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Prize fund: Elite: 5200 Peso Cubano Convertible (1 US$: 0.865 CUC): 1800 - 1300 - 800 - 600 - 400 - 300 --- Premier: 1950 CUC: 800 - 550 - 400 - 200
Time control: 90 minutes/40 moves + 30 minutes + 30 seconds/move starting with the 1st move
Duration: May 4-14 with a rest day on May 9
The Capablanca Memorial has finally found a leader, and perhaps unsurprisingly, it is Ukraine’s Vassily Ivanchuk. After the first round win, Cuba’s top-rated player, Leinier Domínguez, faced Ivanchuk, and the game did not go well. In an endgame that he should have been able to hold, albeit with some discomfort, he was completely outplayed by the Ukrainian, and went down in flames.
Vassily Ivanchuk completely outplayed Leinier Domínguez in round two
Czech player, Viktor Laznicka also scored against the other Cuban in the tournament, Yuniesky Quesada Perez, and in the next rounds three players emerged as candidates for the gold: Ivanchuk, Domínguez, and Laznicka. Potkin had a rough start, but finally swapped places with Quesada Perez for last place.
In round three, the Cuban bounced back by beating Potkin
The games have all been hard fought, with an impressive number of Sicilians being played, six out of fifteen games so far. Still, of note is Ivanchuk’s strong win over Laznicka after the latter’s dubious 14.h3?! in a Nimzo-Indian led to a difficult position.
Ivanchuk now leads with 3.5/5 followed by Domínguez with 3.0/5. Since the tournament is a double round-robin, expect some of the first round losers to seek to avenge themselves in the second half. The Premier group is also underway, but there is a certain difficulty obtaining games and results.
Pictures by Miguel E. Gomez Masjuán
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 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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