Albornoz Won the Mirandela Chess Open, Portugal

August 24, 2022

Carlos Daniel Albornoz completed an excellent performance this Tuesday at the Mirandela Chess Open 2022, in Portugal, where he was crowned after achieving seven victories and a pair of draws.

The two-time monarch of the Island continued the good streak with which he defended the second board in the recent Chennai 2022 Chess Olympiad and secured first place one day before the closing.

"He played impressively, surpassed the 2,600 Elo points on the live ranking, which will become official on September first when the international federation's ranking is updated," commented Rodney Pérez, trainer of the Olympic team and also organizer of this Portuguese event.

The Camagüey native Albornoz rounded out eight points in nine rounds and surpassed the Pole Leniart Arkadiusz and the Dutchman Pijpers Arthur, who with seven points each shared second and third places by tiebreaker, in that order.

Other Cubans moved pieces at the Portuguese event, including the current national champion Yasser Quesada and Omar Almeida. Both were part of the Cuban Olympic selection and now accumulated six points to place in 12th and 14th positions, respectively.

Jony Wilson Valdés finished nineteenth with six points as well; Rodney added 5.5 and finished in 28th place; and with the same score as the trainer, Yerisbel Miranda finished —from the female Olympic team—, occupying 32nd place among more than 130 participants.

Rodney advanced that from next Thursday this same group will participate in a one-day Blitz chess tournament, for which the presence of English former world champion Nigel Short is confirmed.

For Friday, August 26, another outing of the group is set, this time with actions in the classical variant, during the Maia Chess Open 2022, a nine-round tournament governed by the Swiss System that will also feature Short among its contestants.