• Submitted by: manso
• Sports
• 05 / 11 / 2011

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Ukrainian chess star Vassily Ivanchuk and the best Latin American player of the moment, Cuba’s Leinier Dominguez, head the Elite Group of the 46th Capablanca Memorial scheduled for May 11-22 in the Cuban capital.

Ivanchuk, the defending champion and who has won the annual tournament on four occasions, places fifth in the world ranking of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) with an ELO rating of 2776 points —the highest of all participants this year.

For his part, Dominguez places 21st in the world ranking with 2726 units.

Other top players who will be competing in the Elite Group of the contest include Czech David Navara (35th, 2702) and Cuban Lazaro Bruzon (45th, 2693).

The other players included in the Elite Group are world youth champion Dmitry Andreikin (2687) of Russia, and Vietnamese Quan Liem Le (2687), the highest-ranked player of this Asian nation.

For the first time in its history, the tournament will have a Category 19th level as the average ELO rating will be 2712.

Meanwhile, the Premier Group —with an average ELO rating of 2561— will be led by Cuban national champion Yuniesky Quesada (2626) and it will include his compatriots Fidel Corrales (2586), Isam Ortiz (2569), Holden Hernández (2558), Omar Almeida (2555) and Ermes Espinosa (2467). In this group, the foreign representatives will be Canadian Mark Bluvshtein (2589), Mexican Manuel León Hoyos (2562), Peruvian Emilio Córdova (2561) and Italian Daniele Vocaturo (2540).

More than 200 players will also be participating in two other Open groups.

(ACN)