Cuba's Best Chess Players Face off for National Title

Periodico 26

By Maryla García Santos

Santa Clara, Cuba, Jan 26 (P26) For the third consecutive year, Grand Masters Leinier Dominguez and Lazaro Bruzon will face each other for the national crown after downing their respective rivals in the semifinals of the Cuban national chess championship that is underway at the "ECO" sports hall in Santa Clara, central province of Villa Clara.

In 2005 Bruzon grabbed the cup, while Dominguez became national champion last year. On both occasions it was necessary to play quick games to decide on the winner.

Most sportswriters bet on Domínguez' win this year, taking into account his excellent performance in 2006, which took to the 30th place in the FIDE's ranking list. He now has an ELO rating of 2677.

In the meantime, Bruzon, with a current ELO of 2614 went down bellow the first 100 players. However, some people trust in his talent.

Nevertheless, the history of the matches played between the two chess whizzes is enough to foresee a hard final at the 2007 National Chess Championship.

In 2005 they ended both classic games in draws, and so occurred in the first 25-minute quick game. Bruzon beat Dominguez in the second quick game, thus concluding the match 2.5-1.5.

Last year, they played four classic games, which concluded in a win and and draw for each one. Also the rapid 25-minute games ended in draws, and the same occurred in the first five-minute game. Leinier won the title in the second five-minute quick game.

The first game of the final match takes place on Friday afternoon at 15:00 hours( local time).