Cuban in 2nd Place in Tata Steel Chess Tournament

Chess in Cienfuegos. Photo: Caridad

HAVANA TIMES, Jan 25 — Cuban chess grand master Lazaro Bruzon defeated Russia’s Vladimir Potkin yesterday in the ninth round of the Tata Steel Tournament (Group B), which took place in the Dutch city of Wijk aan Zee.

The Caribbean player, using black pieces, employed a Bogo-Indian defense to beat his opponent in only 31 moves, in this manner obtaining six points out of a possible nine and climbing to second place in the contest.

So far Bruzon has accumulated 2,691 points in the ELO chess rating system, and is surpassed only by the Indian player Pentala Harikrishna (2,665 points), who beat Ukrainian Illya Nyzhnyk.