Luis Ernesto Quesada conquered this Wednesday, February 14, the title of the Holguin 2024 National Absolute Chess Championship, after a marathon day that ended with a series of rapid games to define the king.
As stipulated by the rules, the triple tie at the top between Luis Ernesto from Avila, Omar Almeida from Havana and Carlos Daniel Albornoz from Camagüey, with seven points after the 10 rounds of the calendar, forced the extra segment between them.
In Wednesday’s round, Luis Ernesto drew off Ermes Espinosa from Villa Clara, Almeida vs Michel Alejandro Diaz from Las Tunas and Albornoz vs Lelys Martinez from Santiago de Cuba. Thus, the scene was set for the definition agreed to a double round, putting the tension to the maximum at the Holguin Sports Museum.
Almeida took a firm step by defeating Albornoz and reaching a draw with Luis Ernesto. Shortly after, he repeated the success against Camagüey rep, but when he seemed to have the crown in his hands, he gave in the second match off the player from Ciego de Avila.
All the spotlights were then directed towards the table where Luis Ernesto and Albornoz sat. A draw would open the doors of the throne to Almeida, but it did not happen for the fortune of the former.
The man from Ciego de Avila inscribes his name for the first time in the list of chess kings in Cuba, six years after winning the title of Chess Grandmaster. He currently holds the second place in the national ranking with 2,560 ELO points, which placed him among the favorites prior to the tournament.
In addition to the victory, he returns home with another prize: a place in the Cuban team that in September will participate in the Chess Olympiad of Budapest 2024.
Almeida finished in second place ahead of Albornoz. They were followed by Lelys (6.5 points), Dylan Berdayes (6) and Kemel Gallo (6). Completing the top 10 were Michel Alejandro (6), Camagüey’s Jorge Roberto Elías (6), Ermes (5.5) and Rider Díaz of Holguin (5.5), in that order.
With information from JIT / Translated by Radio Angulo
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