Lázaro Bruzón Batista

Glory of Cuban sports. Grand Master, second-best chess player in Cuba. Cuban national champion. Since 2000 he has had a dizzying career in the game of chess.

He has an Elo rating of 2,717, which places him 31st in the world ranking. He wins the first two games in the IV Ibero-American Chess Championship, held in Quito, Ecuador in April 2012. He finishes in 9th place in the XL World Chess Olympiad.

He was born in Holguín and moved with his family in 1988 to the Airport district of the capital of Las Tunas, where he learned to play chess. His parents Alfredo Bruzón Ochoa and Emilia Batista Mastrapa gave him a good education.

He received his first lessons in the game of chess alongside his older sister, Virgen, in Las Tunas, from a neighbor named Reynaldo Milanés Peña, who instilled in him a love for the world of chess.

Systematic practice at the board began in 1991, at age nine, when he was studying fourth grade at Cristino Barreda Primary School, near his home, and in 1992 he entered the Sports Initiation School (EIDE) Carlos Leyva González, recruited by the coach of that institution, Bernardo González.

Bruzón remembers with great affection and respect those who helped him from the beginning: the provincial chess commissioner Luis Santiago Guevara and his wife Margarita Torres, also a coach; as well as the first teachers Guillermo and Bernardo González at the EIDE and Edilberto Mercantete at the Higher Athletic Improvement School (ESPA) Aníbal Aponte, in the school and youth categories.

He has an ELO Coefficient of 2,713 points, updated on September 1, 2012.

From his entry into the EIDE, his natural talent and permanent spirit of improvement led him to continuous success, including: national champion in the pioneer, 13-14 and 15-16 age categories.

In the youth stage, he also won the Cuban crown, always in fierce competition with his great friend and colleague, Grand Master from the province of Havana, Leinier Domínguez; the number one in the country's ranking.

He had a very productive year in 1999, when in the capacity of FIDE Master, he achieved two short norms for International Master in tournaments in Granma and Unión de Reyes, Matanzas, and reached that title in the Cuban Championship.

Obtaining the International Master diploma in such a short time was a great feat, but that very year, the chess player from Las Tunas pleasantly surprised the experts: he obtained the first Grand Master norm in the Capablanca Memorial Tournament and just 15 days later, in the Guillermo García, in Villa Clara, he added the second to earn the highest title from the International Chess Federation (FIDE), at age 17.

The talented young man advanced rapidly in the ELO Coefficient table and approached the 2600 club. He won the World Youth Chess Championship in Yerevan, Armenia in 2000 and a year later surprised everyone with the title in the Young Master Tournament, organized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The victory in an event to which the most outstanding young Grand Masters in the world are invited confirmed Bruzón's talent. In that edition, the Grand Master from Ukraine, Ruslan Ponomariov, participated; he later became the absolute World Champion of FIDE.

Due to his rising performance in the world of chess, he was invited to the Four-Player Tournament of Essen in the Netherlands, in which he played against local GM Van Welly, the legendary Víctor Korchnoi, and the talented Hungarian Susan Polgar. He finished in last place, but achieved a historic result in his short career by defeating Korchnoi in a brilliant game.

In 2000, he became the winner of the World Junior Chess Championship for players under 20 years old, held in Yerevan, capital of Armenia, held from September 18 to October 2. In 2002 he surpassed 2600 ELO points.

In 2003, he won the elite group of the José Raúl Capablanca International Tournament and made his first foray into a World Championship, but was unable to advance beyond the preliminary round.

2004 was a fruitful year for Bruzón, although after qualifying in the Pan-American tournament, he again remained in the preliminary round of the World Championship in Tripoli, Libya; where his colleague, Grand Master Leinier Domínguez, had a great performance, finishing in eighth place.

At age 22, he began with a brilliant performance that led him to the title in group B of the Wijk aan Zee Tournament in the Netherlands, a result with which he earned the right to participate in the elite bracket in the 2005 edition.

In 2006, he finished sixth in the 39th International Chess Festival of Biel, Switzerland, which took place from July 22 to August 4 and in which six chess players competed in a round-robin system.

The only domestic title he was missing, the Cuban Championship, he achieved in April in the II National Olympiad, the first of Chess, in which he was honored by Russian chess player Anatoli Karpov; and shortly before attending the World Championship in Libya, he obtained second place in the corresponding edition of the Capablanca, won by Leinier Domínguez.

He has won the Cuban Chess Championship five times: in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2010. He won in the 2007 final against the previous champion, Leinier Domínguez, in a match decided in five-minute playoff games held between January 9 and 31 in Santa Clara, Cuba.

After a difficult 2009 when results went against him and his Elo rating decreased, he had a clear recovery in 2010, which led him to begin 2011 with 2686 Elo, very close to the exclusive 2700 club.

2011. In May 2011 he obtained 2673 ELO coefficient, which placed him 45th in the world ranking, and he decided to invoke the clause that allowed him not to play the Cuban National Championship to protect his Elo rating, which could be affected by participating in a tournament with an average Elo of 2486 and 2491 in groups I and II respectively[3]

One of the worst performances of his life occurred in the 42nd Capablanca Memorial, where he finished in last place, despite having won his first individual game against the one who would go on to win the tournament, Ukrainian Grand Master Vassily Ivanchuk.

He finished in fourth place in the International Baku Open Chess Tournament, which concluded on Sunday, August 14 in the capital of Azerbaijan. Bruzón concluded with six points, winning four games, drawing four, and losing one, earning him 8.5 Elo points, which increased his rating to 2681.5[4]

In August-September 2011 he participated in the IV FIDE World Cup where he made it to the fourth round, the 16 best in the tournament, by defeating Vietnamese Le Quang Liem in the classical games[5]. In that round he was eliminated by one of the tournament's great favorites, Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov, in the playoff games, after tying the classical games[6].

On September 13, 2011 he participated in the Karpov Memorial held in the Russian city of Poikovsky, where in nine games he earned 2.90 points, accumulating 6.90 points in this competitive stage and reaching 2689 Elo points.

2012.
On January 1, 2012 the ELO coefficient increase to 2691 was confirmed, placing him 55th in the world ranking, as announced by FIDE.

On Sunday, January 30, 2012 he defeated Dutchman Sipke Ernst with the black pieces and placed himself in third position in "group B" in the Tata Steel Tournament in the Netherlands. He accumulated 8.5 points and increased his Elo by 3 points, which would be formalized in March of that year.

On Saturday, March 3, 2012 he won the sixth round of the Catalan Club Championship and accumulated 2,700 Elo points on the "live" list of chess rankings, which unlike the official list records results as they occur. This placed him 38th in the world with 2,702 points and earned him 4.5 out of five possible points. He currently has 2,694 as a recognized Elo coefficient, adding 1.8 points and now stands at 8.2 of the total reserved for the Iberian tournament for the May list.[8].

In April 2012 he won his first two games in the IV Ibero-American Chess Championship, which took place in Quito, Ecuador and found himself ranked 28th in the "live" ranking with 2711 on FIDE's May list.

In July 2012 he participated in the Quebec Open, Canada, being the one with the highest rating at 2700 ELO points, and won the event.

During the period from August 27 to September 9, 2012 he participated in the XL World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey, where he finished in 9th place in the event, where along with Leinier Domínguez (6th) they finished in the leading positions, both with only one loss in that event[9].

During the period from September 27 to October 8 he participated in the Karpov Memorial, held in the city of Poikovsky, where he finished in 6th place.

On October 1, 2012 he has 2717 ELO Coefficient recognized by FIDE.[10].

He participated in the seventh edition of the 2012 Continental Tournament of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Bruzón and Leinier Domínguez have had a rivalry that began in 1993, when they met at the Pioneer Games. From then until 1996 they faced each other four times.

However, Bruzón inaugurated his record of successes at the 1997 School Games (15-16), repeated in the 1998 National Championship, won again that year in the youth tournament in Matanzas, and twelve months later, in a similar competition held in Camagüey, tied the score.

From that date on, they have played chess throughout the country, and likewise in competitions in Spain, Portugal, Denmark, the Netherlands, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic. Beyond the draws, the player from Havana achieved new victories in the Capablancas of 2000 and 2005, and the National Championships of 2001, 2006, and 2007. Meanwhile, the player from Las Tunas beat him in games played in the 2004 Capablanca and domestic tournaments in 2004, 2006, and 2007. On July 12, 2011 they draw in the Open Chess Tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan.