Yu Yangyi Wins Capablanca Memorial With Round To Spare
Yu Yangyi won the Elite Group of the 50th Capablanca Memorial in Havana, Cuba. The 21-year-old Chinese grandmaster secured victory in the penultimate round and finished on 7.0/10.
José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera passed away 8 March 1942. Since 1962, when Ernesto “Che” Guevara took the initiative to commemorate the great Cuban player, an annual memorial is held in Havana. The 50th edition just finished.
In recent years the festival has consisted of an open tournament and two round-robin groups, with international top players featuring in the top group — a six-player double round-robin.
The 2015 “Elite Group” had, in order of the final standings, GMs Yu Yangyi (2715, China), Dmitry Andreikin (2718, Russia), Pavel Eljanov (2718, Ukraine), Leinier Dominguez (2746, Cuba), Ian Nepomniachtchi (2720, Russia) and Lazaro Bruzon (2677, Cuba).
Yu won the tournament convincingly, starting with 4.5/5 and finishing with 7.0/10. The Chinese player ended 1.5 points ahead of Andreikin and Eljanov. Top seed Dominguez finished on a disappointing fourth place with a minus one and 2675 performance.
Let's pick up the tournament from the half-way point; earlier games can be found in Kostya's report.
With only 4.0/10 Nepomniachtchi didn't have a great tournament. One of his highlights was beating Dominguez as Black in round seven, but a day earlier he was nicely outplayed by Eljanov:
2015 Capablanca Memorial | Elite, Final Standings
| # | Name | Rtg | Perf | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Pts | SB |
| 1 | Yu,Yangyi | 2715 | 2862 |  |
10 | ½½ | 11 | 1½ | 1½ | 7.0/10 | |
| 2 | Andreikin,Dmitry | 2718 | 2750 | 01 | |
½½ | ½½ | ½½ | 1½ | 5.5/10 | 26.25 |
| 3 | Eljanov,Pavel | 2718 | 2750 | ½½ | ½½ | |
½0 | 11 | 01 | 5.5/10 | 26.25 |
| 4 | Dominguez Perez,Leinier | 2746 | 2675 | 00 | ½½ | ½1 | |
10 | ½½ | 4.5/10 | |
| 5 | Nepomniachtchi,Ian | 2720 | 2645 | 0½ | ½½ | 00 | 01 | |
½1 | 4.0/10 | |
| 6 | Bruzon Batista,Lazaro | 2677 | 2616 | 0½ | 0½ | 10 | ½½ | ½0 | |
3.5/10 |
The “Premier Group,” a ten-player round-robin, was won by GM Vitaly Kunin of Germany. His 6.5/9 was also 1.5 points more than the number two. GMs Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Yusnel Bacallao and Isan Reynaldo Ortiz scored 5.0./9.
The 50th Capablanca Memorial took place 15-25 June, 2015 in Havana. The time control was 90 minutes for 40 moves followed by 30 minutes to finish the game, with 30 seconds increment from the start.
Polish GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda playing in Cuba | Photo Marcelino Vázquez courtesy of Columna Deportiva
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