Challenges at sight
By Michel Contreras
Translator: Caridad Martinez Fernandez
www.elhabanero.cubaweb.cu

Next year Leinier Dominguez will start with two superlative texts, in every which he would have to make a great effort not to fail.

Because it is an extraordinary challenge to attend to two rigorous tournaments of the World Chess – Corus and Linares.

Leinier has won such invitations. The science game’s courts open their doors for him, who had had an unforgettable season in 2008, where he had gone beyond the barrier of the 2700 ELO points and claimed himself blitz world champion.

However, there are still two more giant obstacles, hard ones. We can almost say cruel.

He will first attend to Corus from Wijk ann Zee in Holland, where there’ll be so much extra class that his 2719 coefficient will seem a little impressive.

Watch: among those convoked to the super tournament there are the Russian Alexander Morozevich (2787), number two in the orbital ranking; the Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk (2786); third in the planet; and the prodigious Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, fourth on the scale, with identical punctuation of Chucky.

But the succession of stars does not stop. There will also be the Armenian Levon Aronian (on the 7th position with 2757), the Azeri Teimour Radjabov (8, 2751), the Chinese Yue Wang (11, 2736), the English Michael Adams (12, 2734), the Slovakian Sergei Movsesian (13, 2732), the Ukrainian Sergei Karjakin (15, 2730) and the North American Gata Kamsky (16, 2729).

The list is completed with three local chess players of proven level, though inferior to those previously mentioned: the experienced Loek van Wely, Damiel Stellwagen and Jan Smeets.

This time, the Corus will have XIX category, with an ELO average of 2719- the same Leinier has-, and it is going to be challenged from January 16 to February 1st.

If this commitment could be fulfilled, Leinier will jump to Spain to participate in the most famous chess event from Linares, that will settled from February 16th to March 8th.

In its number 26th edition, the Iberian competition hopes to have the presence of the Indian Viswanathan Anand (2783), present universal champion and fifth in the ranking of the FIDE who would try to win again the titles got in 2007 and 2008.

Other big ones that had been in touch with are Aronian, Radjabov, Carlsen, and the former world monarch, the Russian Vladimir Kramnik (sixth with 2772).

Here is the full article.

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