Rolando Illa


Rolando Illa was a Cuban–Argentine chess master.
Born in New York into a Cuban family, he moved to Argentina and was naturalized in 1904. He was a co-founder of the Club Argentino de Ajedrez in Buenos Aires. In 1910, he won Club Argentino Championship, and again in the period 1912–1919 or 1913–1921. He won a match against Julio Lynch, and lost a match to Boris Kostić, both in Buenos Aires in 1913.
He shared 1st with C.M. Portela at Buenos Aires 1917, took 2nd, behind L. Carranza, at Buenos Aires 1920, tied for 2nd-4th at Montevideo 1921/22, and took 5th at Buenos Aires 1922. He thrice participated in the Argentine Championship: took 5th in 1921/22, tied for 6-7th in 1923/24 and tied for 7-9th in 1924. Illa shared 2nd with Villegas, behind Alexander Alekhine, at Buenos Aires 1926.