
From May 15 to May 28 the CUCA International Chess tournament took place in
Luanda, Angola. It was comprised of two events, an Open and a Women's event,
both of which were nine-round swiss tournaments played at 40 moves for 90 minutes,
followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game and a 30-second increment as
of move one.
The event was sponsored by CUCA brewery, the largest in Angola, and had generous
conditions including room and board for IM/GMs as well as WGM/WIM/WFMs. The
first prizes for the men's event were 1st - US$ 5000, 2nd - US$ 4000, 3rd -
US$3000, 4th US$ 2000, 5th - US$ 500. The top prizes in the Women's event are
1st - US$ 3000, 2nd - US$ 2000, 3rd - US$1500, 4th US$ 1000, 5th - US$ 500.
Torneio Internacional Taça Cuca 2011
The winner, a full point ahead of the field, was British GM Nigel Short, who
appears to be going after a record: win tournaments in more countries than any
other GM. Equal second and 1.5 points ahead of the rest of the players were
GM Antonio Fernandes from Portugal and our reporter GM Sergei Tiviakov from
Holland.

Winner Nigel Short with GM Antonio Fernandes of Portugal, who came second

Equal second (with Fernandez): GM Sergei Tiviakov of Holland
Final standings after nine rounds
Alina sent us the above picture of a local newspaper headline reporting
Nigel Short's 8.0/9 victory. Pity, we thought, why is there a picture
of "some other dude" next to the report? On his return Nigel explained
it to us. The newspaper reporter had apparently done a Google search for "Nigel
Short" images and picked up the one from this
page (take a look, really!). Unfortunately, it is not the chess player but
the musician Nigel
Short, best known as the conductor and founder of the a cappella chamber
choir Tenebrae. Oops!
In the women's section our second reporter, WGM Alina l'Ami of Romania, went
through the field like a hot knife through butter: Alina won all her nine games
– every single one of them. The next best player was 1.5 points behind
her, with another 1.5-point gap to the candidate master in third place.

The invincible Alina l'Ami in the news – with a proper picture

Winner WGM Alina l'Ami of Romania and second placed Anzel Solomons of South
Africa

In third place: Tshepiso Lopang of Botswana

Fifth: unrated Sonia Rosalina of Angola

In sixth place: Valquiria Rocha, 1803, from Angola

Eighth: Gabriel G Irineia, rated 1418, from Angola
Women's section – Final standings after nine rounds
Chess and general impressions from Luanda
Photo report by WGM Alina l'Ami and GM Sergey Tiviakov

Winner Nigel Short being interviews for Luandan TV

Alina, Anzel, Tshepiso, Nigel, Sergei (l'Ami, Solomons, Lopang, Short, Tiviakov)

Ladies' table, with participants of the women's section

Once the chessboard hostilities have ended we are all great friends (Alina l'Ami,
Anzel Solomons, Tshepiso Lopang, Boikhutso Mudongo)

Sponsors with Dr. Jaime Aguinaldo, President of the Angolan Chess Federation
(middle) and Portugese Chess Federation President on the right

Signing a cooperation agreement between the Angolan and Portuguese Federations

Dinner at the closing ceremony

Red crab and Angolan Cuca beer: treats at the closing ceremony

Look who's going to take on that red crab

Afterwards a little dancing, here with Antonio Santos

Nigel Short finds the entire party pretty hilarious

Outside, local women carry fish to the market

A final day view of the Angolan city of Luanda, which hosted the chess tournament

Our reporter WGM Alina l'Amim whose web
site you should visit
Alina was born in Romania, but now lives with her husband GM Erwin l'Ami in
Holland. She graduated cum laude from the Al. I. Cuza University Lasi,
Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences. As a chess player she won the
world champion under 10 in Sao Laurenco, Brazil, the European Championship under
18 in Peniscola, Spain, the Women's Balkan Chess Championship in Istanbul, Turkey,
and many other similar events. The Woman International Grandmaster title came
in 2005. Alina speaks Romanian, English (fluently – it is the language
she uses to communicate with her husband, "and we understand each other
quite well!"), French, Dutch ("my husband's language – very
beautiful, but so difficult at the moment"), Spanish and Italian.
Previous ChessBase reports

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Chess and general impressions from Luanda
22.05.2011 – The CUCA International Chess in
Angola's capital of Luanda is a generously staged event in an exotic part
of the world. We have problems coming by the games, but two of the participants,
Romanian-born WGM Alina l'Ami and GM Sergey Tiviakov, originally Russia
– both now live in Holland – took time off to explore the town and its
culture. From them we have received this giant
pictorial report. |

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CUCA International in Angola
18.05.2011 – In a sign of the enormous reconstruction
efforts being made in Angola, the CUCA international Chess event is being
held in the capital Luanda. The Open brought star chess globetrotters,
Nigel Short and Sergey Tiviakov, not to mention the generous prize fund,
and the Women's event has also been given its due. With his tireless camera,
here is a large
pictorial by Sergey Tiviakov. |