Cuban Chess Earns Prestige Despite Failures

By Amauris Betancourt.
The practice of chess in Cuba achieves its turning point with Capablanca's history. His Grand Master's title, the first one belonging to the Island, was topped by his reign in worldwide chess at the beginning of the 20th century. It was not until the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, in 1959, when conditions were created to foster this sport. Nowadays it lives prosperity and wins over fans in times when there is, in men and women, the greater amount of internationally acknowledged titles.

National Chess Championship Holguín 2008.The role of Cuban teams in the last International Chess Olympics in Dresden could be better according to press experts though some think it good. The interest for this sport grows up according to the increasing number of followers in informative search about the performance of both teams.

Leinier Domínguez did not lose any game and Lázaro Bruzón seems to wake up from a worrying lethargy. However, they both went down in ELO average. Women made the news however; Lisandra Ordaz and Oleini Linares in a positive way.

The good news in the female team was starred, fisrt of all, by the IM Oleiny Linares ( 2262 ). The born-in-Santiago de Cuba Linares got the silver medal at the fourth chessboard with 9 points out of 10, only outshined by the Polish Joana Madjan ( 2284 ). Oleiny played for a 2530 average ELO, a higher level than her current average. He added 41 points to her ELO.

The role of the Cuban Eastern-born Oleiny set the difference in the Cuban team and was the most productive in the Dresden's meeting. The IM Lisandra Ordaz (2306) classified among the outstanding players behind the second chessboard and made a good impression. The GM Maritza Arribas (2303), present-day national female chess champion, did not play as usual and did not put in the points for the sake of the team’s better final position. The GM Sulennis Piña (2286), playing at the third chessboard, had a poor performance as well as a decreasing ELO average. She made 3.5 points in 8 games representing the Cuban team.Yaniet Marrero, change player, did little too for the Cuban females and her present-day ELO went down 16.5 points. Such a performance kept Cuba anyways at the head of Latin America, even playing at a lesser level according to its current possibilities. The future of Cuban chess has to focus on the necessary international training to get used to it to be able to achieve better results internationally.