GM Dominguez wins Cuban national chess title

MATANZAS, Cuba, Feb 12 (acn) Cuban GM Dominguez Leinier won his fifth national title by beating 1.5-0.5 his counterpart Yuniesky Quesada in the Cuban Chess Championship, which runs from the last Tuesday in this city.

Dominguez, leading player in Latin America and 24th in the world ranking, won the first game in 49 moves of a Petroff Defense and drew in the second match after 51 moves of a Slav Defense.
This tournaments was held through rapid modality (20 minutes games with 10 additional seconds) not to affect Dominguez's Elo account.
The fourth best player in the Americas said he was happy with the victory in the championship and with the event in general, due to the seriousness in organizational issues and the presence of real fans of this sport.
Meanwhile, Quesada praised the play of his rival and was pleased with his participation in the event, which involved eight of the best players in the country at present.
Quesada , who was born in the province of Villa Clara, noted that his upcoming competitions include Jose Raul Capablanca in Memoriam Tournament, in June, and the National Championship of Spain, next August.
The also GM Lesly Martínez finished third when defeating Yusnel Bacallao in Blitz matches after drawing twice in rapid rounds.
The last time Leinier Dominguez won the title of Cuba dates back to 2012 when he beat Lazaro Bruzon in the final.