Havana, April 7.- Carlos Daniel Albornoz today concluded his time at the 2024 Menorca International Chess Open Tournament in Spain with a victory, dominated by the Indian favorite Arjun Erigaisi.
The Cuban successfully led the white pieces against the Israeli Yahli Sokolovsky to score his fourth success in the tournament, without the shadow of a setback. Five boards completed his actions to round out 6.5 points, valid for anchoring in 20th place in the rankings.
Undoubtedly, the inconclusive duels hampered his chances of a better placement, but it is notable that he said goodbye to the tournament with a positive balance for his Elo, to which he added 0.7 units.
Nor can it be ignored that its final position was around the 17th place it occupied in the previous ranking of a fair that brought together more than 280 players, almost twenty of them above 2,600 points in their Elo.
Erigasi, who had taken the top by storm after Saturday's results, barely needed to make peace with the Slovenian Vladimir Fedoseev to take over the scepter, owner of 7.5 stripes and a better tiebreaker than the Austrian Kirill Alekseenko and the host Maksim Chigaev.
Alekseenko closed by beating the Dutchman Max Warmerdam, while Chigaev imitated his fight against the Belgian Daniel Dardha, but the calculations left them as second and third, in that order.
The Cuban Ernesto Fernández also had a happy goodbye against the Indian Anto Manish and his total of 5.5 units gave him the 70th seat. Although he was successful in five games, he suffered three defeats, agreed to a tie to give up 12.9 points of floor.
Prior to his transit through Menorca, Albornoz enjoyed the third place in the 50th International Chess Tournament of La Roda 2024 and led the blitz game event in Tajamar.
His stay on Spanish soil has served as preparation to face the 57th Capablanca in Memoriam 2024 International Chess Tournament, scheduled for May 2 to 12 at the Habana Libre hotel.
The demanding competition will have category 15 of the International Chess Federation (Fide, for its acronym in French) and will have the native of Camagüey as one of the only two locals enrolled in its elite group. (Photo text: Jit)
