The Capablanca Memorial is a chess tournament that has been held annually in Cuba since 1962 in honor of 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

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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

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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 Dr. José Raúl Capablanca Jr 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

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# 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)
  Denis Verduga (Mexico)
23 1988 Havana   Zurab Azmaiparashvili (Soviet Union)
24 1989 Holguín   Amador Rodríguez Céspedes (Cuba)
25 1990 Havana   Adelkis Remón (Cuba)
26 1991 Havana   Valeriy Neverov (Soviet Union)
27 1992 Matanzas   Henry Urday Cáceres (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)
  Iván 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)
55 2022 Havana   Hans Niemann (USA)
56 2023 Havana   Jonas Buhl Bjerre (Denmark)

51st Capablanca Memorial (9–19 June 2016)

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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   Zoltán Almási (Hungary) 2688 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * * ½ ½ 1 1 5 2699
5   Leinier Domínguez Pérez (Cuba) 2723 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * * ½ ½ 2657
6   Lázaro Bruzón Batista (Cuba) 2681 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ * * 2509

References

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  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.
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