Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
Havana, Oct 21. - Cuba enjoyed an excellent 3-1 start against Kazakhstan 2 today at the Astana 2025 Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities.
Individual victories by Carlos Larduet and Héctor Luis Fuentes supported a collective success that included draws from Pedro Morales, fulfilling his role as team leader, and Idalis Batista, playing on the fourth board.
National methodologist Wilfredo Toledo highlighted the results on the boards, especially considering the team had arrived at the competition venue just a few hours prior and managed to play good games.
Larduet, the most experienced member of the group with a world silver medal among the blind and visually impaired, defeated Nurgisa Kuanyshuly on the second board in 67 moves of a Reti Opening. Héctor Luis prevailed in the third position against Erlan Nurhayev in 41 moves of a Queen's Pawn game.
For Pedro, the draw came in 44 moves of a Sicilian Defense against Alimzhan Ayapov, and Idalis negotiated hers in just 10 moves of a Ruy López Opening against Aiganym Kamabarova.
In total, 15 teams were successful in this first round, and in the tie-break standings, the Cuban team sits in ninth place. From this position, they will face the team from India, which comes from a victory against the weaker team from Myanmar.
This is the second edition of a tournament of this kind, and according to the schedule, six rounds will be played using the Swiss system. (Text and photo: JIT)
