Photo: Mónica Ramírez (JIT)

Havana, February 28 (RHC)-- Cuba's Carlos Daniel Albornoz won second place this Monday in the 960 Chess segment of the Benalmadena 2023 festival, in the Spanish city of Malaga.

In his first official presentation in this modality, the Camagüey native won six games and agreed to a draw in the remaining two, held in a marathon day.

With this performance he completed seven units, accumulated only surpassed by the 7.5 of the Ukrainian Yuriy Kuzubov. The game between the two ended in a draw.

The third place on the podium went to the Bulgarian Ivan Cheparinov, who reached six points and also did not concede in any of his games.

The 960 Chess or Fischer Random Chess, an unusual modality in official tournaments, does not have a world ranking to measure performances.

Although the official laws of the Science Game are respected, the location of the pieces is drawn by lot before the beginning of each game. Only the pawns keep their original position on the second rank.

As a consequence, any theoretical analysis of the openings is rendered ineffective. Generally, it is only when games exceed 15 moves that strategies begin to resemble those of a classical duel.

"It's a bit weird and fun at the same time," the two-time champion of the island, who had to come from behind in several games to avoid possible defeats, told JIT from the Spanish city.

"On many occasions I had inferior positions after the first moves, but along the way I was improving and in the end I liked this variation," added Albornoz, fifth on Sunday in the rapid segment.

His performance in the festival will be completed from today, Tuesday, during the Blitz tournament, with duels agreed at four minutes for each player, plus two seconds of increment after each move.

There are 85 players registered for this tournament and once again Albornoz, Kuzubov, Cheparinov and the Armenian Karen Grigoryan, who was crowned in the rapid and finished tenth in the Chess 960, will be among the favorites for the prizes.