X American Continental Ch in Montevideo

In two days, the X American Continental Classical Championship will start, bringing together a legion of players from both poles of the Americas, whether it be representatives from Canada to southern neighbors in Argentina.  Still, southern is almost a figure of speech as the city of Montevideo ranks as the southernmost capital in the Americas. On the other hand, it has also been rated as having the highest quality of life of any city in Latin America, a rating it has owned for over a decade.

Google Maps image of Uruguay and Montevideo. Notice how it just edges out Buenos Aires,
Argentina for the title of southernmost capital in the Americas.  

The charming mixture of old colonial with modern structures characterizes Montevideo

The competition will be held in the Telecommunications Tower Complex
the headquarters of the state telecommunications company ANTEL, and
also includes the tallest skyscraper in Uruguay

The tournament

The tournament is an eleven-round competition played at 40 moves in 90 minutes followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game and a 30-second increment as of move one. The first round is on May 15 with rounds every day until round eleven on May 24, including a double-round on May 17. Play typically starts at 5PM.

Although there are tiebreak scoring systems in place, starting with direct encounter, Buchholz, and more, in the event of a draw at the top, the top four qualifiers will be decided by a rapid tiebreak match or tournament, depending on the number, starting at 15 minutes plus a ten-second increment.

The prizes are US$5000 for first, $3400 for second, $2400 for third with prizes all the way to 20th place. Note that as FIDE events of this caliber, all norms scored count double, thus a player who scores a norm at the end of the competition will be considered to have earned two norms, not one.

Player list and results

ChessBase will be present at the competition providing ample photos, impressions and reports.

Links Official tournament site The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.