Ukrainian Ponomariov wins International Chess Tournament in Havana

 HAVANA, Cuba, May 13 (ACN) Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov won the Elite group, followed by Cubans Carlos Daniel Albornoz and Luis Ernesto Quesada, in the 57th Capablanca in Memoriam International Chess Tournament.

The former world champion achieved the expected dominance in the highest level section of the tournament when he finished on Sunday with a draw against Aryan Chopra from India, and scored 6.5 points out of a possible 10.

Four wins, five divisions and a setback against Denmark's Mads Andersen rounded off his first performance in Cuba and left him unreachable for the 5.5 units of Albornoz and the five of Quesada.

The hosts agreed a draw between them on the final day and celebrated a double podium finish that had not been enjoyed for many years, while Andersen was in fourth place after losing to Norway's Evgeny Romanov and setting his total at 4.5 points.

Chopra was fifth with the same total, but with a worse tiebreaker, and Romanov sixth with only four scores.

In the open segment, with more than 140 participants, the Frenchman Gabriel Flom was crowned owner of eight points and a better tiebreaker than the Cubans Ermes Espinosa and Jorge Roberto Elias, silver and bronze medalists with the same total.

Brazilian Darcy Lima led the over-50 category in the senior continental tournament with seven of nine points, while the over-65 category was won by Colombian Alonso Zapata, also with seven points.