Mark Bluvshtein and Co. in Havana

[Kevin Pacey]

Re: Mark Bluvshtein and Co. in Havana

I got back from Havana along with Halldor Palsson yesterday. In our section I finished with 4.5/9, while unofficially I believe Halldor ended up with 3/9, Bill Doubleday got 3.5/9, and Prosanto Sarkar (an old friend who also acted as a generous sponsor for me) exited Havana a week earlier than planned, finishing with 1/3 (the single point being a forced bye), as he wanted to attend to business matters.

I started the event well with 3/4, but acquired some sort of cold (I think) mid-way through the tournament. Probably going in and out of air conditioned buildings and being a bit worn out before taking the trip didn't help. The tropical heat made things more bareable, with having a cough being the dominant problem. Now that I'm back home and taking cold medication, my nose is starting to run on and off like a faucet. Luckily there was only one rainy day the whole trip, with Cuba experiencing some sort of drought and Havana having premature summer temeratures for May.

Besides the two travel days, my trip had nine tournament days (largely spent playing, spectating and dining), and there were sightseeing days. Some of the Ottawa players including myself checked out parts of old Havana, including the Capablanca chess club. Another day there was a visit to Havana's large and rather beautiful Necropolis, where Capablanca's tomb is located, as well as the famous tomb of Amelia Goyri de la Hoz, a pilgrimage site for future mothers who seek her blessing (Amelia has yet to be recognized as a saint).

[Jonathan Berry]

Re: Mark Bluvshtein and Co. in Havana

Mark Bluvshtein tied for first with Emilio Cordova of Peru. Congrats!

[John Coleman]

Re: Mark Bluvshtein and Co. in Havana

I believe these are the latest results

5 GM Cordova Emilio 2561 ½ - ½ IM Ortiz Suarez Isan 2569 10
6 GM Alvarez Pedraza Aramis 2538 ½ - ½ GM Almeida Quintana Omar 2555 4
7 GM Bluvshtein Mark 2589 ½ - ½ GM Corrales Jimenez Fidel 2586 3
8 GM Vocaturo Daniele 2540 1 - 0 FM Espinosa Veloz Ermes 2467 2
9 GM Leon Hoyos Manuel 2563 0 - 1 GM Quesada Perez Yuniesky 2626 1

[Marcus Wilker]

Re: Mark Bluvshtein and Co. in Havana

Going into the 9th and final round, Mark is tied for first with Cordova of Peru, half a point ahead of Alvarez.

Anyone know the result?

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: Mark Bluvshtein and Co. in Havana

Ttied for first

Will a winner go to the Elite group the next year?

[Jonathan Berry]

Re: Mark Bluvshtein and Co. in Havana

Two more games. Going into the 9th and final round, Mark is tied for first with Cordova of Peru, half a point ahead of Alvarez. Mark has White in the last round, but that has not been his best colour. He had 4.5 of 5 with Black! Maybe he's been channeling Grischuk. Think dark thoughts, Mark!

The ending of the 8th round game below is piquant. A rook has 13 legal moves, just one less than the theoretical maximum, but it is trapped!

[Event "Capablanca mem 46 PREMIER"]
[Site "Habana"]
[Date "2011.05.17"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Bluvshtein, Mark"]
[Black "Quesada Perez, Yuniesky"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E21"]
[WhiteElo "2589"]
[BlackElo "2626"]
[EventDate "2011.05.11"]
[PlyCount "11"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.11"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. Qb3 a5 6. Bg5 1/2-1/2


[Event "Capablanca mem 46 PREMIER"]
[Site "Habana"]
[Date "2011.05.18"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Espinosa Veloz, Ermes"]
[Black "Bluvshtein, Mark"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2467"]
[BlackElo "2589"]
[EventDate "2011.05.11"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.11"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8.
Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Bd7 10. b3 Kc8 11. Bb2 Be7 12. Rad1 Nh4 13. Nd4 c5 14. Nd5 Bd8
15. Ne2 a5 16. a4 Ra6 17. c4 Re8 18. Ng3 Nf5 19. Ne4 Rc6 20. f4 b6 21. Rd3 Rg6
22. Rfd1 Be6 23. R1d2 h5 24. Kf1 h4 25. Kg1 Rh8 26. Kf1 Nh6 27. Kg1 Bf5 28. Re3
Re6 29. Re1 f6 30. Rde2 Rhe8 31. Nf2 Bh7 32. Kf1 c6 33. Nc3 fxe5 34. fxe5 Nf5
35. Nce4 Rf8 36. Rd2 Be7 37. Kg1 Nd4 38. Bxd4 cxd4 39. Rxd4 Rxe5 40. Red1 c5 41.
R4d2 h3 42. Nd6+ Bxd6 43. Rxd6 Bc2 44. Rc1 Re2 45. Rf1 hxg2 46. Kxg2 Kc7 47. Rd5
Be4+ 0-1

[Marcus Wilker]

Re: Mark Bluvshtein and Co. in Havana

EDIT: The site has come back from maintenance, and it is the ZIP form of the PGN file
http://www.capablanca.co.cu/files/capap11.zip
that exists and is downloadable at this moment.

Of course, we don't know what hardships they are working under.

Thanks, Jonathan.

[Jonathan Berry]

Re: Mark Bluvshtein and Co. in Havana

Here are Mark's games from rounds 4 and 6, which completes this thread to round 6:

[Event "Capablanca mem 46 PREMIER"]
[Site "Habana"]
[Date "2011.05.14"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Ortiz Suarez, Isan Reynaldo"]
[Black "Bluvshtein, Mark"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2569"]
[BlackElo "2589"]
[EventDate "2011.05.11"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.11"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. Qe2 a6 5. Ba4 Be7 6. c3 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. d3 d6
9. Nbd2 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. h3 Nc6 12. Nf1 d5 13. Ng3 dxe4 14. dxe4 Be6 15. Nf5
Bc4 16. Qe3 Nh5 17. Nd2 Nf4 18. Qg3 Bf6 19. Nxc4 bxc4 20. Ne3 Nd3+ 21. Ke2 Nf4+
22. Kf1 Na5 23. Ng4 Rb8 24. Rb1 Qd6 25. Be3 Rfd8 26. Qf3 Nd3 27. b3 Be7 28. g3
Qe6 29. Ke2 cxb3 30. axb3 c4 31. b4 Nb7 32. Bd2 Nd6 33. Ne3 Nb5 34. Nd5 f5 35.
Qxf5 Qd6 36. Bxd3 cxd3+ 37. Kf1 Rf8 38. Qg4 Na3 39. Rd1 Rb5 40. Ne3 Qf6 41. Rh2
a5 42. Bc1 axb4 43. cxb4 Nc2 44. Nd5 Qd6 45. Rxd3 Nxb4 46. Nxe7+ Qxe7 47. Rd7
Qf6 48. Bg5 Qa6 49. Kg2 Nc2 50. h4 Ne1+ 51. Kh3 Rb7 52. Rh1 Nd3 53. Be3 Rxd7 54.
Qxd7 Nxf2+ 55. Bxf2 Rxf2 56. Rc1 h6 57. h5 Rf8 58. Qd5+ Kh7 59. Qxe5 Qe2 60. Rc7
1/2-1/2

[Event "Capablanca mem 46 PREMIER"]
[Site "Habana"]
[Date "2011.05.16"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Leon Hoyos, Manuel"]
[Black "Bluvshtein, Mark"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2563"]
[BlackElo "2589"]
[EventDate "2011.05.11"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.11"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 d5 7. Bg5 dxc4 8.
Qxc4 b6 9. Rd1 Ba6 10. Qa4 Qd7 11. Qc2 Qc6 12. Qxc6 Nxc6 13. Bxf6 gxf6 14. Nf3
Na5 15. b4 Nb7 16. Rc1 Rfc8 17. a4 Nd6 18. e3 Bb7 19. a5 bxa5 20. bxa5 c5 21.
Rxc5 Ne4 22. Rc4 Rxc4 23. Bxc4 Rc8 24. Be2 Rc1+ 25. Bd1 Bd5 26. Nh4 Rxd1+ 27.
Kxd1 Nxf2+ 28. Ke2 Nxh1 29. Kf1 Kf8 30. Kg1 Ke7 31. Kxh1 Kd6 32. Kg1 Kc6 33. Nf3
Bxf3 34. gxf3 Kb5 0-1

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: Mark Bluvshtein and Co. in Havana

Thanks for that, Marcus. Broken game links are usually something silly, like misspelling the file name.

Somedays ago I tried to change the extension to "pgn", it did not work. Now again "The requested URL /files/capap11.pgn was not found on this server".

[Jonathan Berry]

Re: Mark Bluvshtein and Co. in Havana

I figured out the "file not found" problem. It's just that the file's not zipped anymore... Bluvshtein-Vocaturo is included.

http://www.capablanca.co.cu/files/capap11.pgn

Thanks for that, Marcus. Broken game links are usually something silly, like misspelling the file name.

However, I regret to report that I just tried both the .pgn and the .zip extensions, and still get the 404 message. The story link you gave, showing Bluvshtein's 6th round victory over Hoyos, putting him to 4/6 and a 3-way tie for first, gives the 6th round results and what it claims to be the 6th round crosstable, but is only 5th round. No link on that page to any gamefile, except a generic game downloading page.

A few minutes later,
Sitio desconectado
Se están realizando tareas de mantenimiento en Sitio Oficial del Ajedrez Cubano. Volveremos muy pronto. Gracias por su paciencia.

Which you might translate: Site down for maintenance. Back soon. Tx.

EDIT: The site has come back from maintenance, and it is the ZIP form of the PGN file
http://www.capablanca.co.cu/files/capap11.zip
that exists and is downloadable at this moment.

Of course, we don't know what hardships they are working under.

[Andrei Botez]

Re: Mark Bluvshtein and Co. in Havana

Los otros, el canadiense Mark Bluvshtein (2 589) y el peruano Emilio Córdova (2 561), cuyas víctimas fueron el mexicano Manuel León Hoyos (2 563) y el anfitrión Ermes Espinosa (2 467), respectivamente.

http://www.capablanca.co.cu/?q=node/1827

I think this means Mark held his place as co-leader by beating Manuel León Hoyos.

You are right.

[Marcus Wilker]

Re: Mark Bluvshtein and Co. in Havana

[Event "Capablanca mem 46 PREMIER"]
[Site "Habana"]
[Date "2011.05.15"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Bluvshtein, Mark"]
[Black "Vocaturo, Daniele"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2589"]
[BlackElo "2540"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2011.05.11"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.11"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 O-O 5. e4 d5 6. e5 Nfd7 7. f4 c5 8. cxd5
exd5 9. a3 Ba5 10. Nf3 cxd4 11. Qxd4 Nc6 12. Qd1 d4 13. Nxd4 Ndxe5 14. Nxc6
Qxd1+ 15. Kxd1 Nxc6 16. Be3 Re8 17. Bf2 Bf5 18. Bb5 Red8+ 19. Ke1 Nd4 20. Bxd4
Rxd4 21. Rf1 Re4+ 22. Be2 Rc8 23. Kd2 Rd8+ 24. Ke1 Rc8 25. Kd2 Re6 26. Rfd1 Bc7
27. Nd5 Rce8 28. Bf3 Rd6 29. Re1 Red8 30. Kc3 Be6 31. Nxc7 Rc8 32. Rac1 Rxc7+
33. Kb4 Rd4+ 34. Ka5 b6+ 35. Ka6 Bc8+ 36. Kb5 Bd7+ 37. Bc6 Rxc6 38. Rxc6 Rd5+
0-1

[Marcus Wilker]

Re: Mark Bluvshtein and Co. in Havana

Bluvshtein lost in the 5th to Vocaturo, a player who has become a bit of a bête noire (bestia nera?) to Mark after defeating him also at Tata C. Up to that point, Vocaturo was dead last, but with this game the Premier tournament became considerably tighter, with only one point separating the four players in first (including Bluvshtein) from last place. Sorry, when I tried the game download, it was "file not found".

I figured out the "file not found" problem. It's just that the file's not zipped anymore... Bluvshtein-Vocaturo is included.

http://www.capablanca.co.cu/files/capap11.pgn

[Marcus Wilker]

Re: Mark Bluvshtein and Co. in Havana

En la agrupación Premier, tres de los cuatro llegados como líderes sostuvieron esa condición, todos con un cuarteto de unidades tras imponerse.

Destaca entre ellos el local Aramís Álvarez (2 538), verdugo del monarca de casa Yuniesky Quesada (2 626) en 61 movimientos de una apertura Española en que llevó piezas negras.

Los otros, el canadiense Mark Bluvshtein (2 589) y el peruano Emilio Córdova (2 561), cuyas víctimas fueron el mexicano Manuel León Hoyos (2 563) y el anfitrión Ermes Espinosa (2 467), respectivamente.

http://www.capablanca.co.cu/?q=node/1827

I think this means Mark held his place as co-leader by beating Manuel León Hoyos.

[Jonathan Berry]

Re: Mark Bluvshtein and Co. in Havana

Bluvshtein lost in the 5th to Vocaturo, a player who has become a bit of a bête noire (bestia nera?) to Mark after defeating him also at Tata C. Up to that point, Vocaturo was dead last, but with this game the Premier tournament became considerably tighter, with only one point separating the four players in first (including Bluvshtein) from last place. Sorry, when I tried the game download, it was "file not found".