Ivanchuk clinches 6th Capablanca Memorial victory

Vassily Ivanchuk won the Capablanca Memorial in Havana, Cuba on Monday. The Ukrainian, who finished a point clear of Ian Nepomniachtchi and Leinier Dominguez, won the tournament for the 6th time in his career.

Vassily Ivanchuk against Ian Nepomniachtchi in round 4, with Leinier Dominguez watching | Photo © Columna Deportiva

These are busy times in the chess world, with a World Championship, a U.S. Championship, a round robin in Malmö and a round robin in Havana taking place simultaneously. The latter deserved more attention here than it got, but today we'll catch up with a final report describing the second half of the tournament.

Vassily Ivanchuk was leading by half a point after five rounds, and he managed to keep that lead until the very end. In the 6th round, played on Thursday, May 10th, the Ukrainian drew with Vladimir Potkin. The number two in the leaderboard, Leinier Dominguez, also split the point, with Laznicka. Ian Nepomniachtchi caught Dominguez in second place thanks to the following win which included some nice tactics.

[Event "47th Capablanca Mem Elite"]
[Site "Havana CUB"]
[Date "2012.05.10"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Quesada Perez, Yuniesky"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A18"]
[WhiteElo "2716"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2012.05.04"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. e4 d5 4. e5 d4 5. exf6 dxc3 6. bxc3 Qxf6 7. d4 e5 8. Nf3
exd4 9. Bg5 Qe6+ 10. Be2 Be7 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 12. cxd4 O-O 13. O-O Bg4 14. h3 Bxf3
15. Bxf3 Nc6 16. Rb1 Rad8 17. Re1 Qf6 18. Rxb7 Rxd4 19. Qe2 Rd7 20. Qe8 Re7 21.
Rxe7 Nxe7 22. Qd7 Qa1+ 23. Kh2 Qe5+ 24. g3 Rc8 25. Rb3 Qd6 26. Rd3 Qxd7 27.
Rxd7 Kf8 28. Bb7 Rb8 29. Rxc7 Ke8 30. Ba6 Kd8 31. Rxa7 Rb2 32. Bb5 Rxf2+ 33.
Kg1 Re2 34. c5 Re5 35. a4 1-0

The next day the spectators in the Hotel Habana Riviera saw the top encounter Dominguez-Ivanchuk. It's always amazing to realize that Chuky's opening repertoire is even wider than you thought it was! In this game he used the Scandinavian Defence successfully.

[Event "47th Capablanca Mem Elite"]
[Site "Havana CUB"]
[Date "2012.05.11"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2725"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2012.05.04"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Bd2 c6 6. Bd3 Bg4 7. f3 Bh5 8.
Nge2 Nbd7 9. Nf4 Bg6 10. Nxg6 hxg6 11. Qe2 e6 12. Ne4 Bb4 13. c3 Be7 14. g3
Nxe4 15. fxe4 Bg5 16. O-O Bxd2 17. Qxd2 c5 18. Qf2 O-O 19. e5 Rad8 20. Be4 cxd4
21. cxd4 Nb8 22. Rad1 Nc6 23. Rd3 Qb6 24. Rfd1 Rd7 25. Rb3 Qa6 26. Ra3 Qb5 27.
Bxc6 bxc6 28. Rf1 f5 29. b3 Rfd8 30. Ra4 c5 31. dxc5 Rd2 32. Qf3 Qxc5+ 33. Kh1
Qc2 34. Rc4 Qxa2 35. Rh4 g5 36. Rh5 g4 37. Qc6 Qxb3 38. Rg5 Rd1 0-1

After round 8 Nepomniachtchi was trailing Ivanchuk by half a point thanks to a win against Laznicka.

[Event "47th Capablanca Mem Elite"]
[Site "Havana CUB"]
[Date "2012.05.12"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Laznicka, Viktor"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A81"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2716"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2012.05.04"]

1. d4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 g6 4. b3 Bg7 5. Bb2 O-O 6. Nf3 d6 7. O-O c6 8. c4 Qc7
9. Nbd2 a5 10. Qc2 Na6 11. a3 Re8 12. Rfd1 e5 13. c5 e4 14. cxd6 Qxd6 15. Nc4
Qc7 16. Nfe5 Be6 17. f3 exf3 18. exf3 f4 19. Qd2 Nd5 20. Qxa5 b6 21. Qd2 b5 22.
Na5 Bxe5 23. dxe5 Ne3 24. Qc3 Nxd1 25. Rxd1 Qb6+ 26. Kh1 Nc5 27. Nxc6 Rac8 28.
Nd4 Na4 29. bxa4 Rxc3 30. Bxc3 bxa4 31. Nxe6 Qb3 32. Rc1 Qxa3 33. Bd2 Rxe6 34.
Bxf4 Qb2 35. Bh3 Re7 36. Rc8+ Kg7 37. Bf1 Qb7 38. Rd8 a3 39. Bc4 Qb1+ 0-1

In the penultimate round Nepomniachtchi had a chance to take over the lead in a direct encounter with Ivanchuk. However, also in this game the leader was nowhere near any danger, on the contrary.

[Event "47th Capablanca Mem Elite"]
[Site "Havana CUB"]
[Date "2012.05.13"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2716"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2012.05.04"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 e6 4. g3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O Be7 7. Re1 Ne4 8. Nxe4
Bxe4 9. d3 Bb7 10. e4 Nc6 11. d4 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Nxd4 13. Qxd4 O-O 14. Qd3 Qc7
15. b3 a5 16. Bf4 e5 17. Bd2 Rfd8 18. Red1 Bb4 19. Bg5 f6 20. a3 Bc5 21. Bc1
Bd4 22. Ra2 Qc5 23. Rad2 Bc6 24. Bf1 Rdb8 25. Qb1 b5 26. Bb2 Bxb2 27. b4 axb4
28. axb4 Qe7 29. Rxb2 Kh8 30. cxb5 Bxb5 31. Rd5 Bc6 32. Ra5 Qd6 33. Rxa8 Bxa8
34. Qd3 Qc6 35. f3 Qb6+ 36. Kg2 d5 37. exd5 Rd8 38. Qc2 Bxd5 39. Qf2 Qe6 40.
Qe3 e4 41. fxe4 Bxe4+ 42. Kg1 Rd1 43. b5 h6 44. Re2 Qf5 45. Qf2 Rb1 46. Qxf5
Bxf5 47. Kf2 Bd7 48. Re7 Bxb5 49. Bxb5 Rxb5 50. h4 Kh7 51. Kf3 Kg6 52. Ra7 f5
53. h5+ Kf6 54. Ra6+ Ke5 55. Ra7 Rb3+ 56. Kg2 Kf6 57. Ra6+ Kf7 1/2-1/2

The final round saw something very rare for Ivanchuk: he apparently had enough, and drew his white game against Laznicka in a mere 11 moves. This way Nepomniachtchi could still finish in shared first place, but the Russian lost to Dominguez.

[Event "47th Capablanca Mem Elite"]
[Site "Havana CUB"]
[Date "2012.05.14"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2725"]
[BlackElo "2716"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2012.05.04"]

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 b5 9. Nxc6 Qxc6 10. f3 Bb7 11. Bd3 b4 12. Ne2 h5 13. Kb1 Qc7 14. Rhe1 Be7
15. Bf4 Qb6 16. Bg5 Bc5 17. Bc4 Qc7 18. Nd4 Nh7 19. Bf4 e5 20. Nb3 Rd8 21. Bxe5
Qxe5 22. Bd5 Be7 23. Bxb7 Qxh2 24. Rh1 Qc7 25. Rxh5 g6 26. Rh3 Qxb7 27. Rdh1
Bf6 28. Rxh7 Rxh7 29. Rxh7 d5 30. e5 Bxe5 31. Nc5 Qe7 32. Nd3 Bd6 33. Rh1 Kd7
34. Re1 Qh4 35. Qe3 d4 36. Qe2 Kc6 37. Ne5+ Bxe5 38. Qxa6+ Kc7 39. Qa5+ Kc6 40.
Qa6+ Kc7 41. Qa5+ Kc6 42. Qxe5 Rd7 43. Qe2 Kb6 44. Qd2 d3 45. Qe3+ Ka6 46. cxd3
Qd8 47. Qc5 Rxd3 48. Qc4+ Ka7 49. Qxf7+ Rd7 50. Rd1 Rxf7 51. Rxd8 Re7 52. Kc2
Re2+ 53. Rd2 Re3 54. Rd7+ 1-0

And so Ivanchuk won what was already his 6th title in Havana. On this page you can find an overview of the history of the Capablanca Memorial tournaments. Miguel Najdorf won the first edition in 1962; Ivanchuk won the tournament in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Capablanca Memorial | Grupo Elite | Schedule and results