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Some players seem to have a stranglehold on certain events, where they consistently perform at their best time after time. Dortmund has long been that for Vladimir Kramnik for example, and the same is true of the Capablanca Memorial for Vassily Ivanchuk.
Vassily Ivanchuk's inclusion in the Capablanca Memorial year after year has helped
Cuban players such as Leinier Dominguez evolve into world class players themselves
The traditional grandmaster tournament is easily the greatest traditional event in the Americas, with no peers even close, as it now celebrates its 49th edition. Is it any wonder that two of the strongest Latin American players, Leinier Dominguez and Lazaro Bruzon are from Cuba? Still, despite the home court advantage, the Cubans have found it hard actually outperforming Ivanchuk, and last year, when he missed out, Hungarian Zoltan Almasi took the laurels. That said, the promise of regular top-notch chess has ensured their progress, and one need only see the recent inclusion of Dominguez into the Top 10 to see the result.
'Paco' Vallejo faces last year's winner Zoltan Almasi
This year, the Elite event had six players, in a double round robin of ten rounds, with a challenger event brining ten players for nine rounds of action. In the Elite event, the players were Leinier Dominguez Perez (2768), who came as top seed for the first time, followed by Vassily Ivanchuk (2753), Wesley So (2731), Francisco Vallejo Pons (2700), Zoltan Almasi (2693), and Lazaro Batista Bruzon.
The event took an unusual turn early on with Ivanchuk starting with a difficult 1.5/5 including two losses. The name of the tournament has been the Philippine prodigy Wesley So, who seems to finally be coming into his own. Entering round eight, he had been caught by Leinier Dominguez with 4.5/7, and it was anyone's guess what would happen. Five months ago, Dominguez had beaten So in 21 moves at Wijk aan Zee, so the question was whether Dominguez had a psychological edge now, or would So get his pound of flesh.
Wesley So seems to have come into his own after breaking the 2700 barrier last year
With this powerful win, Wesley So is not only ahead by a full point of Lazaro Bruzon Batista with two rounds to go, but is also looking at a move to the 15th spot in the world rankings. Bottom seed Lazaro Bruzon Batista has long been considered one of the most talented players in the Americas, only held back by personal issues, and despite his lower rating, has shown his quality of play with imagination and consistency.
Be sure to check out Bruzon's (left) queen sacrifice against Wesley So (right)
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The two highest rated players in the Premier section, Yunieski Quesada (2642)
and Peruvian Emilio Cordova (2616) faced each other in round one. Yuniesky's
younger brother, Yasser, a FIDE master rated 2493, may achieve a GM norm if
he is able to score 1.5/2 in the last rounds.
Photos by María del Carmen Ramón
LinksThe games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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