Luis Ernesto Quesada

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

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

Thus, Luis Ernesto was left with an accumulated 6.5 points in nine appearances, one full point behind Pichot, who completed his last three appearances with victories over Paola Ladrón de Guevara, Eduardo Iturrizaga, and Daniel García, all of them home players.

Precisely Garcia managed to finish in second place with seven scores, 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 fair, 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 vanguard, Cristian Vitier, also from the Antilles, finished with only 4.5 points out of a possible nine, which guaranteed him the 58th place.