In the second round, the Havanese met with the Dane Jonas Bjerre. Author: Provided by interviewees
One of the five Cubans competing in the elite group of the Capablanca International Chess Memorial, which takes place at the Habana Libre Hotel, is a grandmaster from the capital, Omar Almeida (2528). For the second year in a row in the top level section, this Wednesday, during the first round of the competition, he lost with black pieces in the 10 movements of the Larsen opening to the naturalized Venezuelan Spaniard Eduardo Iturrisaga (2637), the main favorite to take the scepter. , according to his Elo coefficient.
Almeida announced rebellious youth that he is mentally healthy and has the highest hopes of being included among the first and fighting for the title in a competition that he assesses as very demanding, mainly due to the quality of the five foreign chess players, who are almost all over 2600 He added, that if he achieves outstanding results, he will also get points for his Elo, because if he reaches even half of the possible units, his rating will go up.
However, he assured that he would not think too much about these possibilities and would focus on each game, motivated by achieving better performance than the previous version, when it failed, and he finished one of the last places as a result of 2.5 lines.
“I know quite well some of the foreigners who play. Iturrisaga is known to Cubans and has participated in local events on other occasions. Brazilian Alexander Fier is a strong opponent, we played in Spain and Online. For his part, the Indian Sadhvani (Raunak) is very talented and already at the last World Olympiad showed that he can beat anyone, and the German Svane (Rasmus) is a grandmaster with an Elo rating of 2623.
“They will all demand a lot from us, as will the Dane Jonas Bjerre, a promising young man. Of course, we will fight for the first place, it’s time for the crown to stay at home. I dare to speak for my Cuban compatriots, this is also their desire,” he said.
The 41-year-old chess player predicted that 2023 would be a very busy year for him, as after the International Capablanca tournament in June he will take part in three tournaments in Canada (one open and two closed), and the next two months will be in Spain. , Andorra and Portugal, where he will try to retain the 2022 title at the Maia Open.
At the end, the second round of the Elite group took place: Carlos Daniel Albornoz vs. Swain, Sadwani vs. Lelis Martinez, Almeida vs. Bierre, Elier Miranda v. Iturrisaga & Fier vs. Luis Ernesto Quesada.
Source: Juventud Rebelde