Cuban Dominguez opens with win in second round of World Chess Cup

HAVANA, Cuba, Sep 15 (acn) Cuban Leinier Dominguez won at the start of the second round of the World Chess Cup in Baku, and he just needs a draw to earn the ticket to the stage of 32 players.

Leinier (2736 Elo points) defeated with white pieces Armenian Hrant Melkumyan (2633) in 39 moves of a Spanish opening and stopped a man who had previously beaten American Gata Kamsky (2670).
Meanwhile, the also Cuban Lazaro Bruzon (2659) lost to the former world champion Russian Vladimir Kramnik (2773) in 117 moves of an English opening, outcome that forces the Caribbean to win today to stay alive.
Besides Leinier, the other winners in the first game of the round of 64 were Americans Fabiano Caruana (2808) and Wesley So (2779), Ukrainian Vassily Ivancuk (2726), Russian Dmitry Andreikin (2720) and Peruvian Julio Granda (2663).
The event began with 128 players and sends home the losers in each round, consisting of two classic games and blitz matches if necessary to break parities.