GMLeinier Dominguez Perez

Leinier Dominguez was born in Havana and became a grandmaster in 2001. He won Cuba's national championship five times between 2002 and 2016. At the 2004 FIDE World Championship he reached the quarterfinals before losing a playoff to Teimour Radjabov. He also won the Capablanca Memorial three times. In 2008 he became world blitz champion in Almaty, finishing ahead of Vassily Ivanchuk and Peter Svidler. His victory at the 2013 Thessaloniki Grand Prix was another major success against an elite field. He won individual top-board silver for Cuba at the 2016 Olympiad. In 2018 he helped Fabiano Caruana prepare for the world championship match and subsequently began representing the United States. He finished second in his first U.S. Championship in 2019.