Le Quang Liem and Andreikin lead at Capa Memorial

The 46th Capablanca Memorial is taking place from May 10-21, 2011, in Havana, Cuba. The main event, the “Elite Group”, is a strong, six-player double round robin featuring grandmasters Vassily Ivanchuk, Leinier Dominguez Perez, David Navara, Lazaro Bruzon, Dmitry Andreikin and Le Quang Liem. There are also three subsidiary events: the Premier, Open A and Open B. The rate of play is 90 min for the first 40 moves, then 30 min for the rest of the game, with a 30 sec increment starting from move one.

After six rounds there are two players tied at 4.0/5 points:

The round four loss by the world's number five, Vassily Ivanchuk, to Cuban GM Lázaro Bruzón Batista, was sensational but somewhat mysterious. Here's the game:

Ivanchuk,V (2776) - Bruzon Batista,L (2693) [C45]
Capablanca Memorial Elite Havana CUB (4), 14.05.2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Be3 Qf6 6.c3 Nge7 7.Bc4 0-0 8.0-0 Bb6 9.Na3 Qg6 10.Qd2 Qxe4 11.Rfe1 Qg6 12.Bd3 Qh5 13.Nxc6 Nxc6 14.Bxb6 cxb6 15.Nb5 d5 16.Nc7 Rb8 17.Nxd5 Be6 18.Be4 Rbd8 19.Rad1 b5 20.h3 Qh4 21.a3 Kh8 22.Qe3 a6 23.Nf4 Bb3 24.Rxd8 Qxd8 25.Bxc6 bxc6 26.Qc5 Re8 27.Rxe8+ Qxe8 28.Nd3 a5 29.Qe5 Qd8 30.Nc5 h6 31.Kh2 a4 32.Ne4 f6 33.Qf4 Bd5 34.Nd6 Qc7 35.f3 Kg8 36.Kg3 Qe7 37.Nf5 Qd7 38.h4 Be6 39.Nd4 Bd5 40.Kf2 Kh8 41.g4 Kg8 42.h5 Kh8 43.Nf5 Be6 44.Nh4 Qd8 45.Qe3 Qd6 46.Ng6+ Kg8 47.Kg2 Bd7 48.Kh3 Kf7 49.Qe4 Be6 50.Kg2 Qd2+ 51.Kg3 Qd6+ 52.Qf4 Qd1 53.Qd4

For 28 moves Ivanchuk has been trying to win with queen and knight against queen and bishop. He has met the first time control and is now playing with a 30 second increment per move. Still the official sources suddenly give 0-1 and a win for Bruzon, although the position is clearly drawn.

The following is a highly entertaining game that deserves many diagrams. Play through it (after downloading the PGN at the bottom of the page) and work out all the complications with a good chess engine.

Navara,D (2702) - Le Quang Liem (2687) [B90]
Capablanca Memorial Elite Havana CUB (4), 14.05.2011
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.f3 h5 10.0-0-0 Be7 11.h3 b5 12.Kb1 Qc7 13.Bd3 b4 14.Nd5 Nxd5 15.exd5 Bxd5 16.Bg5 a5 17.Rhe1 Be6 18.Bxe7 Kxe7 19.f4 Nf6 20.fxe5 dxe5 21.Qg5 a4

22.Rxe5 axb3 23.Rxe6+ Kxe6? (23...Kf8 24.Re2 bxa2+ 25.Ka1 b3 26.cxb3 was about equal) 24.Qe3+ Kd7 25.cxb3 Qa7

26.Ba6+ Kc6 27.Qf3+ Kb6 28.Rd6+ Kc7 29.Qc6+ Kb8

30.Rd4 Nd5 31.Qxd5 Qb6 32.Qe5+ Ka7 33.Qe7+ Kxa6 34.Rd6 Rab8 35.Rxb6+ Rxb6 36.Qxf7 g6

White has come out of the scrimmage with a clear advantage, which the top Czech GM tries to turn into a full point for 27 more moves: 37.Qc4+ Kb7 38.Qd5+ Ka6 39.Qd3+ Ka7 40.a4 Rhb8 41.Qd4 Ka6 42.Qc4+ Ka7 43.Qc5 Ka6 44.Kc2 R8b7 45.Kd3 Rb8 46.Qc4+ Ka7 47.Ke4 Ra6 48.Kf4 Rb7 49.Qc5+ Ka8 50.Kg5 Kb8 51.Kh6 Ka8 52.g4 hxg4 53.hxg4 Kb8 54.Qd5 Ka8 55.Qd8+ Ka7 56.g5 Rb8 57.Qd4+ Ka8 58.Qd5+ Rb7 59.a5 Ka7 60.Qd8 Rb8 61.Qd4+ Ka8 62.Qd7 Rb7 63.Qc8+ Ka7

David Navara has had enough of this, but instead of sticking out his hand, which is what players usually do when offering a draw (if that is at all allowed these days) he does it in his own quirky way. Can you guess how?

The poster of the Capablanca Memorial, which is being played in four groups

Top Cuban grandmaster Leinier Domínguez Pérez in round one

Dmitry Andreikin vs Lázaro Bruzón at move 18 in round one (Andreikin won in 48)

Andreikin vs Vassily Ivanchuk in round three (Ivanchuk won in 32 moves)

Children enjoying the atmosphere of the top chess event in Cuba

Incidentally David Navara drew his game against Le Quang Liem by playing 64.Qa8+ Kxa8 stalemate!

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The 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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