Havana, November 17 (JIT) - Cuba's Alain Otero sealed with a draw his duel against Azerbaijani Shiroghlan Alibov, during the fourth round of the World Youth Chess Championship of Montesilvano 2023, in Italy.

The game ended after 50 moves of a Two Knight Defense, in which the Caribbean player moved the black pieces. 

The outcome left him with a total of 2.5 points, valid for 46th place in the under-18 age group.

Otero had to overcome during almost the entire game the weakness of a structure with doubled pawns on the c and g columns. In that circumstance he defended the position with the white squares bishop and his opponent did not find the way to materialize his advantage.

For the fifth round, the Havana native will move the white figures as a rival of the Indian Chakraborty Mayank, another player with 2.5 units, although by tie-breaker he occupies 39th place among the 134 contestants in the category.

The occupants of the top were reduced to three. Kazakhstan's Aldiyar Ansat, Russia's Aleksey Grebnev and Italy's Aron Pasti were the only ones with a perfect performance, ahead of a quartet with 3.5 points.

In the women's tournament in the same category, the top of the ranking was occupied by Ukraine's Yelyzaveta Hrebenshchykova, who won all four of her games.

The event also summoned players under 16 and 14 years of age, grouped in the open and women's segments.