Casablanca Chess Tournament Start Today

HAVANA TIMES, May 4 — The 47th Capablanca Memorial Chess Tournament will begin today at the Riviera Hotel in the capital, reported Granma newspaper.

Russian players Ian Nepomniachtchi (with an ELO rating of 2,716) and Vladimir Potkin (2,642); Czech competitor Victor Laznicka (2,693), and local players Leinier Dominguez (2,725) and Yuniesky Quesada (2,625) will be the main challengers to “Chucky” – who will attempt to retain his crown.

Nepomniachtchi, 22, presents himself as one of the strongest rivals in the “Elite Group,” as does the Peruvian grand master Emilio Cordova (2,566) in the Premier Group, but without the attendance of Cuban master Lazaro Bruzon (2,711) absent for personal reasons.

This year marks half a century since the first tournament, which in 1962 opened in the Hotel Habana Hilton (today Hotel Habana Libre). Since then, world champions including Boris Spassky, Vassily Smyslov, Mikhail Robert Fischer and Majail Tal have attended.