Cuba enjoys premiere of chess in Central Caribbean Games

San Salvador, July 4 (JIT) - Chess started on Monday in the XXIV Central American and Caribbean Games, and its protagonists entered history for being the premiere of the Science Game at this level.

Five intense rounds, in the rapid games competition, left the expected panorama: Cuba at the top of the women's category with nine points out of a possible 10, and the men at the top of their section with a similar harvest, also exhibited by the Venezuelan representation.

Although an order by country has been disclosed, the only awards foreseen here are the individual ones. Each team is made up of two men and an equal number of women, and the results in the so-called board one and two for each sex will be recognized independently.

Santiago's Yaniela Forgas has made the cross in her five presentations and Pinar del Río's Yerisbel Miranda lost her unbeaten record surprisingly, when she lost to Barbadian Julissa Figueroa.

"It was the only defeat today. The game was a bit tangled, with options for Yerisbel to win, but this fast pace is like that, in seconds a position can change," explained coach Rodney Perez, for whom everything is behaving according to plan.

Carlos Daniel Albornoz from Camagüey and Luis Ernesto Quesada from Avila have identical accumulated 4.5 points, thanks to four wins and one draw.

The same total is shown by Venezuelan Samid Escalona and Felix Aponte, their first rivals on Tuesday during another long five-round day.

The rapid tournament will be extended until round 15. The Blitz tournament, which will start on July 6 and will close the chess activities in these Games, will have the same number of stops.