After two rounds, American Samuel Shankland and Russian Aleksey Dreev appear as leaders in the Elite group of the 53rd Capablanca Memorial Chess Tournament, taking place in Habana Libre Hotel, in Havana, Cuba.

They both amount 1.5 points after being the only winners in the last round.

Shankland (2 701 Elo points) defeated the local Lazaro Bruzon (2,664) in 53 moves of a French defense, while veteran Dreev (2 653) beat his countryman Aleksandr Rakmanov (2 635) in 44 moves of a Queen´s Pawn opening.

In the other match of this group, Cuban Yusnel Bacallao (2 594) and Spanish David Anton (2 646) signed peace in 50 moves of a Queen´s Gambit opening.

Now, Bacallao and Anton, both with 1 unit, escort the leaders, while Bruzon and Rakmanov (1/2 point both) appear on bottom of the standings.

Today´s most exciting game must be the one between Shankland and Dreev and the other pairings are Bruzon vs. Bacallao and Rakmanov-Anton.

In the Open group, Cubans Yuri Gonzalez (2 564), Yasser Quesada (2 558) and Isan Ortiz (2 556), and Peruvian Cristian Cruz (2 562) all won and appear on top of the standings.