Dominguez beats Laznicka in first round Capablanca Memorial

Leinier Dominguez defeated Viktor Laznicka in the first round of the Capablanca Memorial in Havana, Cuba. Like last year, the tournament has a top group of 6 players who play a double round robin: Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Leinier Dominguez Perez (Cuba), Yuniesky Quesada Perez (Cuba), Ian Nepomniachtchi, Vladimir Potkin (both Russia) and Viktor Laznicka (Czech Republic).

Dominguez takes an early lead in Havana | All photos © Miguel Ernesto Gómez & María del Carmen Ramón for Mi Columna Deportiva

This year the Capablanca Memorial is being held for the 47th time. Venue is the Hotel Habana Riviera, located on the Malecón waterfront boulevard in Havana, Cuba. The tournament, which was established in 1962 on the initiative of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, is held annually in honor of the renowned Cuban and 3rd World Champion Jose Raul Capablanca.

The Grupo Elite (elite group) sees Vassily Ivanchuk defending his title after he hasn't played chess for a while - for ages, in Ivanchuk's case! His last classical game was his draw with Sergey Karjakin in the last round of the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee. His opponents in this 6-player double round robin are Leinier Dominguez Perez, Yuniesky Quesada Perez, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Viktor Laznicka and Vladimir Potkin.

Russians Potkin & Nepomniachtchi next to Ivanchuk (Ukraine), at the opening ceremony

The drawing of lots, with the numbers written on coasters below what seem to be Cuba Libres - here Leinier Dominguez picks his lot number

Viktor Laznicka's turn

Ivanchuk, the top seed in this tournament and many times winner in Havana, started with a draw against former European Champion Vladimir Potkin. Lots of manoeuvring, but little action:

[Event "47th Capablanca Mem Elite"]
[Site "Havana CUB"]
[Date "2012.05.04"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Ivanchuk, V."]
[Black "Potkin, V."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2642"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2012.05.03"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4 5. h3 Bh5 6. Nc3 e6 7. g4 Bg6 8. Ne5
Nbd7 9. Nxg6 (9. h4 dxc4 10. Nxg6 hxg6 11. g5 Nd5 12. Bxc4 Bb4 13. Bd2 Qe7 14.
a3 Nxc3 15. bxc3 Ba5 16. f4 O-O-O 17. Qb3 Nb6 18. Bd3 Kb8 19. Ke2 {Giri,A
(2714)-Morozevich,A (2762)/Reggio Emilia 2011}) 9... hxg6 10. a3 g5 11. Bd2 Bd6
12. Qf3 Qe7 13. O-O-O O-O-O 14. Kb1 $146 Kb8 15. Rc1 Bc7 16. Rc2 g6 17. Bg2 a6
18. Qe2 Nb6 19. c5 Nc8 20. f4 gxf4 21. exf4 Nd7 22. Na2 Na7 23. a4 f6 24. Nc1
Rhe8 25. h4 Qg7 26. Nb3 Rh8 27. g5 Rde8 28. Rh3 Nc8 29. Qd3 fxg5 30. hxg5 Ref8
31. Rxh8 Rxh8 32. Bh3 Qf7 33. Qe3 Nf8 34. Nc1 Ne7 35. Ne2 Nf5 36. Qd3 Qh7 37.
Bg4 Qh4 38. Qf3 Qh1+ 39. Rc1 Qxf3 40. Bxf3 Rh3 41. Bg4 Rh2 42. Kc2 1/2-1/2

Vassily Ivanchuk behind the chessboard again, here vs Vladimir Potkin

For most readers Yuniesky Quesada Perez will be the least familiar name. The 27-year-old grandmaster was the fourth Cuban chess player (after Lazaro Bruzon, Leinier Dominguez and Fidel Corrales Jimenez) that surpassed the 2600 Elo rating mark, on the July 2010 FIDE list. He won the Cuban championship two times: in 2008 and in 2011.

In the first round, Quesada copied his opponent's opening play with the White pieces in a Najdorf, kept a small advantage but had to allow just too much counterplay.

[Event "47th Capablanca Mem Elite"]
[Site "Havana CUB"]
[Date "2012.05.04"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Quesada Perez, Yu"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, I."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2716"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2012.05.03"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f3
h5 9. Qd2 Nbd7 10. O-O-O Rc8 11. Kb1 b5 12. g3 Nb6 13. Bg5 $146 (13. Bxb6 Qxb6
14. Nd5 Bxd5 15. exd5 g6 16. Bh3 Bh6 17. f4 Rc4 18. Qa5 Qxa5 19. Nxa5 Re4 20.
fxe5 Rxe5 21. Rhe1 Rxe1 22. Rxe1+ Kf8 23. Nb7 Kg7 {1/2-1/2 (23) Nepomniachtchi,
I (2733)-Grischuk,A (2773)/Wijk aan Zee 2011}) 13... Nc4 14. Bxc4 Rxc4 15. Nd5
Bxd5 16. Bxf6 Qxf6 17. Qxd5 Qe6 18. Na5 Rc5 19. Qa8+ Qc8 20. Qxc8+ Rxc8 21. Rd3
h4 22. Rhd1 hxg3 23. hxg3 Rh2 24. c3 Kd7 25. Nb7 Rh6 26. b4 Be7 27. Kb2 Rch8
28. Kb3 Kc7 29. Na5 Rh3 30. g4 Rg3 31. c4 Rhh3 32. cxb5 axb5 33. Rc1+ Kd7 34.
Rcc3 Rg1 35. Nc6 Rh2 36. Na7 Rb1+ 37. Ka3 Rh8 38. Rb3 Rg1 39. Nxb5 Ra8+ 40. Kb2
Rg2+ 41. Kb1 Rg1+ 42. Kb2 Rg2+ 43. Kb1 Rg1+ 1/2-1/2

Leinier Dominguez grabbed an early lead thanks to a blunder by Viktor Laznicka, although the Cuban would also have kept winning chances if the Czech had played differently.

[Event "47th Capablanca Mem Elite"]
[Site "Havana CUB"]
[Date "2012.05.04"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Dominguez Perez, L."]
[Black "Laznicka, V."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2725"]
[BlackElo "2693"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2012.05.03"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 c5 6. Be3 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Ne7 8. Nd2
Nbc6 9. N2f3 Bg4 10. O-O Bxf3 11. Nxf3 Qc7 12. c4 dxc4 13. Bxc4 Nf5 14. Qe2
$146 (14. Bf4 Rd8 15. Bd3 Be7 16. Qc2 Nfd4 17. Nxd4 Rxd4 18. Be3 Rd7 19. Be4
Nxe5 20. Qxc7 Rxc7 21. Rac1 Nc6 22. Bxa7 O-O {Grischuk,A (2752)-Evdokimov,A
(2569)/Apatity 2011}) 14... Nxe3 15. Qxe3 Be7 16. Bd3 O-O 17. Be4 Rfd8 18. Rac1
g6 19. Rc2 Qa5 20. Bxc6 bxc6 21. Rxc6 Rac8 22. Rxc8 Rxc8 23. a3 Rc2 24. b4 Qa4
25. Qe4 Rc3 26. Qb7 Kf8 27. Nd4 Rxa3 28. Nc6 Bg5 29. g3 Rc3 30. Nxa7 Be7 31. b5
Bc5 32. Nc8 Qd4 33. Nd6 Bxd6 34. exd6 Qxd6 35. Rb1 Qd3 36. Qa8+ Ke7 37. Qa7+
Ke8 38. Qa1 Rb3 $4 ({With} 38... Ra3 39. Qh8+ (39. Qb2 Qc3) 39... Ke7 {Black
keeps drawing chances.}) 39. Rd1 Qxb5 40. Qh8+ 1-0

The Capablanca Memorial runs until May 14th. There is also a Grupo Premier (with GM Alexander Rakhmanov, GM Ivan Morovic, GM Holden Hernández, GM Isan Ortiz, GM Emilio Córdova, GM Yuri González, GM Aramis Alvarez, GM Vasily Papin, IM Yusnel Bacallao and GM Omar Almeida) and a Grupo Abierto, an open group where, among many others, our co-editor IM Robert Ris is playing.

Capablanca Memorial | Grupo Elite | Schedule and results