No Progress for Cubans at World Chess Tournament in Baku

HAVANA, Cuba, Sep 12 (acn) Cuban Leinier Dominguez beat former world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov, but that victory was not enough for his team to equal Uzbekistan in the World Chess Olympiad under way in the city of Baku.

With only two rounds to play, the Cuban women's team also tied with Romania, which made the two Cuban teams stay away from leading positions.
Leinier (2720 Elo points) defeated Kasimdzhanov (2695) in only 33 moves of a Spanish opening, Berlin variant, in the first board.
This was Lenier´s third win, plus five draws, so he has responded according to his rank in a position of greater complexity.
On second board, Lazaro Bruzon (2623) signed peace with Jahongir Vakhidov (2583) in 44 moves of an English Opening and on the third Yuniesky Quesada (2636) did the same with Anton Filippov (2582) in 45 moves of a Queen's Indian defense, but Isan Ortiz (2581) lost vs. Marat Dzhumaev (2450) on the fourth board so the 2-2 draw was set.
Isan is the major contributor of points to his team with five wins and two draws, but this time he could not decipher the Dutch defense proposed by his opponent and was beaten in 41 moves.
Now, the Caribbean men's squad totals 11 units and appears 35th, very distant from the United States and Ukraine, which commands placings with 16 points.
Meanwhile, the U.S.A. beat Norway 3-1, a performance that includes the draw between its star Fabiano Caruana (2808) and world champion Magnus Carlsen (2857), while Ukraine defeated India 2.5-1.5, which has gone down in terms of its performance after being on top of standings.
In the women's event, Cubans also tied with Romania 2-2, in a game that included a win by Yuleisy Hernandez (2264) and draws by Maritza Arribas (2315), who remains unbeaten in the contest, and Oleiny Linares (2276) .
Unfortunately, Lisandra Llaudy (2269) made mistakes and could not extend her good performance and lost in 85 moves of a Sicilian defense to Irina Bulmaga (2395).
The Cuban women's team now has 11 points and descended to position 38th of a list led by China with 16 points, one more than Poland.
Today, in the penultimate round, the Cuban men's team will face Estonia (place 48 with 11 points) and the women's team will rival Turkmenistan (32/11).