Cuba vs. Spain in continuation of the Chess Olympiad

 HAVANA, Cuba, Sep 13 (ACN) Cuban teams will face their Spanish counterparts today during the third round of the Budapest 2024 Chess Olympiad.

After winning their first two matches, Cuban teams have four units and, coincidentally, this Friday they will face the same opponent in the open and women's sections.

This will be the sixth time that the Spanish and Cuban sides have faced each other in competitions at this level. The balance of these duels stands at two wins for each side and a draw, although the successes of the Caribbean women have been in the most recent duels, such as those held in the editions of Turin 2006 and Baku 2016.

On this occasion the scenario looks difficult, due to the strength of a Spanish team made up of Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (2,464 Elo points), Marta Garcia (2,318), Sabrina Vega (2,374) and Ana Matnadze (2,338).

All of them have higher Elo coefficients than Cubans, which will depend on their regular lineup, with Oleiny Linares (2 201), Maritza Arribas (2 143), Yerisbel Miranda (2 294) and Yaniela Forgas (2 203), occupying the tables in that order.

In the segment without distinction of sexes, the panorama is similar, since the Iberian team is made up of four men with more than 2,600 Elo points, although it will be on the board that the fate of the crossroads will be defined.

Carlos Daniel Albornoz (2 579) will be the opponent of Alexei Shirov (2 666) and Luis Ernesto Quesada (2 578) of David Anton (2 665) on the first two boards. The third board will be defended by Elier Miranda (2 512) against Francisco Vallejo (2 657) and the fourth place will be occupied by Omar Almeida (2 492) against Alan Pichot (2 628).