Leinier Remains Undefeated and Advances to Fourth Round of Chess World Cup

August 7, 2023

Grandmaster Leinier Domínguez drew his game this Sunday against his Azerbaijani counterpart Gadir Guseinov. With this performance, the Cuban-born and naturalized American advanced to the fourth round of the Chess World Cup held in Baku.

Playing with the black pieces, the Guinean player (ELO 2739) opted for the Berlin Defense of the Spanish Opening but was unable to secure victory against his opponent as he had achieved in the previous match. Finally, both agreed to split the point.

By advancing to this round, the greatest player born in Cuba since Capablanca has guaranteed 16 thousand dollars in compensation.

This morning brought two surprising news to the event: the eliminations of Russian Daniil Dubov (2716) and Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2739).

Leinier awaits to know who his next opponent will be, which will come from the winner between Moldovan Ivan Schitco (2507) and Polish Radosław Wojtaszek (2676).

Born in Havana on September 23, 1983, in 2014 he managed to place himself in the tenth position of this ranking with an Elo rating of 2768.

He represented Cuba in nine Chess Olympiads and won the national championship five times.

Notable among his performances are the 2004 International Capablanca in Memoriam Tournament, with an Elo rating of 2808; and the Barcelona City exhibition in 2006, where he finished as champion even defeating chess players such as Ukrainian Grandmaster Vasili Ivanchuk.

In 2007 he was part of the team that assisted Hungarian Grandmaster Peter Leko in his training for the world championship. In 2013 he won the FIDE International Chess Federation Grand Prix and at the 2016 Chess Olympiad, he became runner-up.

In 2017 Leinier Domínguez decided to emigrate to the United States, and the following year he was registered as a player of the U.S. Chess Federation.