Vassily Ivanchuk leading Capablanca Memorial

Ukrainian GM on the run after his third Capablanca trophy

The 42nd Capablanca Memorial started on Friday with defending champion Vassily Ivanchuk, three European and six Cuban Grandmasters participating. Ivanchuk gave himself a strong start by beating Peter Heine Nielsen, Jesus Nogueiras and Lazaro Bruzon Batista in the first three rounds. Finally, Azeri Vugar Gashimov held him off to a draw in the 4th round. Still, Ivanchuk has a full point lead ahead of the top Cuban player Lenier Dominguez Perez.

GM Vassily Ivanchuk

Peter Heine Nielsen is recovering from the bad start, while Vugar Gashimov, Kamil Miton and Yuniesky Quezada Perez are in the middle of the table after drawing all four games.

Unlike the last year's tournament, this edition is a round robin with 10 players. The average rating is 2617 and the tournament is 15th category. The parallel 9-round open tournament with 75 participants is taking place along the main event. After 4 rounds, GM Holden Hernandez Carmenates, IM Ramon Mateo, GM Frank De La Paz Perdomo and FM Sandro Pozo Vera are on top with 3.5 points each. Mexican Chess Open winners IM Fidel Corrales Jimenez and IM Manuel Leon Hoyos are currently with 2.5 points.

IM Manuel Leon Hoyos