An important victory was achieved by the Avilean GM Luis Ernesto Quesada against his Indian counterpart Aryan Chopra, on the seventh date of the Capablanca in Memoriam international chess tournament, played at the Habana Libre hotel.

Quesada, who was in fifth place, broke the unbeaten record of his opponent in 28 moves of a Queen’s Gambit, and took advantage of this to climb to second place in the ranking, equal with Chopra, Cuban Carlos Daniel Albornoz and Andersen, all with three points, according to the digital edition of Jit.

«Luis Ernesto won with a very nice tactical detail,» commented coach Rodney Perez to JIT, by way of summary for a match in which the current monarch of the Island led the black pieces.

For his part, the leader Ruslan Ponomariov made an unusual mistake for his rank. He did not accurately calculate the implications of capturing a pawn on the e4 square, which on move 32 left him at a disadvantage against Denmark’s Mads Andersen.

Despite the slip, the former world champion did not give up his weapons and fought against a Sicilian defense that lasted until move 55, when the capitulation came.

In the other game of the elite group, Cuban Daniel Albornoz agreed a draw on 45 moves of a Sicilian defense with Norwegian Evgeny Romanov, placed on the sixth rung, with only two lines.

For Thursday, the pairings will be Luis Ernesto vs Andersen, Ponomariov vs Romanov and Albornoz will face Chopra.