Cuba's Elier Miranda takes the crown in the Bahamas chess competition

Havana, June 13 (JIT) .- Cuba's Elier Miranda finally sat on the throne of the Orjan Lindroth Chess Memorial in Nassau 2024, in the Bahamas, after closing with an accumulated 6.5 points in his nine presentations.

The Villa Clara native, champion of the Island in 2023, said goodbye to the Caribbean competition, dividing honors with the Jamaican Joshua Christie, and his coronation was achieved thanks to the tiebreaker system.

One of the losers was the Canadian Raja Panjwani, who reached the last round sharing the top and could not go beyond a draw with his compatriot Mike Ivanov in their final duel.

The formula to undo equalities also determined that the American Enrico Sevillano completed the podium, after reaching 6.5 stripes with the victory over his countryman Tyrell Harriott.

Miranda began the competition with a discreet performance, marked by parity in crosses with lower-ranking rivals. In the second half of the calendar he managed to right the course based on successes against high-level players, such as Sevillano himself and fellow American Praveen Balakrishnan. In short, he was left with four hits and five draws.

Omar Almeida from Havana anchored in fourth position, after completing six units. In his farewell he could not go beyond a tie with Alisa Melekhina, another exponent from the United States.

Despite not losing – he recorded three wins and six draws – the player from the capital returns home with a loss of almost five points in his Elo rating.

The Bahamian tournament had the participation of 20 players from five countries and was part of the Cubans' preparation for the Budapest 2024 Chess Olympiad, which will be held in September.