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The Roman numeral XLIV translates to 43 – L is 50, X is 10, but is subtracted from 50 since it comes before the digit, V is five but I before it is subtracted so it is 4, which means 44. So according to our calculations it must either be XLIII for 43 or XLIV for 44. The tournament web site gives the latter, although it is clearly the 43rd event. But who are we to change the official title? And who can understand how the Romans were able to build roads and bridges with this convoluted numeral system?
Whatever. The 43rd Torneo Capablanca In Memoriam took place in La Habana (Havana), Cuba, from May 8th- 17th, 2008. It was a category 15 event with an average rating of 2602. No games have become available – we will attempt to supply them in the next edition of ChessBase Magazine.
The Capablanca Memorial is a tournament commemorating José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (1888–1942), the greatest Cuban chess master, who was World Champion from 1921 to 1927. The event has been held annually in Cuba. The first José Raúl Capablanca Memorial was held 20 April to 20 May 1962 in the Habana Libre hotel in Havana, Cuba. Miguel Najdorf was first in a field of 22 players. Here are the final standings:
Primer Torneo Internacional Capablanca in Memoriam – La Habana, 1962 |
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The fourth edition of the tournament in 1965 was unusual. US Champion Bobby Fischer was invited and offered a $3,000 appearance fee, but the U.S. State Department would not allow him to travel to Cuba due to hostile Cuba-US relations. So Fischer played his games by telex from the Marshall Chess Club in New York City. Former World Champion Vasily Smyslov (USSR) won the tournament with 15½/21, Borislav Ivkov (Yugoslavia), Efim Geller (USSR), and Fischer shared second through fourth, a half point behind.
Here for the record are the winners of the pervious 41 editions of the Capablanca Memorial
1 | 1962 | Havana | Miguel Najdorf (Argentina) |
2 | 1963 | Havana | Viktor Korchnoi (Soviet Union) |
3 | 1964 | Havana | Vasily Smyslov (Soviet Union), Wolfgang Uhlmann (East Germany) |
4 | 1965 | Havana | Vasily Smyslov (Soviet Union) |
5 | 1967 | Havana | Bent Larsen (Denmark) |
6 | 1968 | Havana | Ratmir Kholmov (Soviet Union) |
7 | 1969 | Havana | Alexey Suetin (Soviet Union), Viktor Korchnoi (Soviet Union) |
8 | 1971 | Havana | Vlastimil Hort (Czechoslovakia) |
9 | 1972 | Cienfuegos | Anatoly Lein (Soviet Union) |
10 | 1973 | Cienfuegos | Vasily Smyslov (Soviet Union) |
11 | 1974 | Cienfuegos | Ulf Andersson (Sweden) |
12 | 1975 | Cienfuegos | Ulf Andersson (Sweden) |
13 | 1976 | Cienfuegos | Boris Gulko (Soviet Union) |
14 | 1977 | Cienfuegos | Oleg Romanishin (Soviet Union), Guillermo García González (Cuba) |
15 | 1979 | Cienfuegos | Evgeny Sveshnikov (Soviet Union) |
16 | 1980 | Cienfuegos | Alonso Zapata (Colombia), Lubomir Ftacnik (Czechoslovakia) |
17 | 1981 | Cienfuegos | Vitaly Tseshkovsky (Soviet Union) |
18 | 1983 | Cienfuegos | Lev Psakhis (Soviet Union) |
19 | 1984 | Cienfuegos | Jesus Nogueiras (Cuba) |
20 | 1985 | Havana | Borislav Ivkov (Yugoslavia) |
21 | 1986 | Havana | Carlos García Palermo (Argentina), Julio Granda Zúñiga (Peru) |
22 | 1987 | Camagüey | Carlos García Palermo (Argentina), Denis Verduga (Mexico) |
23 | 1988 | Havana | Zurab Azmaiparashvili (Soviet Union) |
24 | 1989 | Holguín | Amador Rodriguez (Cuba) |
25 | 1990 | Havana | Adelkis Remón (Cuba) |
26 | 1991 | Havana | Valeriy Neverov (Soviet Union) |
27 | 1992 | Matanzas | Henry Urday Cáceres (Peru) |
28 | 1993 | Matanzas | Mark Hebden (England) |
29 | 1994 | Matanzas | Loek van Wely (Netherlands), Tony Miles (England), Alonso Zapata (Colombia) |
30 | 1995 | Matanzas | Tony Miles (England) |
31 | 1996 | Cienfuegos | Tony Miles (England) |
32 | 1997 | Cienfuegos | Peter Leko (Hungary) |
33 | 1998 | Havana | Robert Hübner (Germany), Ivan Morovic (Chile), Yaacov Zilberman (Israel) |
34 | 1999 | Havana | Tony Miles (England) |
35 | 2000 | Varadero | Alexander Volzhin (Russia) |
36 | 2001 | Havana | Francisco Vallejo Pons (Spain) |
37 | 2002 | Havana | Lázaro Bruzón (Cuba) |
38 | 2003 | Havana | Julio Granda Zúñiga (Peru) |
39 | 2004 | Havana | Lenier Domínguez (Cuba) |
40 | 2005 | Havana | Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) |
41 | 2006 | Havana | Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) |
42 | 2007 | Havana | Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) |
This year's event was won by top seed Lenier Dominguez Perez,
who took clear first with 6.0/9 points.
43rd Capablanca Memorial Havana CUB (CUB), 8-17.5.2008 cat. XV (2605)
# | Player | Nat. | Rtng | 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
Pts |
Perf. |
1. | Dominguez Perez, Lenier | CUB | 2695 | * |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
1 |
½ |
1 |
½ |
6 |
2719 |
2. | Amonatov, Farrukh | TJK | 2649 | ½ |
* |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
½ |
1 |
½ |
5½ |
2680 |
3. | Khenkin, Igor | GER | 2609 | ½ |
½ |
* |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
1 |
½ |
5½ |
2684 |
4. | Hernandez Carmenates, Holden | CUB | 2568 | ½ |
½ |
½ |
* |
½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
2652 |
5. | Tiviakov, Sergei | NED | 2635 | ½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
* |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
4½ |
2601 |
6. | Wojtaszek, Radoslaw | POL | 2625 | 0 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
* |
½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
4½ |
2602 |
7. | Nogueiras Santiago, Jesus | CUB | 2559 | 0 |
0 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
* |
½ |
½ |
1 |
4 |
2567 |
8. | Quezada Perez, Yuniesky | CUB | 2567 | ½ |
½ |
0 |
0 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
* |
½ |
½ |
3½ |
2529 |
9. | Arencibia Rodriguez, Walter | CUB | 2534 | 0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
* |
½ |
3½ |
2532 |
10. | Bruzon Batista, Lazaro | CUB | 2608 | ½ |
½ |
½ |
0 |
½ |
0 |
0 |
½ |
½ |
* |
3 |
2479 |
The first three: Lenier Dominguez Perez, Farrukh Amonatov and Igor Khenkin
As mentioned above we have received no games from the 43rd Capablanca memorial, and general information was very sparse. However: we did have a photo reporter onsite, who supplied us with literally hundreds of pictures from the tournament and from Cuba. The reporter happened to be one of the players, and we are grateful to him for dividing his time between preparation and photography, and bringing us these unique impressions from the Caribbean nation.
All participants of the 43rd Capablanca Memorial stayed in the hotel Neptuno
Triton
A modern hotel in the Diplomatic Area of Havana. Excellent playing conditions,
food, accomodation!!
A view of the city of Havana from the hotel window
Havana is the capital city, the major port and the commercial centre of Cuba.
Havana (Spanish: La Habana) was founded by Conquistador Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar in 1515, on the southern coast of the island. King Philip II of Spain granted it the title of City in 1592, and it soon became the "Key to the New World and Rampart of the West Indies" (the Havana coat of arms still carries this inscription).
A veiw of the sea from the upper floors of the hotel
The weather was nice – sunny, +32°C. It is very nice to sunbathe and
swim in the Atlantic Ocean before the games.
For those who want to combine chess and vacation Cuba is an excellent place to be! Besides the invitational round-robin tournament there is also an open in Havana. And two another open tournaments, one after another immediately after the Capablanca Memorial.
The open tournament
Top seed Lenier Dominguez Perez, CUB, rated 2695, prepares for a game
A key game: Farrukh Amonatov, left, vs Lenier Dominguez Perez
A turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) visits the event
The Turkey Vulture (Turkey Buzzard – or simply "buzzard") is a scavenger and feeds almost exclusively on carrion. It finds its meals using its sense of smell, flying low enough to detect the gases produced by the beginnings of the process of decay in dead animals. It has a wingspan of up to 70 inches (180 cm). It communicates with grunts or low hisses, and feeds its chicks by regurgitation. Charming personality.
A more conventional fellow, whose species we are unable to identify [A friend,
biologist Kevan Cowcill, who works in Canada, told us it was a giant
kingbird (Tyrannus Cubensis). Tyrannosaurus rex is a second cousin.]
Addendum. 24 hours later Kevan writes: "We've been looking at pictures of the kingbird here at the office, and we think it is a Gray Kingbird (Tyrannus dominicensis). On the Tiviakov picture, note the faint yellow wash on the undertail coverts. The Giant Kingbird doesn't show that, but the Gray Kingbird does. Also there appears to be a darker auricular patch around the ear/eye area (hard to tell as the head is tilted to the side). Our consensus (Pierre-Paul Bitton and myself) is that it is a Gray Kingbird. Neither of us has been to Cuba, but just based on the pictures we found – and the relative scarcity of the Giant (about a 1000 world-wide) – this is most likely a Gray.
Guava trees everywhere. This is a tropical trees in the myrtle family, native
to Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and northern South America, but now
cultivated throughout the tropics. The tress have tough dark leaves, the flowers
are white.
The guava fruit is round, from 3-10 cm in diameter, pale green and yellowing
at maturity. It is edible and has a strong, characteristic aroma reminiscent
of apples, passionfruit or strawberries.
A collonial church in Havana
After the games back to the hotel and back to the beach
GM Igor Khenkin of Germany, rated 2609, ready for a swim
A friendly crab with little fear of grandmasters or photographers
That's Igor in the waters of the Caribbean
...and your intrepid reporter Sergei Tiviakov
All photos by Sergei Tiviakov – more to follow soon...