Lázaro Bruzón
Lázaro Bruzón Batista ( born May 2, 1982 in Holguin / Cuba ) is a major Cuban chess master.
Bruzón, who moved in 1988 from his native city of Las Tunas and Holguin to where he still lives today, was promoted early. Since 1991 he had after his talent was recognized, different coaches and sponsors. He won as a teenager, a number of Cuban youth championships in different age categories, only he encountered in his peers Leinier Domínguez, another great Cuban talent, a competitor. As early as 1997 he participated in the Cuban adult championship part, but paid dearly and was second to last. 1999, after a series of good tournaments, he was appointed by the World Chess Federation International Master and shortly thereafter became the Grand Master.
2000 managed Bruzón his breakthrough: he was Junior World Champion in Yerevan. He first played in the national team at the 2000 Chess Olympiad in Istanbul ( 5, -1 = 6). He celebrated another big success in 2001 in Lausanne, as he could ( oriented to the knockout system ) before players like Etienne Bacrot, Ruslan Ponomariov and Pentala Harikrishna win the Young Masters tournament. In 2002 he won the traditional Capablanca Memorial in Havana and the strong competition of Esbjerg, the latter in association with his fellow countryman Leinier Domínguez.
On the Chess Olympiad in Bled 2002, he played on the first board of the national team. In 2004, he won the B tournament in Wijk aan Zee and qualified as for the top-class A tournament next year. In the same year he won in Santa Clara and represented Cuba at the Chess Olympiad in Calvia with the excellent result 6, -1, = 4, in which he defeated Ponomariov. Bruzón won in January 2005, the Cuban Championship which was first held in the knockout system, with a victory in the finals over Leinier Domínguez. In August of the same year he celebrated the biggest victory of his career when he won the American Continental Championship in Buenos Aires ( inter alia Gata Kamsky ) 8.5 / 11. In the same year he was also second in Skanderborg and won the Torre Memorial in Mérida ( Mexico). In April 2006 Bruzón could not defend his title at the Cuban Championship, he lost the final Domínguez 3.5-4.5. In November of the same year Bruzón won by a 1.5-0.5 final win ( the tournament was decided in Ko mode ) over the Spaniard Manuel Pérez, the inaugural championship of the Ibero - American countries in Ayamonte. In February 2007, he was replaced by a 4.5 to 3.5 victory after Tie against Domínguez again Cuban masters.
After good games, he won the heavily-stocked Zeeland Open 2008 in Vlissingen ( NL) with 7.5 points out of 9 rounds ( without a defeat ) in August.