Leinier Domínguez Pérez

Grand Master of chess. He is known for being the Cuban with the best results in this sport, after the legendary world champion José Raúl Capablanca. His ELO rating on the December 2015 list is 2732, occupying 24th place in the world. In the 2016 national championship, he won the crown of national champion for the fifth time in this sport.

From a very young age he was considered one of the greatest talents in Cuban chess.

A native of Güines, Leinier learned to play chess at age eight and it was his father who taught him the rules of the game. A few months later he demonstrated all his talent by becoming national pioneer champion, in a tournament where children aged 11 and 12 participated. At age 15, he achieved his first Grandmaster (GM) norm and conquered the definitive one at age 17 in the open tournament of Linares, Spain.

On the January 2010 FIDE list, Leinier moved to position 25 in the world ranking with 2712 Elo points, being the number one in Latin America and the first and only Latin American to exceed 2700 points.

Among his best performances are those from the International Capablanca in Memoriam Tournament of 2004, when he played at a 2808 rating, and his impressive result in the 2004 Tripoli World Championship, when he reached fifth place.

Worth noting among his best results is the one obtained in the Barcelona City masters in 2006, where he won the tournament with eight points out of nine possible, ahead of Vasili Ivanchuk and eight other chess players. In that tournament, he played at an Elo level corresponding to 2932 points.

The second place achieved in the very strong tournament for Grandmasters in Biel, Switzerland, where in the final round he surrendered his undefeated record, which cost him first place; even so, it is a very satisfactory result, finishing even ahead of the young Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen, the number one and current world champion, and the 2008 World Blitz Chess Championship.

National Recognition

He has won the Cuban championship on five occasions, in the years 2002, 2003, 2006, 2012 and 2016.

In 2008, he won first place in the Capablanca in Memoriam tournament and second place in the Sarajevo city tournament. He also won the world Blitz chess title.

He participated representing Cuba in seven Chess Olympiads in the years 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012. He finished undefeated with six points in ten games at the Dresden Olympiad in 2008 and Khanty-Mansiysk in 2010.

Current News

In 2015 the Spanish Club Chess Championship (CECLUB) ended in Spain, in which Leinier Domínguez turned out to be the best. Enrolled as the first board of Sestao Naturgas Energía, he closed with a draw against the Ukrainian Grandmaster and former world champion Ruslan Ponomariov (2,723 Elo points) and reached five points out of six possible, to complete a performance of four victories and two draws.

Between December 9 and 16, 2011, Domínguez participated in the II Mind Games in Beijing (China), in this unique tournament games are played at 5 and 10 minutes, and in 'blindfold' mode. In 2011 he competed in the San Sebastián Open, Spain, with other high-level players such as Azerbaijani Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2733 points), Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov (2723) and German Arkadij Naiditsch (2712).

In June 2013 he won the FIDE Grand Prix, held in Salonica, surpassing twelve other Grandmasters, including Fabiano Caruana, Veselin Topalov and Alexander Grischuk.

On January 19, 2014 Leinier Domínguez draws with German Arkadij Naiditsch during 91 moves of a Cuban Tower Attack, to reach four points in seven appearances in the strong Tata Steel chess tournament.

With the February ranking update he appeared in 12th place in the world with 2,757 Elo points, adding three points compared to the previous month and confirming himself as leader of Ibero-America with a figure that equals his personal record. In March he remained in 12th place, as the best Ibero-American, with no change in his Elo. With the April ranking update he was confirmed in 10th place in the world with another record coefficient for Latin America. In July he finished in 11th place with 2,760 points, and continues as number one in Latin America.

In August he participates in the World Chess Olympiad held in Tromsø, Norway, where the Cuban men's team finished in seventh place, matching the best historical placement of the island in that category and was the most outstanding in the Americas.

He competes in the Chess Grand Prix which begins on October 2 in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan.

2015 Results

He participates in the Chess Grand Prix held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, in May 2015, where after the fifth round he remains undefeated in second place alongside Russians Peter Svidler and Sergey Karjakin, while Italian Fabiano Caruana leads the tournament. On May 21 he reached 4.5 points in seven rounds, after defeating Russian Peter Svidler, occupying second place, only surpassed by Italian Fabiano Caruana, who shows five.