Cuban champion finishes sixth at Ibero-American Chess Championship

HAVANA, Cuba, Oct 1 (ACN) Luis Ernesto Quesada closed with a draw his performance at the Ibero-American Chess Championship of Linares 2024, in Spain, and finished sixth in a ranking dominated by the host of Argentine origin Alan Pichot.

After finishing as leader in the sixth round, the Cuban reigning champion had a discreet final stretch, in which he suffered a defeat and negotiated a couple of draws. The responsible for the loss was the Colombian Santiago Avila, before the draws against the Brazilian Alex Fier and the Peruvian Diego Saul Flores.

Thus, Luis Ernesto has accumulated 6.5 points in nine games, one point behind Pichot, who completed his last three games with victories over Paola Ladron de Guevara, Eduardo Iturrizaga and Daniel Garcia, all of them home players.

Precisely Garcia managed to finish second with seven points, while Avila completed the podium with the same amount, but less favored by the tie-breaking system.

Ernesto Fernandez, another of the Cubans registered in the contest, sealed his incursions with a defeat against Fier that left him with six points, insufficient to improve his 12th place in the ranking that grouped more than a hundred contestants.

Much farther away from the lead was Cristian Vitier, also from Cuba, with only 4.5 points out of a possible nine, which guaranteed him the 58th place.