Dominguez & Ivanchuk in shared lead at Capablanca Memorial

Leinier Dominguez (Cuba) and Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) are sharing the lead after three rounds at the Capablanca Memorial in Havana, Cuba. Both players scored 2 out of 3 in the 6 player double round robin where Yuniesky Quesada Perez (Cuba), Ian Nepomniachtchi, Vladimir Potkin (both Russia) and Viktor Laznicka (Czech Republic) also play.

The venue of the Capablanca Memorial: Hotel Habana Riviera, located on the Malecón waterfront boulevard in Havana, Cuba. | Photo © Robert Ris, all other photos © Miguel Ernesto Gómez & María del Carmen Ramón for Mi Columna Deportiva

In the second round Vassily Ivachuk took over the lead from Leinier Dominguez, the only player to score a win in the first round. The Cuban is known as a strong theoretician, and maybe that's why Ivanchuk went for the 3.Bb5+ variation, something he also did successfully 21 years ago against Garry Kasparov. Back then, 22-year-old "Chucky" beat The Boss and won the tournament, already for the second time in his career. Where Kasparov chose 3...Nd7, Dominguez played the more solid 3...Bd7 but he quickly found himself in a worse ending. 

[Event "47th Capablanca Mem Elite"]
[Site "Havana CUB"]
[Date "2012.05.05"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Ivanchuk, V."]
[Black "Dominguez Perez, L."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2725"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2012.05.03"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 (3... Nd7 4. d4 Ngf6 5. O-O cxd4 6. Qxd4 a6 7.
Bxd7+ Bxd7 8. Bg5 h6 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. c4 e6 11. Nc3 Rc8 12. Kh1 h5 13. a4 h4
14. h3 Be7 15. b4 a5 16. b5 Qc7 17. Nd2 Qc5 18. Qd3 Rg8 19. Rae1 Qg5 20. Rg1
Qf4 21. Ref1 b6 22. Ne2 Qh6 23. c5 Rxc5 24. Nc4 Kf8 25. Nxb6 Be8 26. f4 f5 27.
exf5 Rxf5 28. Rc1 Kg7 29. g4 $1 Rc5 30. Rxc5 dxc5 31. Nc8 Bf8 32. Qd8 Qg6 33.
f5 Qh6 34. g5 Qh5 35. Rg4 exf5 36. Nf4 Qh8 37. Qf6+ Kh7 38. Rxh4+ {1-0
Ivanchuk,V (2695)-Kasparov,G (2800)/Linares 1991}) 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. c4 Nf6 6.
Nc3 g6 7. d4 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Bg7 9. f3 O-O 10. Be3 Nc6 11. O-O a6 12. a4 e6 13.
Nde2 Rfe8 14. Bg5 $146 (14. Bb6 Ne5 15. b3 Qc6 16. Bd4 Qc7 {1/2-1/2 Nezar,M
(2394)-Relange,E (2482)/Le Port Marly 2009}) 14... h6 15. Bh4 g5 16. Bf2 d5 17.
cxd5 exd5 18. Ng3 dxe4 19. Qxd7 Nxd7 20. Ncxe4 Nf6 21. Nd6 Re7 22. Ngf5 Rd7 23.
Rad1 Kh7 24. g4 Ne7 25. Nxe7 Rxe7 26. Nf5 Re6 27. Rd3 Rc8 28. Rfd1 b5 29. axb5
axb5 30. Rb3 Rb8 31. h4 Bf8 32. Kg2 b4 33. Rbd3 Ree8 34. R1d2 Ra8 35. Nd6 Re7
36. Bc5 gxh4 37. Bxb4 Rd7 38. Bc3 Ra6 39. Nf5 Rxd3 40. Rxd3 Rb6 41. Rd8 Bb4 42.
Bd4 Re6 43. Kh3 h5 44. gxh5 Nxh5 45. Rh8+ Kg6 46. Nxh4+ Kg5 47. Rg8+ Kh6 48.
Nf5+ Kh7 49. Rh8+ Kg6 50. Kg4 Nf6+ 51. Bxf6 Kxf6 52. f4 1-0

Yuniesky Quesada again made a good impression as he got a nice advantage out of the opening against the normally very solid Viktor Laznicka. But then the Cuban blundered horribly:

[Event "47th Capablanca Mem Elite"]
[Site "Havana CUB"]
[Date "2012.05.05"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Laznicka, V."]
[Black "Quesada Perez, Y."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E54"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "1br3k1/1b3pp1/p3pq1p/1p2n3/PPnNP3/1B3PB1/4Q1PP/2NR1K2 b - - 0 27"]
[PlyCount "30"]
[EventDate "2012.05.03"]

27... bxa4 $4 ({After} 27... Ng4 $1 28. Bxc4 Bxg3 $1 29. hxg3 Rxc4 {White is
in trouble.}) 28. Bxc4 Nxc4 29. Bxb8 Rxb8 $6 (29... a5 $1 {(with the idea ...
Ba6)} 30. b5 Qg5 {was a better try.}) 30. Qxc4 Bxe4 31. Nce2 Bd5 32. Qc5 a3 33.
Nc3 Rd8 34. Nde2 a2 35. Qa5 Rd6 36. Nxa2 Rc6 37. Nac1 Qh4 38. h3 Qg5 39. Nd3
Rc2 40. Ndf4 Ra2 41. Qc7 Rb2 42. Nxd5 1-0

Vladimir Potkin has been Ian Nepomniachtchi's second at several tournaments. Perhaps it's no surprise that a game like the following was played between these two:

[Event "47th Capablanca Mem Elite"]
[Site "Havana CUB"]
[Date "2012.05.05"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Potkin, V."]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, I."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2642"]
[BlackElo "2716"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2012.05.03"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. e3 Nf6 5. d4 cxd4 6. exd4 d5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
Qb3 e6 9. Bb5 Bg7 10. Bg5 Qb6 11. Qa3 f6 12. Nxd5 exd5 13. Bxc6+ bxc6 14. O-O
Kf7 15. Rfe1 (15. Bf4 Re8 16. Bd6 Qa6 17. Qxa6 Bxa6 18. Rfc1 Bb7 19. Rc3 Re2
20. Rb3 Ba6 21. Bc5 g5 22. h3 Kg6 23. Ra3 Bb5 24. Rxa7 Rxa7 25. Bxa7 Rxb2 26.
a4 Ba6 27. Bc5 h5 {Nepomniachtchi,I (2718)-Leko,P (2720)/Sochi 2012}) 15... Bf8
$146 (15... Qb7 16. Bf4 Bf5 17. Nd2 Rhe8 18. Nb3 Rxe1+ 19. Rxe1 Re8 20. Rxe8
Kxe8 21. Bd6 Qd7 22. Qb4 g5 {Ragger,M (2655)-Volokitin,A (2695)/Austria 2012})
16. Qe3 fxg5 17. Qe8+ Kg7 18. Re7+ Bxe7 19. Qxe7+ Kg8 20. Qe8+ Kg7 21. Qe5+ Kg8
22. Qe8+ Kg7 23. Qe7+ Kg8 24. Nxg5 Qb7 25. Qe8+ Kg7 26. Qe5+ Kg8 27. Qe8+ Kg7
28. Qe5+ 1/2-1/2

After three rounds, Domginuez still hasn't drawn a game. On Sunday the Cuban beat Potkin.

[Event "47th Capablanca Mem Elite"]
[Site "Havana CUB"]
[Date "2012.05.06"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Dominguez Perez, L."]
[Black "Potkin, V."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2725"]
[BlackElo "2642"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2012.05.03"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Qd2 Nf6 8.
O-O-O Be7 9. f3 b5 10. g4 Bb7 11. g5 Nxd4 $5 $146 (11... Nh5 12. Nxc6 dxc6 13.
f4 b4 14. Ne2 Rd8 15. Qe1 Rxd1+ 16. Qxd1 c5 17. Bg2 e5 18. Rf1 O-O 19. f5 Rd8
20. Qe1 c4 {Eliseev,U (2433)-Bernadskiy,V (2435)/Moscow 2011}) 12. Bxd4 Nh5 13.
Bd3 O-O 14. Ne2 e5 15. Be3 g6 16. Ng3 Nf4 17. h4 Rac8 18. Bxf4 exf4 19. Ne2 d5
20. Qxf4 Bd6 21. e5 Bxe5 22. Qd2 Bg7 23. f4 Rfe8 24. Kb1 Re4 25. Bxe4 dxe4 26.
Rh3 b4 27. h5 a5 28. h6 Bf8 29. c3 Ba6 30. Re3 Qb7 31. Qd5 Qb6 32. Qd4 Qb8 33.
Rxe4 Re8 34. Rxe8 Qxe8 35. Ng3 Bb7 36. cxb4 axb4 37. Qe5 Qa8 38. Re1 b3 39.
axb3 Ba6 40. Qc3 Qd5 41. Re8 1-0

The other two games ended in draws and so Dominguez and Ivanchuk are both on 2 out of 3. 

The 47th Capablanca Memorial runs until May 14th in the Hotel Habana Riviera in Havana, Cuba. Besides the Grupo Elite there is also a Grupo Premier (a 10-player round robin) and an open tournament.

Capablanca Memorial | Grupo Elite | Schedule and results