Photo: JIT.

Havana, Sep 14 (RHC) The worst predictions were fulfilled on Friday for Cuba in the Budapest 2024 Chess Olympiad, when its representations in the open and women's sections yielded to those of Spain, an expected result given the quality of their rosters.

However, the Iberians needed to make a great effort in the gender-neutral segment to win with a score of 2.5-1.5 points, which clearly shows the tension experienced during the more than five hours of play of the match.

Carlos Daniel Albornoz brought the best news, defeating Alexei Shirov on the first board. The two-time champion of the Island won with white pieces in 35 moves of a French defense against the player of Latvian origin, who for several years occupied positions in the world elite.

"It was a very good game. Albornoz treated the position very well and above all it is an important victory for him personally", commented coach Rodney Perez to JIT from the headquarters.

In the remaining games, Elier Miranda stood out, with a good draw on the third board against the well-known Francisco Vallejo, several times an animator of the Capablanca in Memoriam tournaments.

However, the battle was decided by the Cuban defeats on the remaining boards, in which Luis Ernesto Quesada and Omar Almeida capitulated against David Anton and Alan Pichot, in that order.

With this result, the Cuban team was left with four points and appears in 27th place, a position that could improve depending on the result they get this Saturday against Costa Rica.

The teams of India, the United States and Uzbekistan show the best tiebreaker among the 16 teams that have signed a perfect pass so far, and lead the ranking.

Among the women, it was also the turn of the Cubans to face the Spaniards and the final result was sealed with an adverse slate of 1-3.

Drawings by Oleiny Linares with Sarasadat Khademalsharieh and Maritza Arribas with Marta García, in the first and second positions, respectively, seemed to clear the way. But Yerisbel Miranda and Yaniel Forgas could not withstand the push of Sabrina Gutierrez and Ana Matnadze, who decided the match with their successes.

The collective defeat left the Antillean women also with four points and in 30th place, to face Moldova in their next outing.

The top three places in the group -after the tie-breaker was applied- are occupied by the United States, Spain and England.

(Taken from JIT).