Oleiny Linares emerged as the winner of the 57th Cuban Women’s Championship. WGM from Santiago took her third national title in fierce competition with top-rated IM Lisandra Ordaz. The 12-player round-robin with classical time control took place in José Raúl Capablanca Academy in Camagüey from February 09-20.
The event turned into an exciting race between Lisandra Ordaz (pictured below, left), WGM Yerisbel Miranda and Oleiny Linares (pictured below, right). Ordaz was in the lead for most of the event, but Linares caught up with her coming into the final round, while Miranda trailed by 1.5 points.
In a dramatic final round, Ordaz suffered a defeat with the white pieces at the hands of Yaniela Forgas, whereas Linares drew her game with Yoana Gonzalez and clinched the title by scoring 8.5/11. The champion became the only paricipant to complete the tournament unbeaten. Lisandra Ordaz had to settle for silver.
Yerisbel Miranda finished on 7/11 and took bronze.
Final standings:
1 | WGM | Linares Napoles, Oleiny | 2179 | 8½ |
2 | IM | Ordaz Valdes, Lisandra | 2312 | 8 |
3 | WGM | Miranda Llanes, Yerisbel | 2269 | 7 |
4 | WGM | Forgas Moreno, Yaniela | 2304 | 6½ |
5 | WGM | Arribas Robaina, Maritza | 2225 | 6 |
6 | WFM | Muniz Guevara, Amanda | 2057 | 5½ |
7 | FM | Hernandez Machado, Patricia | 2143 | 5½ |
8 | WIM | Hernandez Gil, Ineymig | 2158 | 4½ |
9 | WIM | Gonzalez Ochoa, Yoana | 2104 | 4½ |
10 | WIM | Obregon Garcia, Roxangel | 2158 | 4 |
11 | WFM | Gutierrez Espinosa, Karen | 2110 | 3½ |
12 | WFM | Cabrera Ladron, Mayra | 1923 | 2½ |
Photo: Federación Cubana de Ajedrez
