NEW collective triumphs added the Cubans in the World Chess Olympiad Budapest 2024, where so far the results are in line with expectations.
With a score of 3-1 the success against the South African team was sealed, which allowed the Cuban team to reach four points in the open segment of the tournament that brings together representatives from more than 190 countries.
Luis Ernesto Quesada, Elier Miranda and Omar Almeida contributed the three hits to ensure the superiority, despite the defeat conceded by Dylan Berdayes.
The player from the capital, in charge of defending the third table, gave up with the black pieces in 64 moves of a Caro Kann defence against Jan Karsten. He could do nothing in an endgame in which he arrived alone with the queen to face his opponent’s rook pair and bishop.
Less complicated were the games of Luis Ernesto against Daniel Barrish (31 moves of a London system); Elier against Caleb Levi Levitan (42 of a Ruy Lopez opening) and Almeida against Banele Mhango (47 of a Modern defence).
In the women’s competition, there was also a celebration, as the favourable balance of 3.5-0.5 points against the Malaysian team allowed the Cubans to remain undefeated with four units in their account.
Oleiny Linares defended the first board and was the only one who failed to surrender to her opponent. Liting Tan held her own for 35 moves of a Reti opening, and managed to avoid the Asian sweep.
Enjoying their second individual wins of the day were Yerisbel Miranda, Yaniela Forgas and Ineymig Hernandez. Their victims were Puteri Munajjah Azhar, Puteri Rigah Azhar and Sivanesan Nithyalakshmi, in that order.
After two of the 11 scheduled rounds, the Cuban squad appears anchored in 32nd place in the section without distinction of sexes, while the women will arrive at the next date in 15th place.
Although there is still a long way to go, the Indian team justifies its favouritism by leading the open grouping, while Poland dominates among the women.
The Swiss system that governs the tournament determined that this Friday the two teams from the island will take on more demanding commitments, in both cases facing the representatives of Spain.
