Cuba stumbles in U-16 Chess Olympiad

Havana, October 5 (JIT) - Cuba lost by the minimum difference of 1.5-2.5 in the third round of the World U-16 Chess Olympiad of Nakhshivan 2022, in Azerbaijan.

The island team faced the main local team (Azerbaijan 1) and suffered its first setback in the tournament, after Daniel Hidalgo and Greter Caballero tilted the king on boards one and four, in that order.

Daniel lost to Read Samadov, a young man with an Elo of 2,455 points who successfully executed a 58-move Queen's Gambit; while Greter lost to Narmin Abdinova in 60 moves of a French Defense.

The only triumph for the Antilleans came from the second table, Leduard Gonzalez, after 46 moves of a Reti Opening against Suleyman Suleymanly. The draw was signed by Jose Alejandro Hernandez with Farrid Orujou on the third board.

Followers of the match on the Internet highlighted the tension of each of the games played against one of the favorite teams of the tournament, which now with six points is leading the ranking after three rounds.

Cuba, with four points, is in ninth place and will face Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday, another team with four points thanks to the balance of two series won and one lost.

Kazakhstan and Turkey Red are the other two teams with perfect performances and occupy the second and third places in the standings, respectively.

The latter will be the leaders' next opponent, while the Kazakhs will have a game in hand on the representatives of Turkey-Anatolia.