Corrales leads Las Tunas with one to go

Cuban Chess Championship Defines Leader in Las Tunas

Submitted by nesy on Wed, 2009-01-14 14:11

The IM Fidel Corrales had to wait until the penultimate round so that in an aggressive match he could snatch the leadership to the GM Omar Almeida, after defeating him in the eighth round of the National Chess Championship for men’s, about to conclude its first phase in this eastern city.

Corrales, first preclasified for his ELO of 2586 points (fourth in the national ranking), defeated Almeida with white pieces in 30 moves of a Pawn King, to achieve 5.5 points in the chart of positions and to guaratee his classification, if he ties in the ninth round this Tuesday.

On the other hand, the FM Yusnel Bacallao (2438) eliminated with whites the favorite GM Walter Arencibia (2536) and he incorporated with his 5.0 pints to the group that will fight today for one of the five tickets toward the second phase.

In the most attractive match in the day and after four hours of game, the GM Reynaldo Vera (2479) appealed to his experience and tied with black pieces in front of the FM of Las Tunas Humberto Blanco (2434) who was very close to the victory and almost achieves a norm of Grand Master.

The GM Luis Manuel Perez (2521) and the FM Lelys Martinez (2485) divided the point; the same as the GM Frank de la Paz (2491) and Yuri Gonzalez (2507); as well as the FM Jose Angel Guerra (2411) and Roberto Garcia (2295), a promise of 16 years old.

Undoubteddly, the last classificatory day will be the most spectacular, because ten players arrive at the end with possibilities of obtaining one from the five tickets to the following stage to be played from January 18 to 28, with the participation of the Grand Masters Lazaro Bruzon (2617), the defending national champion Yunieski Quesada (2590), Holden Hernandez (2568), Jesus Nogueiras (2575) and Neuris Delgado (2550), to play all against all in nine rounds for the Cuban title of 2009.

In the ninth and decisive day, the following matches are foreseen:

GM Luis Manuel Perez (5) – IM Fidel Corrales (5½)

GM Omar Almeida (5) – FM Lelys Martinez (5)

IM Yuri Gonzalez (5)-MF Jose Angel Guerra (5)

GM Reynaldo Vera – GM Frank de la Paz (5)

FM Humberto Blanco (5) – FM Yusnel Bacallao (5)

FM Luis Lazaro Aguero (4½) – IM Rodney Perez (4½)

Roberto Garcia (4½) – Pedro Morales (4½)

GM Walter Arencibia (4) – Isam Ortiz (4)

IM Camilo Gomez (4) – IM Humberto Pecorelli (4)

FM Carlos Mena (4) – FM Borges Yasel (4)

Leandro Guerra (3½) – Aramis Alvarez (3½)

GM Juan Borges (3½) – Pedro Jimenez (3½)

Alejandro Valdes (3½) – IM Maikel Gongora (3½)

FM Sandro Pozo (3½)-Yasser Quesada(2½)

Leonel Figueredo (3)-Alejandro Gonzalez (2)

MF Carlos Castellano (1)-FM Carlos Hevia (2½)

Results in the eighth round

1 IM Corrales Jimenez Fidel 1 – 0 GM Almeida Quintana Omar

2 GM Perez Rodriguez Luis Manuel ½ – ½ FM Martínez Duany Lelys

3 GM De la Paz Perdomo Frank ½ – ½ IM Gonzalez Vidal Yuri

4 FM Blanco Ronquillo Humberto ½ – ½ GM Vera Reynaldo

5 FM Guerra Mendez Jose Angel ½ – ½ Garcia Pantoja Roberto

6 FM Bacallao Alonso Yusnel 1 – 0 GM Arencibia Rodriguez Walter

7 IM Perez Garcia Rodney ½ – ½ FM Morales Rosemary Pedro

8 IM Alvarez Pedraza Aramis 0 – 1 FM Omen Jimenez Luis Lazaro

9 FM Borges Feria Yasel ½ – ½ IM Gomez Garrido Camilo

10 IM Pecorelli Garcia Humberto ½ – ½ FM Mena Crespo Carlos

11 IM Ortiz Suarez Isam 1 – 0 Valdes Lopez Alejandro

12 IM Gongora Reyes Maikel ½ – ½ FM Pozo Vera Sandro

13 Figueredo Losada Leonel 0 – 1 Guerra Mojena Leandro

14 Gonzalez Vega Alejandro ½ – ½ GM Borges Mateos Juan

15 Quesada Perez Yasser 1 – 0 FM Hevia Alejano Carlos A

16 Jimenez Fraga Pedro AT 1 – 0 FM Castellano Sanchez Carlos

Source: www.cubaheadlines.com/