The Cuban team that participates in the Open segment of the 44th Chess Olympiad based in the city of Chennai, India, lost its unbeaten record this Friday by falling in the seventh round by a score of 0.5-3.5 points before the second local representation.
Nor was it a happy day for the girls from the Island, who lost their duel against Mongolia with a similar score than the men.
The Caribbean cast avoided the sweep thanks to the tables achieved at the fourth table by Omar Almeida, who led the black pieces against Adhiban Baskaran, according to a report by the agency Latin Press (PL).
The media adds that in the remaining games the talented young Indians Gukesh Dommaraju, Nihal Sarin and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu defeated Carlos Daniel Albornoz, Luis Ernesto Quesada and Isan Ortiz, in that order.
With this result, the Cuban chess representative fell to 20th place in the open category, and in his next presentation he will face the Andorran team.
Fateful day for Cuba in the 44th Chess Olympiad – Prensa Latina https://t.co/k1MWcv1y0s
— PLIndia (@PLIndia1) August 5, 2022
Meanwhile, in the main duel of the day in the open section, Armenia —leader of the competition— drew 2-2 with the sub-leader United States, after the triumphs of Gabriel Sargissian with white pieces over Fabiano Caruana and Robert Hovhannisyan with black before Sam Shankland. The Filipino Wesley So and the naturalized Cuban Leinier Domínguez won for the Americans, against Hrant Melkumyan and Samvel Ter-Sahakyan, respectively.
As for the girls, the agency specifies that only Yerisbel Miranda, moving the dark pieces, avoided the capitulation that Lisandra Ordaz, Maritza Arribas and Ineymig Hernández had to sign, the first two leading white pieces.
This was the second setback in the tournament suffered by the Cubans, who now occupy seat 40 in the classification, with an accumulated nine points, which they will try to improve when they face the Austrian team this Saturday.
Remember PL that the 44th Team Chess Olympiad, convened by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) takes place at the Four Points Sheraton Convention Center.
The maximum fair for groups organized by FIDE is played using the Swiss system with 11 rounds and each team gets two points for winning a duel, one unit for each tie and none for being defeated. The selection with the highest sum of units will be the champion.
The first place in the open section wins the Hamilton-Russel Cup and the leader of the women’s competition the Vera Menchik Cup, while the combined classification awards the highest sum the Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy.