The strongest tournament ever held in Portugal gathered 272 chess players from 42 countries in the second pavilion of the Municipal Sports Complex of Vistoso Casal, in Lisbon.
Aleksandar Indjic (SRB, 2612) made 7.5 points in 9 possible, the same as Anton Demchenko (RUS, 2671) and Nikita Petrov (RUS, 2573), but had a better tie-breaker to claim the title, after being runner-up in the 2017 edition of the event.
Bulmaga Irina (ROU, 2411) was crowned as the best women player with 6.5 points and 18th place. The best Portuguese in the Open was the IM Rui Dâmaso, who scored 7 points and achieved the 12th place after beating in the final round young GM Vahap Sanal (TUR, 2551).
On the last day of the event, the Portuguese Chess Federation organized an optional Rapid tournament which took place on 10th February. The rapid event participated 172 players from 24 federations.
IM Gomez Ledo Roberto Carlos (CUB,2462), 15th seed at the start of the competition, became the winner of the Rapid Open with 7 points out of 8 games. Roberto Ledo tied for the first place with Grand master Federico Ponsa (ARG, 2610), but won the title due to better tie-breaks. The third place went to Aleksandar Indjic (SRB, 2544) who again stood on the throne of the Portugal Open, but this time to take the bronze medal with 6.5 points.
Open Portugal 2018, organized by Portuguese Chess Federation, took place from 3rd-9th February in Gym of Sports Complex of Casal Vistoso, in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.