ConradCHESS .. Giraldo Menendez Rodriguez / 2019 chess bio
"Giraldo Menendez Rodriguez / 2019 Chess Bio"
Giraldo was born on April 14, 1975 in the city of Matanzas, Cuba. He graduated with
a Bachelor degree in the Pre-University Institute of Exact Sciences "Karl Marx" in the
specialty field of Physics. He currently has a 13-year old daughter and is divorced from his
2nd wife. He completed studies of the English Language (2 yrs) and Industrial Engineering
(3 yrs). Since 1997, he has been working at the "José Martí" Thermoelectric Plant. From
2007-2018 he worked as Plant Manager plus Assistant Director. He now is the Principal
Specialist of their Technical Group for Maintenance of Generating Sets.
He learned to play Chess in a self-taught way at the age of 12. He never participated
in live games, except for a brief period while attending the University corresponding
to the Bachelor of Education in English Language at the Higher Pedagogical Institute
"Juan Marinello" between 1993-1995. At that Center he participated in Sports Games
Inter Facultades (Batos) as a member of the Chess team of Faculty of Humanities where
he received 2 Gold Medals in 1994, 1 for Individual on Board 2 and 1 for their team.
In March 2002, Giraldo joined the Cuban Correspondence Chess Federation (FECAP),
and was appointed State Secretary of Events in 2005 plus National Vice President in
2010, which he still currently holds. He has acquired all of the National titles awarded
by FECAP: State Expert (2009); National Expert (2009); National Master (2015);
Superior Master (2016) and National Referee (2016). He holds a record of 337 wins,
306 draws and 66 losses in 71 tournaments. In September 2016, he achieved the 3rd
best historical rating of FECAP with 2435. In ICCF, where he has played since 2007,
he earned titles of Correspondence Chess Expert (2017) and Correspondence Chess
Master (2017) with a record of 94 wins, 386 draws and 53 losses from 48 tournaments
plus 30 friendly chess matches for a current National rating of 2357.
Among Giraldo’s many proud National chess accomplishments are:
1. In March 2002 he joined the Cuban Federation of 1st Runner-up in 2005-2006
Youth Island State Championship, which he attended by invitation.
2. He won Matanzas State Championship tournaments held in 2006 and 2008;
and placed 2nd in 2010 which was the last event they held.
3. Giraldo also placed 4th in the 1st National Championship (2nd Category) held 2005-2007.
4. Being an active member of Matanzas team in National Team Championships, he won
2nd place plus Team Champion in the IX (2006-2011 defending Board 5); 3rd Individual
and Team Sub-Champion in the X (2011-2013 defending Board 2); plus 3rd place and 2nd
team in the XI (2014-18 defending Board 1). X and XI were decided by tiebreakers.
He currently plays Board 2 in the XII Edition of the I National Team Cup.
5. As of 2012, he qualified for the finals of the Absolute National Championship in which
he finished 10th place in the XX; 7th place in the XXI, 3rd place in the XXII; 5th place
in the XXIII; and 8th place in the XXIV. At the moment it looks like he will finish 7th
place in the final XXV; and he’ll be competing in the XXVI Championships.
6. In January 2015, Giraldo surpassed 2400 rating points and acquired his National Master’s
rating, something that only 9 players have achieved. Since Septembe 2016, he earned the
3rd best historical rating with 2435 (2483 being 1st and 2450 being 2nd highest ratings).
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