HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 16 (ACN) Luis Ernesto Quesada keeps up his good pace and Carlos Daniel Albornoz had two consecutive wins: both are the best Cuban players in the Ibero-American Chess Championship held in Mexico City.
Quesada agreed a draw with the Spanish Alvar Alonso in the most recent round and now has four points, just like two-time Cuban champion Albornoz, who defeated Julian Estrada, also from Spain. The former ranks seventh after a tiebreaker, whereas Albornoz, who finished second in this competition in 2019, is in 11th place, but now they are both only half a point behind the leaders.
Six players already boast 4.5 points, including the Spanish Jaime Santos, best in the tie-breaking system. Joining him in that group are Georg Meier (Uruguay), Guillermo Vazquez (Paraguay), Juan Carlos Obregon (a Cuban-born playing for Mexico), Sandro Mareco (Argentina) and Jose Fernando Cuenca (Spain).
Attended by 167 chess players from 27 countries, this event serves several of the Cuban participants as preparation for the National Championship next month in the city of Santa Clara, Villa Clara province.