Winners crowned at the inaugural chess event of the XXIV Central American and Caribbean Games
The chess event of the XXIV Central American and Caribbean Games ended in San Salvador. Chess was included in the quadrennial Games for the first time, alongside 36 more sports. Next to FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, who visited the event, is Yamil Bukele, President of the Games COSSAN2023. He helped chess achieve this historic milestone. The Games program included rapid and blitz chess events in open and women categories. Sixteen countries took part, represented by two boards in each category. Cuba brought a stellar lineup with two GMs and two WGMs on the roster, and it was no surprise it took the most medals. Mexico also stood out with two GMs on the list. Cuban Grandmaster Carlos Daniel Albornoz Cabrera (2616) did not leave a chance to the opposition, winning both rapid and blitz events on board 1. WIM Valentina Argote Heredia (2035) also took two medals elevating Colombia to third place, after Cuba and Mexico, by the medal count. Winners on each board and category got the medals of the Games. Our congratulations to the frontrunners! RAPID Board 1, Open: Gold: GM Carlos Daniel Albornoz Cabrera (2616, Cuba) – 13 out of 15Silver: FM Joshua Johnson (2207, Trinidad and Tobago) – 11.5Bronze: CM Samid Eduardo Escalona Landi (2233, Venezuela) – 11.5 Board 1, Women: Gold: WGM Yaniela Forgas Moreno (2177, Cuba) – 12.5Silver: FM Danitza Vazquez Maccarini (2040, Puerto Rico) – 12Bronze: WIM Lilia Ivonne Fuentes Godoy (2057, Mexico) – 11 Board 2, Open Gold: GM Luis Fernando Ibarra Chami (2429, Mexico) – 12.5Silver: GM Luis Ernesto Quesada Perez (2538, Cuba) – 12.5Bronze: IM Esteban Alb Valderrama Quiceno (2526, Colombia) – 12 Board 2, Women: Gold: WIM Valentina Argote Heredia (2035, Colombia) – 14Silver: WGM Yerisbel Miranda Llanes (2235, Cuba) – 13Bronze: WIM Natasha Morales Santos (1876, Puerto Rico) – 12 BLITZ Board 1, Open: Gold: GM Carlos Daniel Albornoz Cabrera (2526, Cuba) – 13.5Silver: IM Esteban Alb Valderrama Quiceno (2546, Colombia) – 12Bronze: GM Gilberto Hernandez Guerrero (2526, Mexico) – 11 Board 1, Women: Gold: WIM Valentina Argote Heredia (2128, Colombia) – 14Silver: WGM Yaniela Forgas Moreno (2169, Cuba) – 13Bronze: FM Danitza Vazquez Maccarini (2014, Puerto Rico) – 12 Board 2, Open: Gold: GM Jose Gabriel Cardoso Cardoso (2484, Colombia) – 14Silver: IM Felix Jose Ynojosa Aponte (2413, Venezuela) – 13Bronze: GM Luis Fernando Ibarra Chami (2450, Mexico) – 12 Board 2, Women: Gold: WIM Lilia Ivonne Fuentes Godoy (2005, Mexico) – 12.5Silver: WIM Natasha Morales Santos (1813, Puerto Rico) – 12Bronze: WGM Yerisbel Miranda Llanes (2257, Cuba) – 12 Full results: Chess-results.com – XXIV Juegos Centroamericanos y del Caribe, San Salvador 2023
GCT SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia: Day 2 Recap
A surging Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana caught up with Anand during the second day of the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz, with Nepo winning all three games to tie for the lead going into the last day of the rapid. Just a point behind in second place are Jan-Krzysztof Duda and the young the young Gukesh, who scored two wins and a draw in today’s action. RAPID | ROUNDS 4-6 The day started off with a shock for Carlsen, as he lost back-to-back games to Caruana and Firouzja. Against Fabi, Magnus got caught in a rare line of the English and found himself worse in an endgame without much prospects. Carlsen-Caruana: after 15…Nd4, Caruana was a pawn up and with better development. | 0-1, 31 moves Two wins and a draw for Caruana, whose tied for first heading into the half-way point. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Fabiano converted to notch up a victory, and in the next round Carlsen again found himself on the defensive side against Firouzja. This time he was close to holding, but a late blunder in a queen endgame allowed Firouzja to seize the full point. A tough day for Carlsen, although at 50% he remains just two points behind the leaders. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Meanwhile Anand carried his excellent form into the first round, as he managed to outplay Saric in a complicated Najdorf battle. Anand-Saric: 37.Nf5+! was a winning stroke, as 37…gxf5 leads to mate after 38.Qg5+ Kf8 39.Qe7+ Kg7 40.Rg1++- | 1-0, 39 moves A win, loss, and draw for Anand, who remains one of the leaders. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Carlsen would bounce back in the final round, with a nice technical win against Anand in a rook endgame. This gave a chance for both Nepomniachtchi and Caruana to catch Anand with wins in the final round of the day – Nepo scoring his third straight victory and Caruana defeating Duda with Black. Nepomniachtchi-Lupulescu: after 32.Bg6, Black had back rank issues for the rest of the game. | 1-0, 50 moves After a winless Day 1 Nepo defeated Firouzja, Rapport, and Lupulescu in back-to-back games. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Lennart Ootes Ending the day just a point behind the leaders was the young Gukesh, who defeated both Lupulescu and Saric while drawing with Rapport in the first game. The youngest participant in the field, Gukesh has performed impressively so far. | Photo courtesy of Grand Chess Tour, Bryan Adams The 2023 SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz in continues on Thursday, July 7, with tournament action live starting at 7:05 AM CT with Grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan, Evgenij Miroshnichenko, Cristian Chirila and International Master Nazi Paikidze on grandchesstour.org and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels. Text: IM Kostya Kavutskiy Further Information: Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTourInstagram: @GrandChessTour | Facebook: @GrandChessTour Venue: The Westin Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia July 5 – 9, 2023 Press Contact:press@grandchesstour.org Livestream:GrandChessTour.org Photos:Courtesy of Grand Chess Tour and Spectrum StudiosCredits available on Flickr.