Leinier Dominguez Perez is a Chess Grandmaster with over a 2500 Elo rating from FIDE.
Last Updated: August 4, 2022
Full Name: Leinier Dominguez Perez
Title: Grandmaster – GM (2001)
Place of birth: Havana, Cuba
Born: September 23, 1983
Federation: United States of America
Ratings
World ranking: 14
Rapid: 2705
Blitz: 2708
Classical: 2754
Profiles
Biography
Leinier Dominguez Perez was born on September 23, 1983. Leinier Dominguez Perez is a Cuban-American GM who previously was ranked among the top ten chess players globally and is now ranked in the top fifteen. Dominguez received his title of Grandmaster in 2001, clinched his 1st of 5 Cuban Chess Tournaments in 2002, and in 2008 he attained a 2700 rating.in addition, Dominguez clinched the Cuban title four times (2003, 2006, 2012, & 2016). Dominguez triumphed in the 2008 World Blitz Tournament by half a point above Grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk, cementing his standing as an elite competitor at any rate of convergence, in addition to being rated as far as 3rd on FIDE’s quick rating list.
Dominguez switched governing bodies from Cuba to the USA in 2018 and quickly ascended to the summit of the American sportsman. In that year, In the World Championship game in that same year, Dominquez was the runner-up after Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana. Dominquez has a FIDE rating of 2754 as of August 2022 and a Peak rating of 2768 as of May 2014.
Dominquez is the national record holder for the highest boards contested at the same time when he featured against 150 competitors in 2004, triumphing 139, tying 10, and conceding one. Dominquez additionally assisted in the organization of enormous concurrent displays presented in 2001 at the Plaza of the Revolution as well as in 2004 in Santa Clara’s Plaza Ernesto Che Guevara.
The Beginning
In 2001 at Merida Mexico, Dominguez secured the Carlos Torre Repetto Memorial. In 2002, 2003, 2006, 2012, & 2016, Dominquez clinched the Cuban Chess Tournament. In 2002 in Denmark, Dominquez finished second behind Lázaro Bruzón at the North Sea Cup held in Esbjerg. Dominquez attained the knockout rounds of the 2004 FIDE World Chess Tournament, dropping in the deciding set to Teimour Radjabov. Dominguez emerged victorious at the Capablanca Memorial, his prime time that year. In addition, Dominquez conquered this competition in 2008 and 2009.
Dominguez claimed the Magistral Ciutat de Barcelona competition in 2006, collecting 8 points out of the total 9 points and beating the likes of Vasyl Ivanchuk with an achievement rating of 2932. In 2007, Dominquez finished 2nd to Ivanchuk in the 42nd Capablanca Memorial, 2nd to Nakamura in Casino de Barcelona, and after that claimed the Zonal 2.3, one such being in the Dominican Republic, to advance for the 2007 World Cup. Dominquez was the victor at the CPA chess championship and the 43rd edition of the 2008 Capablanca Memorial Championship. That same year, in the Biel Chess Festival, Dominquez shared first place with Evgeny Alekseev, edging Magnus Carlsen. Upon being defeated in the semifinal, Dominguez came in 2nd place. Dominguez claimed the 2008 World Blitz Tournament in Almaty, Kazakhstan, achieving 11.5 points out of the targeted 15 points, beating off Vassily Ivanchuk, Peter Svidler, Alexander Grischuk, and several other renowned Grandmasters.
Dominguez was selected to the 2009 Corus Group A, where he finished 6th after being defeated in the final game against Sergey Karjakin, who triumphed the event a point clear of Dominguez. Dominquez competed at Linares in 2009, finishing far behind in a tightly contested event with a score of 6 out of 14, only two points short of the champion, and the M-Tel Masters in 2009, scoring 4 points out of 10. His third triumph came in 2009 at the 44th Capablanca Memorial. However, it was followed by a round two setback in the World Cup. In 2010, Dominquez completed the event in the centre of the pack with a score of 6.5 points out of 13 at Corus Group A 2010 and third at the Capablanca Memorial that same year.
Dominquez claimed the Zonal 2.3 once more in 2011, this round attaining a score of 11 out of12 hence advancing to the 2011 World Cup 2011; however, he lost in the 46th Capablanca Memorial in 2011, coming second furthest behind but clear of Bruzon. His poor performance persisted with a score of 5.5 points out of 9 in the 2011 Baku Open but improved as he finished 2nd with a score of 6 points out of 10 in the 2011 5th SPICE Cup next to Le Quang Liem. In 2012, Dominquez played on the third board for Sankt Petersburgh, which finished second in the 2012 Russian Team tournament, while in May 2012, Dominquez finished second in the 2012 Capablanca Memorial trailing six occasions victor Vassily Ivanchuk. Dominquez finished second to Zoltan Almasi in the 2013 Capablanca Memorial. That same year, Dominquez emerged as the winner of 12 outstanding chess Masters, including Fabiano Caruana, Veselin Topalov, and Alexander Grischuk, to clinch the FIDE Grand Prix tournament in Thessaloniki.
Dominguez began 2014 with a strong score of 6 out of 11, finished in the 20th category of Tata Steel Masters in 2014, and finished fourth after Levon Aronian, Anish Giri, and Sergey Karjakin, and fifth on tiebreak after Fabiano Caruana. Dominquez finished third with a score of 5 out of 10 at the 49th Capablanca Memorial in 2014, after Wesley So and Bruzon. Dominguez tied for the second position with Vladimir Kramnik and Fabiano Caruana at the 2016 Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting. Subsequently, that year, Dominquez became a silver medalist while playing for the Cuban squad at the 42nd edition of the Chess Olympiad held in Baku. During the World Chess Tournament in 2018, Dominquez played as a backup player to Fabiano Caruana. Dominguez Pérez changed national teams to compete for the U.S in December 2018.
Furthermore, Dominguez competed in the 2022 FIDE Grand Prix from February to March 2022. Dominquez triumphed in his category with a score of 4 out of 6 points in the initial round, including beating Wesley So in quick decision sets. Dominque came 3rd place in Group B with a score of 3 points out of the possible 6 points in the 3rd round, ranking him 8th in the list with 9 points. Dominquez will compete in the 2022 American Cup in April.
Team competition
Dominguez represented Cuba on boards one and two of the 2001 & 2005 World Team Championships. Dominquez competed for Cuba in the chess Olympiad Games eight times (2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014), earning an overage score of 63.8 percent. Dominquez inspired Cuba to place seventh at the 2014 Olympiad. In addition, the Grandmaster competed for Cuba in the Panamerican Tournaments thrice (2000, 2003, and 2009), bagging two squad golds, a squad silver, a solitary gold, and two single bronze medals. Dominquez competed on the first board for Cuba in the 9th edition of the 2013 Panamerican Team Chess Tournament, which was contested in Brazil. The champion qualified for the 2013 World Team Tournament. Sadly, the squad became runners-up behind the USA for Dominguez and Cuba. Dominguez received an overall score of 4 points out of 6. He achieved solo bronze for Cuba in the 2015 FIDE World Team Tournament while competing on the first board.
Dominquez Perez competed in various notable tournaments, including;
- Elite Capablanca Memorial -2004
- Casino Magistral Ciutat de Barcelona-2006
- Thessaloniki FIDE Grand Prix- 2013
- Championship of Cuba- 2001
- B Corus Group- 2004
- Premier Russian Team Championship-2019
- Champions Showdown- 2019
- Chess Olympiad in Istanbul-2012
- Chess Olympiad in Turin-2006
- The Chess World Cup- 2011
- The Chess World Cup- 2019
- Continental America Chess Tournament- 2003
- Calvia Olympic Games- 2004
- Chess Olympiad in Istanbul- 2000
- Chess Olympiad in Baku -2016
Most recent tournaments
Dominquez has competed in chess games from 2007 to 2022, playing a total of 1328 games, achieving 366 wins, 681 draws, and 281 losses attaining a score of 53.2 percent. Among the recent tournaments Dominquez has participated in include; SuperUnited Blitz 2022 in Croatia, SuperUnited Rapid 2022 in Croatia, Superbet Classic 2022 in Romania, and American Cup Elim 2022 in the United States. In these particular games, Dominquez played with both black and white pieces. Most openings played with white pieces include; Ruy Lopez, Berlin defence, open variation- 56 games, Sicilian, Najdorf- 43 games, Ruy Lopez, Berlin defence- 41 games, and Caro-Kann defence- 31 games, whereas he played with Black pieces in the following openings; Sicilian, Najdorf- 37 games, Queen’s Gambit Accepted, classical, 6…a6- 29 games, Petrov’s defence- 23 games, and Ruy Lopez, Berlin defence, open variation-23 games.
Achievements
- In 2002, 2003, 2006, and 2012, Dominquez emerged victorious in the Cuban Chess Championship.
- Triumphed at the Certified Public Accountants chess event and the 43rd Capablanca in Memoriam tournament in 2008.
- On November 8, 2008, Dominquez emerged victorious in the World Blitz Tournament 2008 in Almaty, Kazakhstan, with a score of 11.5 points out of a possible overcoming fierce competitors like Vassily Ivanchuk, Peter Svidler, Alexander Grischuk, and numerous other notable GMs.
- Became victorious at the FIDE Grand Prix in Thessaloniki in June 2013, finishing 1st out of a group of 12 great sportsmen, including Fabiano Caruana, Alexander Grischuk, and Veselin Topalov.
Did you enjoy reading about Leinier Dominguez? If you did, you might also be interested in reading about players like Rey Enigma, Pentala Harikrishna, and Nikita Vitiugov.
Sources
- http://theweekinchess.com/html/twic401.html#7
- http://www.thechessdrum.net/tournaments/FideCh2004/round5.html
- http://theweekinchess.com/html/twic498.html#5
- http://www.tabladeflandes.com/catalans/casino_barcelona_2006/cronicas.php
- http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4649
- http://en.chessbase.com/post/biel-r10-alekseev-catches-dominguez-wins-tiebreak
- http://www.cubanews.ain.cu/2008/1108leinierdoming.htm
- http://thessaloniki2013.fide.com/en/component/turnuva/?task=fileview&kid=2
- http://www.chessdom.com/usa-and-china-take-gold-in-baku-chess-olympiad/
- https://en.chessbase.com/post/carlsen-vs-caruana-an-interview-mit-rustam-kasimdzhanov-second-of-caruana
- http://ratings.fide.com/fedchange.phtml?year=2018