The 53rd edition of the Capablanca Memorial is taking place from May 9-19 in the Habana Libre Hotel in Havana, Cuba. The elite group of 6 players honouring the Cuban Chess World Champion José Raúl Capablanca in a double round-robin with new US Champion Sam Shankland the top seed. Players receive 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes to the end of the game, with a 30-second increment starting from move one.

Live games with analysis will be provided daily on Chessdom.com with the best chess software competing in the Top Chess Engine Championship – Komodo, Houdini, and Stockfish.

List of players:

Samuel Shankland, Lazaro Bruzon Batista, Aleksey Dreev, Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli, David Anton Guijarro, Aleksandr Rakhmanov.

The Cuban Federation and the National Chess Commission, under the auspices of the National Institute of Sports Physical Education and Recreation (INDER), the support of the Barceló Hotel Chain and the Solymar Arenas Blancas hotel are pleased to invite you to participate in the 53rd edition of the International Tournament Capablanca in Memoriam.

Since 1962 on the initiative of Commander Ernesto “Che” Guevara, it is celebrated annually in homage to the famous Cuban figure and the world José Raúl Capablanca, who was born on November 19, 1888, who revealed himself as a child prodigy by learning for himself the same game that would take him to fame, with only four and a half years, and at 13 he was crowned champion of Cuba. His international debut took place in 1911, in San Sebastián, where he won the first place in solo. World champion in 1921 when he defeated in Havana to Enmanuel Lasker (27 years as monarch). He had an Olympic raid in Buenos Aires ’39 and won the gold medal in the first board, ahead of Alekhine. He made numerous contributions to chess, both in theory and practice and is the closest he has been to perfection in the noble game for being undefeated for eight years, between 1916 and 1924.

This prestigious event reached its 52nd edition in 2017, only stopped being held in 1966, on the occasion of the World Chess Olympiad in Cuba, in 1970, for the harvest of 10 million and in 1978 for being Cuba headquarters of the XI World Festival of Youth and Students. The first Champion was: Miguel Najdorf, in 1962 and the highest winner was: Vassily Ivanchuk with 6 titles (2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, and 2012). Among Cubans, Leinier has won three editions (2004, 2008, and 2009).

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