Leinier Domínguez Pérez (born September 23, 1983) is a Cuban and American

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

grandmaster. A five-time Cuban champion, Domínguez was the

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

blitz chess Fast chess, also known as speed chess, is a type of chess in which each player is given less time than classical chess time controls allow. Fast chess is subdivided, by decreasing time controls, into rapid chess, blitz chess, and bullet chess. A ...

in 2008. He competed in the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2002 and 2004, and the FIDE World Cup in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019, 2021, and 2023.

Career

Domínguez won the Carlos Torre Repetto Memorial in

Mérida, Yucatán Mérida (, ) is the capital of the List of states of Mexico, Mexican state of Yucatán, and the largest city in southeastern Mexico. The city is also the seat of the Mérida Municipality, eponymous municipality. It is located slightly inland fro ...

, Mexico in 2001. He won the Cuban Chess Championship in 2002, 2003, 2006, 2012 and 2016. Also in 2002, he shared first place with Lázaro Bruzón in the North Sea Cup in

Esbjerg Esbjerg (, ) is a seaport city and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. By road, it is west of Kolding and southwest of Aarhus. With an urban area, urban population of 71,554 (1 January ...

, Denmark. During the

FIDE World Chess Championship 2004 The FIDE World Chess Championship 2004 was held at the Almahary Hotel in Tripoli, Libya, from June 18 to July 13, 2004. It was won by Rustam Kasimdzhanov, who beat Michael Adams in the final by a score of 4½–3½. He won about US$100,000 and ...

he reached the quarterfinals, losing to

Teimour Radjabov Teimour Boris oghlu Radjabov (also spelled Teymur Rajabov; , ; born 12 March 1987) is an Azerbaijani Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. A former child prodigy, he earned the title of Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster in March 2001 at age 14, ...

in the tie-break. In the same year, Domínguez Pérez won the Capablanca Memorial for the first time. He won this tournament also in 2008 and 2009. In 2006, Domínguez won the ''Magistral Ciutat de Barcelona'' tournament in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

scoring 8/9 points, ahead of

Vasyl Ivanchuk Vasyl Mykhailovych Ivanchuk (; born March 18, 1969) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was awarded the title of International Grandmaster, Grandmaster by FIDE in 1988. A leading chess player since 1988, Ivanchuk has been ranked at No. 2 on t ...

, with a

performance rating The PR (performance rating, P-rating, or Pentium rating) system was a figure of merit developed by AMD, Cyrix, IBM Microelectronics and SGS-Thomson in the mid-1990s as a method of comparing their x86 processors to those of rival Intel. The idea ...

of 2932. In 2008, he won the "CPA" chess tournament and the 43rd Capablanca Memorial tournament. In the same year, he tied for first with Evgeny Alekseev at the

Biel Chess Festival The Biel International Chess Festival is an annual chess tournament that takes place in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. It consists of two events, the Grandmaster Tournament, held with the round-robin system, and the Master Open Tournament (MTO), held w ...

, ahead of

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Championship, World Rapid Chess Champio ...

. Domínguez Pérez finished second after losing the playoff. On November 8, 2008 Domínguez Pérez won the World Blitz Championship, held at

Almaty Almaty, formerly Alma-Ata, is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population exceeding two million residents within its metropolitan area. Located in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

, scoring 11½ points out of 15, ahead of

Vassily Ivanchuk Vasyl Mykhailovych Ivanchuk (; born March 18, 1969) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1988. A leading chess player since 1988, Ivanchuk has been ranked at No. 2 on the FIDE world rankings thr ...

Peter Svidler Pyotr Veniaminovich Svidler (; born 17 June 1976), commonly known as Peter Svidler, is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster and commentator who is an eight-time Russian Chess Champion. Svidler has competed in three World Championshi ...

Alexander Grischuk Alexander Igorevich Grischuk (born October 31, 1983) is a Russian chess grandmaster. Grischuk was the Russian champion in 2009. He is also a three-time world blitz chess champion (in 2006, 2012 and 2015). He has competed in five Candidates To ...

and many other top grandmasters. In June 2013 he won the

FIDE Grand Prix The FIDE Grand Prix is a biennial series of chess tournaments, organized by FIDE and its commercial partner Agon. Each series consists of three to six chess tournaments, which used to form part of the qualification cycle for the World Chess Champio ...

event in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

as a clear first in a field of twelve elite players, among them

Fabiano Caruana Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an Italian and American chess grandmaster who is the reigning four-time United States Chess Champion. With a peak rating of 2844, Caruana is the third-highest-rated player in history. Born in Mia ...

Veselin Topalov Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov (pronounced ; ; born 15 March 1975) is a Bulgarian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster and former FIDE World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion. Topalov became FIDE World Chess Champion by winning the FIDE ...

and

. In 2016, Domínguez Pérez shared 2nd−4th places at the

Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting The Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting is an open chess tournament held every summer in Dortmund, Germany. Until 2020, Dortmund was an invite-only event, with the exception that one slot at Dortmund was awarded to the winner of the annual Aeroflot ...

with

Vladimir Kramnik Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. He was the World Chess Champion#Split title (1993–2006), Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the 14th undisputed World Ch ...

and

. Later in the same year, he won the individual silver medal playing board one for the Cuban team in the

42nd Chess Olympiad The 42nd Chess Olympiad (; also known as the Baku Chess Olympiad), organised by the FIDE, Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and comprising an openAlthough sometimes referred to as the "men's division", this section is open to all pl ...

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

. He was a second for Fabiano Caruana in the 2018 World Chess Championship In December 2018, Domínguez Pérez transferred federations to represent the United States. Through February and March 2022, Domínguez played in the

FIDE Grand Prix 2022 The FIDE Grand Prix 2022 was a series of three chess tournaments played between 4 February and 4 April 2022. The top two finishers – Hikaru Nakamura (winner) and Richárd Rapport (runner-up) – qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2022,

. In the first leg, he won his pool with a 4/6 result by also defeating

Wesley So Wesley Barbossa So (born October 9, 1993) is a Filipino and American chess grandmaster, a three-time U.S. Chess Champion, and the first World Fischer Random Chess Champion. He is also a three-time Philippine Chess Champion. On the March 201 ...

in rapid tiebreakers. In the third leg, he finished third in Pool B with a result of 3/6, finishing eighth in the standings with nine points. In April 2022 he participated in the

American Cup The American Football Association Challenge Cup (also known as the American Association Cup or simply American Cup) was the first major U.S. soccer competition open to teams beyond a single league. It was first held in 1884, and organised by t ...

. He won the 2nd place in the 2019 U.S. Chess Championship and 3rd place in the 2022 U.S. Chess Championship. Domínguez won 2nd place in the 2023

Sinquefield Cup The Sinquefield Cup is an annual, closed chess tournament hosted by the Saint Louis Chess Club in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. It was first held in 2012 as a four-player round-robin tournament. In 2015, it became part of the Grand Chess ...

. He served as a replacement for

Ding Liren Ding Liren ( zh, c=丁立人; born 24October 1992) is a Chinese chess grandmaster who was the 17th World Chess Champion from 2023–24. He is also a three-time Chinese Chess Champion, was a member of the Chinese chess teams that won the Chess ...

, who withdrew from the competition in the weeks leading up to the event.

Notable games

Magnus Carlsen vs Leinier Dominguez-Perez, Biel 2008, Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Adams Attack (B90), ½–½

Alexander Onischuk vs Leinier Dominguez-Perez, Biel, 2008, Gruenfeld Defense: Russian, Hungarian Variation (D97), 0-1

Evgeny Alekseev vs Leinier Dominguez-Perez, Biel 2008, Sicilian Defense: Najdorf, Zagreb Variation (B91), 0-1

Leinier Dominguez-Perez vs Alexander Morozevich, Corus 2009, Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, English Attack (B90), 1-0

References

External links

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dominguez, Leinier 1983 births Living people Chess players from Havana Chess Grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors Cuban chess players Cuban emigrants to the United States American chess players