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• International
• Sports
• 10 / 12 / 2007

In addition to the great joy of having been a firsthand witness to 2007 World Chess Championship, finally won by Grand Master (GM) Viswanathan Anand of India (9 units), and of being part of the training team for GM Peter Leko of Hungary, who took fourth place, Cuban GM Leinier Domínguez now holds the best ranking in Latin America and second place in the continent for the world rankings of this scientific game.

The "Idol of Güines," as his fans affectionately call him, appears on the quarterly list of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), published on October 1, with 2,683 Elo points. That put him in 29th place and consolidated his hold on the vanguard of local players.

The Cuban GM was beaten by his U.S. counterpart, Gata Kamsky, who attained 2,722 points, and placed 14th.According to the FIDE website, Anand is the overall leader, with 2,801 points, followed by Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR), who won 27 more points to attain 2,787 and "steal" second place, in an "amazing climb," from the hands of Russian Vladimir Kramnik (2,785).The Top-10 list was rounded off with Bulgarian Vesselin Topalov (2,769), Leko (2,755), Alexander Morozevich (RUS-2,755), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2,752) and Teimour Radjabov (2,742), both from Azerbaijan, Levon Aronian (ARM-2,741) and Alexei Shirov (SP-2,739).

With respect to classification by nations, a coefficient that is taken from the average of its top 10 figures, Cuba holds 21st place (2,556) and second place in the continent and in the Americas, surpassed only by the United States, which holds 3rd place overall (2,631) and Spain (2,588-15), respectively. Russia (2,727) and Ukraine (2,676) led this list.

The rest of Cubas individual rankings were as follows: Lázaro Bruzón (2,607); Holden Hernández (2,566), who was likewise admired for his ascent; Walter Arencibia (2,562); Jesús Nogueiras (2,549); Yunieski Quesada (2,546); Neuris Delgado (2,539); International Master Fidel Corrales (2,513), who will be participating in the International Youth Championship in Yerevan, Armenia; Omar Almeida (2,502), and Reynaldo Vera (2,495).

Source: By Coto Wong, Granma Internacional