Capablanca Memorial

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The Capablanca Memorial is a chess tournament that has been held annually in Cuba since 1962. It was run by José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera. At the time, it was the best paid tournament in the world.[1] Since 1974 B and C tournaments have been held.[2][3][4][5]

1962 tournament[]

The first José Raúl Capablanca Memorial was held from 29 April to 30 May 1962 in the Habana Libre hotel in Havana, Cuba. Miguel Najdorf was first in a field of 22 players, followed by Lev Polugaevsky and Boris Spassky, Svetozar Gligorić and Vasily Smyslov, Borislav Ivkov, etc.[6]

1965 tournament[]

The fourth tournament held in 1965 was marked by an unusual circumstance. U.S. Champion Bobby Fischer had been invited to play and was offered a $3000 appearance fee, but the United States Department of State would not allow him to travel to Cuba due to tensions in Cuba-United States relations. American Grandmaster Larry Evans had been permitted to play in the tournament the year before, as he was also acting as a journalist. The U.S. Department of State often allowed newsmen and journalists to travel to off-limits countries, but it would not budge on Fischer even though he had made arrangements to write about the event for the Saturday Review. Fischer instead played his games by telex from the Marshall Chess Club in New York City. Capablanca's son relayed the moves in Havana. When Fischer's participation seemed assured, Cuban President Fidel Castro called it a "great propaganda victory for Cuba", making headlines. When Fischer heard of this, he cabled Castro threatening to withdraw unless Castro stopped making political statements about Fischer's participation. A cabled reply from Castro eased Fischer's concern and he joined the field of twenty-two players, with thirteen Grandmasters and seven International Masters. Play by teletype added to the strain of the tournament. Although the English magazine CHESS thought that this was an advantage for Fischer who became accustomed to this manner of play (each of his opponents experienced it only once), others considered it a handicap for Fischer who endured the extra labor in every game. Former World Champion Vasily Smyslov (USSR) won the tournament with 15½ points of 21. Borislav Ivkov (Yugoslavia), Efim Geller (USSR), and Fischer shared second through fourth, a half point behind. Although Fischer did not win, his performance was widely considered a success given the playing conditions and the fact that Fischer was playing his first international tournament in three years.[7][8]

Winners[]

# Year City Winner
1 1962 Havana  Miguel Najdorf (Argentina)
2 1963 Havana  Viktor Korchnoi (Soviet Union)
3 1964 Havana  Vasily Smyslov (Soviet Union)
 Wolfgang Uhlmann (East Germany)
4 1965 Havana  Vasily Smyslov (Soviet Union)
5 1967 Havana  Bent Larsen (Denmark)
6 1968 Havana  Ratmir Kholmov (Soviet Union)
7 1969 Havana  Alexey Suetin (Soviet Union)
 Viktor Korchnoi (Soviet Union)
8 1971 Havana  Vlastimil Hort (Czechoslovakia)
9 1972 Cienfuegos  Anatoly Lein (Soviet Union)
10 1973 Cienfuegos  Vasily Smyslov (Soviet Union)
11 1974 Camagüey  Ulf Andersson (Sweden)
12 1975 Cienfuegos  Ulf Andersson (Sweden)
13 1976 Cienfuegos  Boris Gulko (Soviet Union)
14 1977 Cienfuegos  Oleg Romanishin (Soviet Union)
 Guillermo Garcia Gonzales (Cuba)
15 1979 Cienfuegos  Evgeny Sveshnikov (Soviet Union)
16 1980 Cienfuegos  Alonso Zapata (Colombia)
 Ľubomír Ftáčnik (Czechoslovakia)
17 1981 Cienfuegos  Vitaly Tseshkovsky (Soviet Union)
18 1983 Cienfuegos  Lev Psakhis (Soviet Union)
19 1984 Cienfuegos  Amador Rodríguez Céspedes (Cuba)
 Rainer Knaak (East Germany)
20 1985 Havana  Borislav Ivkov (Yugoslavia)
21 1986 Havana  Carlos Garcia Palermo (Argentina)
 Julio Granda Zúñiga (Peru)
22 1987 Camagüey  Carlos Garcia Palermo (Argentina)
  (Mexico)
23 1988 Havana  Zurab Azmaiparashvili (Soviet Union)
24 1989 Holguín  Amador Rodríguez Céspedes (Cuba)
25 1990 Havana   (Cuba)
26 1991 Havana  Valeriy Neverov (Soviet Union)
27 1992 Matanzas   (Peru)
28 1993 Matanzas  Mark Hebden (England)
29 1994 Matanzas  Loek van Wely (Netherlands)
 Tony Miles (England)
 Alonso Zapata (Colombia)
30 1995 Matanzas  Tony Miles (England)
31 1996 Cienfuegos  Tony Miles (England)
32 1997 Cienfuegos  Peter Leko (Hungary)
33 1998 Havana  Robert Hübner (Germany)
 Ivan Morovic (Chile)
 Yaacov Zilberman (Israel)
34 1999 Havana  Tony Miles (England)
35 2000 Varadero  Alexander Volzhin (Russia)
36 2001 Havana  Francisco Vallejo Pons (Spain)
37 2002 Havana  Lázaro Bruzón (Cuba)
38 2003 Havana  Julio Granda Zúñiga (Peru)
39 2004 Havana  Leinier Domínguez (Cuba)
40 2005 Havana  Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)
41 2006 Havana  Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)
42 2007 Havana  Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)
43 2008 Havana  Leinier Domínguez (Cuba)
44 2009 Havana  Leinier Domínguez (Cuba)
45 2010 Havana  Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)
46 2011 Havana  Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)
 Lê Quang Liêm (Vietnam)
47 2012 Havana  Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)[9]
48 2013 Havana  Zoltán Almási (Hungary)
49 2014 Havana  Wesley So (Philippines)
50 2015 Havana  Yu Yangyi (China)
51 2016 Varadero  Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)
52 2017 Varadero  Krishnan Sasikiran (IND)
53 2018 Havana  Sam Shankland (USA)
54 2019 Havana  Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)

51st Capablanca Memorial (9 - 19 June 2016)[]

The 51st edition of the Capablanca Memorial took place in the Hotel Barceló Solymar Arenas Blancas, Varadero, Cuba, from June 9 to 19, 2016. The tournament format was a six-player ten-round double round robin. The time control was 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 additional minutes starting from move 41, plus a 30-second increment starting from the first move.

Cat. XVIII (2695)
Player Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 Points TPR
1  Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) 2710 * * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 7 2845
2  Yuriy Kryvoruchko (Ukraine) 2682 ½ ½ * * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 6 2772
3  Ivan Cheparinov (Bulgaria) 2687 ½ ½ ½ ½ * * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 5 2700
4  Zoltan Almasi (Hungary) 2688 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * * ½ ½ 1 1 5 2699
5  Leinier Dominguez Perez (Cuba) 2723 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * * ½ ½ 4½ 2657
6  Lazaro Bruzon Batista (Cuba) 2681 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ * * 2½ 2509

References[]

  1. ^ All Capablanca Memorial chess tournaments
  2. ^ Memorials Jose Raul Capablanca
  3. ^ Welcome to the Chessmetrics site Archived April 14, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Palmares du Capablanca in memorian
  5. ^ Historia del Campeonato Capablanca in Memoriam Archived March 19, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Litmanowicz, Władysław & Giżycki, Jerzy (1986, 1987). Szachy od A do Z. Wydawnictwo Sport i Turystyka Warszawa. ISBN 83-217-2481-7 (1. A-M), ISBN 83-217-2745-X (2. N-Z)
  7. ^ Brady, Frank (1973), Bobby Fischer, Profile of a Prodigy, Dover, pp. 85–91, ISBN 0-486-25925-0
  8. ^ Pachman, Luděk (1975), Decisive Games in Chess History, Dover, pp. 215–19, ISBN 0-486-25323-6
  9. ^ "47th Capablanca Memorial won by Ivanchuk". ChessBase. 15 May 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2019.

External links[]

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