Education
He finished 1st with Bent Larsen at March del Plata 1993.
He finished 1st with Bent Larsen at March del Plata 1993.
In his coastal town, he learned how to play chess at the age of five. By the age of 19, Granda had obtained the title of Grandmaster by the FIDE, the World Chess Federation, after surpassing the chess rating of 2500. This victory qualified him for the Chess World Cup 2007 where he lost his first round match to Arkadij Naiditsch ½–1½.
In December 2009, he tied for 1st–4th with Georg Meier, Viktor Láznička and Kiril Georgiev in the 19th Magistral Pamplona Tournament.
In 2011 he tied for 2nd–7th with Aleksander Delchev, Ivan Šarić, Pablo Almagro Llamas, Maxim Turov and Mihail Marin the 31st Villa de Benasque Open. In the Chess World Cup 2013 in Norway, Granda reached round four, after knocking out Hrant Melkumyan, Peter Leko and Anish Giri.
He was however defeated by Fabiano Caruana with two losses. He gained 2 rating points.
Julio Granda played for Peru in the Chess Olympiads of 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2010.
Julio Granda qualified once more for the Chess World Cup held in Baku, Azerbaijan in 2015 by coming joint first at the IX American Continental Chess Championship. Even though he was clear first by tiebreak on 8.5/11 (+6=5-0) while tied with 5 other players, he had to play in a rapid play off to decide who played in the World Cup. He came 2nd with 3/5 and qualified for the World Cup.
Julio Ernesto Granda-Zuniga vs Yasser Seirawan, Buenos Aires, 1993, English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, King"s Knight Variation (A15), 1-0
Julio Ernesto Granda-Zuniga vs Gata Kamsky, cat.
16 1996, Queen"s Indian Defense: Fianchetto, Check Variation Intermezzo Lincolnshire (E15), 1-0
Julio Ernesto Granda-Zuniga vs Alexander Beliavsky, Bled Olympiad 2002, Bird Opening: General (A02), 1-0
Julio Ernesto Granda-Zuniga vs Rafael Duailibe Leitao, Copa ENTEL 2004, Slav Defense: Chameleon Variation (D15), 1-0.