Second Time Around Proves Better

Cuba holds the privilege of being one of the founding nations of the Chess Olympiad for Persons with Disabilities, having participated in the inaugural edition in Belgrade 2023. There, the quartet of Pedro Morales, Carlos Larduet, Alberto Interián, and Idalis Batista combined their efforts to finish in 14th place among 26 teams, after securing three victories and an equal number of defeats.

Last year, the second edition of this tournament, which grew by eight teams, was held in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. On this occasion, Morales, Larduet, Batista, and debutant Héctor Luis Fuentes were primarily responsible for Cuba finishing in sixth place after six rounds. This result was thanks to their victories over Kazakhstan, India, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela, and their defeats against Poland and the team from the International Association of Chess with Physical Disability (IPCA).

Regarding one of the main international events for Cuban chess in 2025, Juventud Rebelde spoke with Rodney Pérez from Villa Clara, who served as both coach and captain of the island's team in Astana.

—How did the possibility for Cuba to compete in the past Olympiad arise?

—FIDE granted quotas by continent, guaranteeing seven spots to the Americas. Among the beneficiaries was our country, along with Venezuela, the United States, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and Panama. Each day, four players competed per team, and men and women had to be included.

—You stated that the entire team was very satisfied with its performance, among other reasons, for surpassing the result from Belgrade 2023.

*—This time we performed much better than in 2023; we were truly very pleased with the final result, that sixth place in teams. The victory over India, 3.5-0.5, influenced it significantly; it was a very good result, honestly. In the initial version, Indians and Uzbeks defeated Cuba, but this time the story was different. One of the two defeats occurred against the Polish squad, champion in 2023 and runner-up in 2025. To achieve a prominent placement, being among the top eight, we had to defeat Venezuela in the final round, and although it was achieved by 3.5-0.5, it was truly a very tense match.*

*«That way we finished with eight points in sixth position, as our team had the best tiebreak among the four with eight units. One always aspires for a bit more, but I believe finishing in sixth place is a magnificent performance. We lost narrowly, 1.5-2.5, to the IPCA team, but had Cuba won, we would have been on the podium. Furthermore, the four Antillean players had barely any tournaments in 2025.*

«We had almost no rest in Astana, only on the last day, after the tournament ended, could we walk a little through the city and feel the intense cold. The last edition was perhaps stronger than the previous one, as 38 titled players participated, including two Grandmasters and 18 International Masters.»