Havana, May 8 (JIT).- The Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov signed the only victory of the fifth round in the elite group of the 57 Capablanca in Memoriam International Chess Tournament to face the final stretch towards the throne with greater advantage.
On Tuesday, Ponomariov moved the white pieces against the Dane Mads Andersen during 62 sets of a Catalan opening, which he sealed with his third success in the tournament. Thus he brought his total to four units, for the moment unattainable by the rest of his rivals.
Specialists gathered at the central Habana Libre hotel agreed to point out the changing course of actions on the board. At times the advantages changed from one side to the other, but when the duel was on its way to equality, the former world champion found the formula for success.
At the other two tables peace reigned, but not before seeing some skirmishes that could define a winner. In one, Carlos Daniel Albornoz from Camagüey shared honors with the Norwegian Evgeny Romanov after 35 moves of another Catalan opening, to settle in third place with 2.5 points.
"The game was very attractive. Albornoz always looked for interesting plays to maintain balance and achieving that at this level with the black pieces can be considered a good result," coach Rodney Pérez told Jit.
As very beneficial, especially from a psychological point of view, he valued the equality between the Avilanian Luis Ernesto Quesada and the Indian Aryan Chopra, in 35 touches of a Double Queen Pawn opening.
"It was a more "busy" game, perhaps with a slight advantage at some point for the Indian, but nothing significant. In the end, the repetition of position that led to a draw was logical," said the coach.
The current monarch of the Island had suffered two consecutive defeats, so saving half a unit against an opponent like Chopra can help him improve his performance during the second half of the contest.
After Ponomariov in the order, Chopra remained with three points. Then Albornoz (2.5) appears, followed by Luis Ernesto (2) and Andersen (2), while Romanov (1.5) closes the table.
