Background

Dominguez learned the game at 7 and started playing competitively when he was 9. In 1998, he gained his IM title and in 2001 he won his GM at the age of 17 before entering the world’s top 100, where he has remained. In 2002, his rating rose above 2600, and in 2008, it rose above 2700 where it has remained. For more than five years, he has topped the rankings in Latin America and has long been third in the Americas behind only Gata Kamsky and Hikaru Nakamura. In 1996, aged 12, he scored 7/13 in the Capablanca Memorial in the Joint Group, including a victory against the winner, Macedonian FM Ljubisa Andonovski. Later in 1996, he played in the Cadet World Championships. In 1997 he won his first tournament in Guines, the "Andres Clemente Vazquez” and in 1998 he became the youngest IM in Cuba.

Championships

In 2000 he was runner-up in the World Under 18 Championship behind the winner, Francisco Vallejo-Pons. In 2001 he came second in the Cuban Championship behind Reynaldo Vera, and then won that Championship three times, in 2002, 2003 and 2006. Dominguez placed =2nd (3rd on tiebreak), a half point behind Alex Yermolinsky at the inaugural American Continental Championship held at Cali in Colombia in August 2001. In the 2003 edition of this event - Torneo Continental Americano (2003) - he finished with 7.5/11, a half point behind =2nd placed compatriot Lazaro Bruzon and a point behind the outright winner, Brazilian GM Giovanni Vescovi. In the American Continental Championship (2005), he again scored 7.5/11, finishing a point behind the winner, Bruzon.

World Championship competition

Dominguez has been participating in the World Championship cycle since he qualified for the FIDE World Championship Knockout Tournament (2001), where he beat Pavel Kotsur in the first round of matches, before losing to Boris Gelfand in the second round. He was more successful in the FIDE World Championship Knockout Tournament (2004), where he defeated Ernesto Inarkiev, Vladimir Malakhov, Vladislav Tkachiev and Alexey Dreev before bowing out to Teimour Radjabov in the Armageddon tiebreaker of their quarter final match. At the World Chess Cup (2007), he lost to Magnus Carlsen in the third round after beating Alexei Iljushin and David Baramidze in the preceding rounds. In the World Cup (2009), he beat David Smerdon in round 1, but was beaten in round 2 by Italian wunderkind Fabiano Caruana. Dominguez qualified for the World Cup (2011) via his rating, and defeated Iranian GM Elshan Moradiabadi in the first round, Moldavan GM Viktor Bologan in the second, and Russian GM Igor Lysyj in the third, before losing to Hungarian GM Judit Polgar in the Round of Sixteen, thereby exiting the contest.

His campaign for the 2014 World Championship has had a mediocre start. The FIDE Grand Prix London (2012) was the first of the six legs of the 2012-13 Grand Prix series; playing as an AGON qualifier, his score of 4.5/11 (=9 -2) earned him only 35 GP points, the amount that accrues to sharing 9th and 10th position in this contest. He also contested the 2nd Grand Prix event in the series, the FIDE Grand Prix Tashkent (2012), scoring only 4/11 and adding only 20 GP points to bring his combined tally after two events to 55 points, all but cruelling his chances for qualification for the 2014 Candidates Tournament. He could however qualify as a rated player or via the South American Continental Championship for the 2013 World Cup which will determine three players for the 2014 Candidates Tournament.

Classical Tournaments

In 2001, Dominguez came 3rd in the Capablanca Memorial tournament behind Vallejo and Hannes Stefansson. Later that year he came =3rd, a half point behind co-leaders Petar Genov and Pavel Kotsur in the Olympic Capital Masters Open held in Lausanne, and then went on to win the prestigious “Carlos Torre Reppeto” event held in Merida on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. In 2002, the 18 year old GM started with a very strong =5th at the International Chess Festival held in Saint-Vincent in Italy, a half point behind the four co-leaders Sergei Tiviakov, Vladimir Malakhov, Andrei Volokitin, and Vladimir Epishin. This was followed by strong results in the 9th “Anibal” International Open held in Spain (7/10), 1st in the Cuban Championship, 2nd in the Capablanca Memorial behind his long time friend and rival Bruzon, =1st with Bruzon at the Vesterhavs GM Tournament held in Esbjerg in Denmark, =4th at the Politiken Cup in Denmark, a half point behind the three co-leaders Tiviakov, Alexander Beliavsky, and Ruben Felgaer and finished the year at the Bled Olympiad (2002) on board 2 for Cuba. 2003 saw Dominguez again prevailing at the Cuban Championships ahead of Bruzon, but then finished =4th at the Capablanca Memorial a point behind 2nd placed Bruzon, who was a half point behind the winner, Julio Ernesto Granda-Zuniga. He wound up 2003 by winning the Zonal 2.3 in Ecuador. In 2004 he came second – again behind Bruzon - in his inaugural outing in the Wijk aan Zee B Group (2004) in Wijk aan Zee but a few months later finished outright first with 9/11 ahead of 2nd placed Bruzon at the Capablanca Memorial ELITE (2004). He finished 2004 representing Cuba at the 36th Olympiad (2004) in Calvia on board 1. 2005 saw a downturn in his fortunes due to a prolonged illness although he managed respectable 7.5/11 at the American Continental Championship (2005).

Dominguez's fortunes improved in 2006, starting with 4th at the Cuernavaca Young Masters in Mexico, hot on the heels of co-leaders Vallejo and Ruslan Ponomariov, and 3rd placed Nakamura, before winning the Cuban Championship on tiebreak ahead of Bruzon. Soon after followed his best result so far, winning the Magistral Ciutat de Barcelona-Casino (2006) with 8.0/9 (+7 =2 -0), well clear of Vassily Ivanchuk, Viktor Bologan and Jan Timman, with a TPR of over 2900. He also regained the top spot in the Elo ranking at the top of Latin America. 2007 saw him come a distant second behind Ivanchuk at the 42nd Capablanca Memorial (2007), second behind Nakamura at Casino de Barcelona (2007) and then again win the Zonal 2.3, held this time in the Dominican Republic, to qualify for the 2007 World Cup. In 2008, he won the Capablanca Memorial for the second time, came 2nd behind Alexander Morozevich at the Bosnia Sarajevo Tournament (2008), and equal first at the 41st Biel International Chess Festival (2008) with 6.5/10 (a 2790 performance) - a half point ahead of Magnus Carlsen - but lost the second blitz game tie-breaker to concede first prize to Evgeny Alekseev. 2009 saw Dominguez invited to participate in Corus (2009) where he placed sixth after losing the last game to Sergey Karjakin, who won the tournament a point ahead of Dominguez. He also took part in Linares (2009), coming last in a closely fought tournament where his 6/14 (=12 -2) was only 2 point behind the winner, and in the M-Tel Masters (2009) where he scored 4/10. 2009 also saw his 3rd victory at the 44th Capablanca Memorial (2009), but it ended with a round 2 loss in the World Cup. In 2010, he finished in the middle of the field at Corus (2010) with 6.5/13 and 3rd at the Capablanca Memorial (2010). He saw out 2010 in the Chess Olympiad (2010) in Khanty-Mansiysk. In 2011, he again won the Zonal 2.3, this time with a score of 11/12 (qualifying for the World Cup 2011), but failed at the 46th Capablanca Memorial (2011), coming second last, but finishing ahead of Bruzon. His mediocre form continued with 5.5/9 at the Baku Open (2011), but then perked up when came second with 6/10 in the 5th SPICE Cup (2011) behind Le Quang Liem. 2012 saw him playing board 3 for Sankt Petersburgh, which took out 2nd place in the Russian Team Championships (2012) and in May 2012, he placed =2nd in the Capablanca Memorial (2012) behind 6-time winner of the event, Vassily Ivanchuk. In 2013, he placed =2nd behind Zoltan Almasi at the Capablanca Memorial.

Rapids

In 2008, he won the World Blitz Championship (2008) by scoring 11.5/15 (+8 =7 -0) against a world-class field including Vassily Ivanchuk, Alexander Morozevich and Alexander Grischuk. He came 4th in the SportAccord Mind Games (Rapid) (2011).

Simuls

He holds the national record for most boards in a simultaneously when in 2004 he played against 150 contestants winning 139, drawing 10 and losing one. He also helped organise the massive simultaneous exhibitions held in 2001 in the Plaza of the Revolution and in 2004 in the Plaza Ernesto Che Guevara in Santa Clara.

Team competition

Dominguez played for Cuba in the World Team Championships of 2001 and 2005 on boards 1 and 2 respectively. He has represented Cuba at the Olympiads of 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012 with an overall score of +30 =38 -8 (64.5%). He also represented Cuba at the Panamerican Championships of 2000, 2003 and 2009 where he won two team golds, a team silver, an individual gold and two individual bronze medals. In 2012, he played board 3 for the silver medal winning Sankt Petersburg in the Russian Team Championships (2012), scoring 4/7 (+2 =4 -1). In January 2013, he played top board for Cuba in the 9th Panamerican Team Chess Championship held in Brazil, the winner of which would qualify for the World Team Championship of 2013. Unfortunately for Dominguez and Cuba, the team placed second behind the USA, with Dominguez scoring a rating-neutral 4/6. In April 2013, playing board 3, Dominguez helped his team Saint Petersburg to win the gold medal at the Russian Team Championships (2013).

Other

He is a fan of the Spanish football club Real Madrid and Argentina's national football team. He loves music, especially English ballads. His idol is former world champion Robert James Fischer. In 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2011, he was selected among the top 10 athletes of Cuba. In 2008 was also among the top 10 in Latin America.

Rating

<Classical> As of 1 May 2013, his rating was 2723 making him Cuba's top ranked player, number 3 in the Americas behind Hikaru Nakamura and Gata Kamsky, and number 25 in the world;

<Rapid> 2758 (world #12); and

<Blitz> 2769 (world #10).

Sources and References