The 57th edition of the Capablanca Chess Memorial is set to take place from 2-12 May at the historical Habana Libre Hotel, in Havana, Cuba. The event will feature a closed round-robin Elite tournament, an Open event, and Youth group events. Exceptionally, the American Senior Continental Chess Championships 2024 will this year be held simultaneously in the same venue.
The President of the Cuban Chess Federation Mr. Carlos Rivero revealed for Radio Havana Cuba some of the names for the Elite tournament and confirmed the participation of GM Narayanan S.L. (India, 2694), former World Chess Champion GM Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2647), and GM Aryan Tari (Norway, 2635). Rivero explained that the local participants in the tournament will be determined according to the FIDE April rating list.
The Elite tournament will be played as a 10-player round-robin, and usually comprises five domestic and five foreign players in the field. Last year, 18-year-old Dane GM Jonas Buhl Bjerre (Denmark, 2641) won the event, ahead of Brazilian GM Alexandr Fier (Brazil, 2553) and reigning Cuban Champion GM Luis Ernesto Quesada Perez (Cuba, 2560).
Habana Libre – A historical hotel and Capablanca Memorial playing venue
“Latin America’s tallest, largest hotel” was the slogan of Habana Libre Hotel back in 1958 when it opened under the Habana Hilton name. The hotel has 572 rooms in a 25-floor tower and started working in the dying months of Fulgencio Batista’s rule. The Grand opening of the hotel had five days of festivities, with Conrad Hilton himself in attendance. The historical relevance of the hotel comes from the time when Fidel Castro turned the hotel into his headquarters and the revolutionaries used the premises throughout 1959. Shortly after, in June 1960, the Hotel was renamed to Habana Libre.
From October 23-November 20, 1966, the Habana Libre hosted the 17th Chess Olympiad, with guests including Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky.
