's Junior Championship in 2001 and competed in the World Junior Championship 2001.
<National> Flores competed in the Argentinian Championship 1998 semifinal scoring 4.5/9. He won the Argentinean Championship (2005), 2009, 2012 and 2013; he was runner-up in 2006, 2008 and 2015. In April 2008, Flores won the semi-finals of the 82nd Argentine Championship, qualifying for the finals in May 2008, where he placed 4th. The Argentine Championship (2008) was held in July-August 2008, at which Flores placed =1st alongside Kovalyev and Felgaer, but finished 2nd in the playoff between the three leaders.
<Continental> Flores first competed in the American Continental Championship in 1996 at the age of 13. He also competed in 1997 and 2003. He placed 4th behind Giovanni Vescovi, Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli and Julio Granda Zuniga at the 2nd Ibero-American Championship in 2008, and gained his 3rd GM norm. He was =3rd at the 2009 American Continental Championship, half a point behind the joint leaders Alexander Shabalov and Fidel Corrales Jimenez. In October 2012, Flores was =1st at the American Continental Championship but placed 5th after a rapid playoff. However, his 3rd place in the 2013 American Continental Championship qualified him for the World Cup (2013). He was =3rd at the American Continental Championship, half a point behind the joint leaders Mareco and Quesada Perez, but failed to qualify in the playoff for the remaining 3 places in the World Cup 2015. He did qualify(1) for the 2017 World Cup.
<World> He competed in the World Cups of 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2013 bowing out on each occasion in the first round.
Team events
<National representation> Flores represented Argentina at the Olympiads of 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014. He also played top board for Argentina at the 2009 Panamerican Team Championships, winning individual gold and helping his team to fourth place. He also played top board for Argentina at the 1st Mercosur Olympiad (consisting of major South American national teams) in Buenos Aires in 2009, leading his team to win silver.
<City Team> He was a member of the Buenos Aires team that played a 4-cornered match in Warsaw against Warsaw, Kolkata and Warsaw B, his team placing 3rd.
<National leagues> Flores played in the 2007 and 2009 CECLUB Spanish League, and in the Argentina Higher League in 2013 and 2014.
Match
In December 2008, he played a 2-game match against Brazilian legend Henrique Mecking, winning one game and drawing the other. In December 1998, he played a game against Kasparov in a simul staged in Buenos Aires, drawing that game in 38 moves.
Award
In 2010 he won the Konex Award - Diploma of Merit as one of the top 5 chess players of the decade in Argentina.
Rating
Flores' highest rating to date was 2634 in November 2018.
Sources and references
Principal source of data was the FIDE database.
(1) http://www.fide.com/images/stories/..., (2) Wikipedia article: Diego Flores (chess player)
Kibitzing
