Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
Havana, Dec. 25. - Daniel Hidalgo, Cuban youth champion, dominated the Free group of the Cancun Chess Festival 2024, a rapid games competition held in that famous Mexican resort.
The winner last August of the national crown in his category, and considered among the main talents of the Science Game on the Island, won after accumulating 4.5 points out of five possible.
The Free segment was held with duels of 20 minutes, plus five seconds of increment after each move, and brought together 25 players, including several from the largest of the Antilles.
The Havana native almost had a perfect performance in the competition, which did not come to fruition due to the draws agreed with Lisandro Fernández - a local of Cuban origin -, who occupied the third place on the podium with four points.
With the same sum, but favored by the tiebreaker system, the Cuban Rodney Pérez closed, occupying the second position. The same number of units was in the possession of the young Mayabeque native Greter Caballero, who was in fourth place.
In parallel, a tournament was held using the league system with 12 rounds between four of the most outstanding players on the continent today. This segment was named Magistral and included duels scheduled for 10 minutes, plus five seconds of added time after each move.
Peruvian José Eduardo Martínez –who represents Mexico– repeated his recent reign in the Carlos Torre International Chess Tournament, after rounding off 11 points. Behind him was Cuban Carlos Daniel Albornoz with seven points thanks to five wins, three losses and four draws.
Juan Carlos Obregón, a Cuban who plays for the Mexican federation, and host Sion Radamantys Galaviz, were in third and fourth place with only 3.5 and 2.5 points, respectively. (Text and photo: JIT)
