Shankland, Martínez and Fier on the podium
The 2025 American Continental Chess Championship concluded on 31 May in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, with Sam Shankland of the United States taking first place on tiebreaks after a tightly contested event. Shankland emerged as the champion from a seven-way tie for first, edging out his rivals on the Buchholz system to secure the title.
Held from 23 to 31 May, the championship featured an 11-round Swiss tournament played with classical time controls. A total of 218 players from 17 countries participated, including 21 grandmasters. The tournament offered a prestigious continental title and awarded four qualification spots for the FIDE World Cup, set to take place in October.
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Heading into the final round, Shankland, the tournament's top seed, was tied in the lead on 8/10 with José Eduardo Martínez (Peru), Alexandr Fier (Brazil) and Luis Paulo Supi (Brazil). They were closely followed by eight players on 7½ points, making for a tense and competitive finish. With the top boards ending in draws, wins by Cristóbal Henríquez (Chile), Santiago Ávila (Colombia) and José Gabriel Cardoso (Colombia) allowed them to join the leading group with 8½ points in the tournament table.
Tiebreaks determined the final standings. Shankland claimed gold, followed by Martínez and Fier taking silver and bronze respectively. José Gabriel Cardoso secured the final qualification spot for the World Cup, narrowly ahead of Cristóbal Henríquez on the first tiebreak criterion.
Shankland shared the following post on X referring to his round-four win over GM Robert Hungaski - in which he used a closeted-psychopath approach as per his own words!
Shankland 1-0 Filgueiras (round six)
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nge7 4.0-0 Ng6 4...g6 5.c3 Bg7 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 d5 8.exd5 8.e5 0-0 9.h3 8...Nxd5 9.Re1+ Be6 10.Bg5 Qd6 5.d4 5.c3 a6 6.Ba4 d5 7.exd5 Qxd5 8.d4 5...exd4 6.Nxd4 Bc5 7.Nf5 7.Be3 Nxd4 8.Bxd4 Bxd4 9.Qxd4 Qg5 10.Qd5 7...0-0 8.Be3 Bxe3 9.Nxe3 d6 10.Nc3 Nge7 10...Nce7 11.f4 c6 12.Bc4 b5 13.Bb3 Kh8 11.f4 f5 12.Qh5 Be6 13.Rae1 a6 14.Bd3 Qd7 14...Nb4 15.Be2 Kh8 16.a3 Nbc6 17.Bd3 Qd7 15.exf5 Nxf5 16.g4 16.Ned5 Rae8 17.g4 g6 17...Nh6 18.h3 18.Qg5 Nfd4 19.Nf6+ 16...g6 17.Qg5 Nxe3 18.Rxe3 Bxg4 19.Nd5 Kg7 20.Ne7 Rf7 20...Bh5 21.Nxc6 Qxc6 22.Re7+ Rf7 23.Rxf7+ Kxf7 24.f5 Qc5+ 25.Rf2 21.Nxg6 21...hxg6 22.Bxg6 22.Qxg6+ Kf8 23.Qh6+ Rg7 24.f5 Be2+ 25.Rg3 22...Kf8 23.Rg3 Be6 24.Qh6+ Rg7 25.f5 Bc4 26.f6 Bxf1 27.Bh5 1–0
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The playing hall
Final standings
1 |
1 |
|
GM |
Shankland, Sam |
|
AV |
|
2666 |
8,5 |
76,5 |
81,5 |
60,50 |
56 |
0 |
11 |
8,5 |
8,09 |
0,41 |
10 |
4,1 |
2 |
3 |
|
GM |
Martinez Alcantara, Jose |
|
AV |
|
2611 |
8,5 |
76 |
81 |
61,75 |
54 |
0 |
11 |
8,5 |
7,56 |
0,94 |
10 |
9,4 |
3 |
10 |
|
GM |
Fier, Alexandr |
S35 |
SC |
|
2556 |
8,5 |
75 |
80 |
59,25 |
54 |
0 |
11 |
8,5 |
7,03 |
1,47 |
10 |
14,7 |
4 |
14 |
|
GM |
Cardoso Cardoso, Jose Gabriel |
|
AV |
|
2516 |
8,5 |
74,5 |
80 |
60,00 |
54 |
0 |
11 |
8,5 |
6,95 |
1,55 |
10 |
15,5 |
5 |
4 |
|
GM |
Henriquez Villagra, Cristobal |
|
AV |
|
2597 |
8,5 |
72,5 |
78 |
58,75 |
52 |
0 |
10 |
7,5 |
7,33 |
0,17 |
10 |
1,7 |
6 |
9 |
|
GM |
Supi, Luis Paulo |
|
|
|
2566 |
8,5 |
71,5 |
77 |
58,25 |
52 |
0 |
11 |
8,5 |
7,83 |
0,67 |
10 |
6,7 |
7 |
20 |
|
GM |
Avila Pavas, Santiago |
|
AV |
|
2469 |
8,5 |
70,5 |
76 |
56,75 |
50,5 |
0 |
11 |
8,5 |
7,39 |
1,11 |
10 |
11,1 |
8 |
8 |
|
GM |
Bachmann, Axel |
S35 |
AV |
|
2570 |
8 |
75 |
79 |
54,25 |
53,5 |
0 |
11 |
8 |
7,23 |
0,77 |
10 |
7,7 |
9 |
43 |
|
IM |
Rojas Salas, Steven |
|
AV |
|
2343 |
8 |
74,5 |
79 |
55,75 |
49,5 |
0 |
11 |
8 |
4,44 |
3,56 |
20 |
71,2 |
10 |
2 |
|
GM |
Oparin, Grigoriy |
|
AV |
|
2660 |
8 |
73,5 |
78,5 |
54,25 |
55 |
0 |
11 |
8 |
8,04 |
-0,04 |
10 |
-0,4 |
11 |
6 |
|
GM |
Jacobson, Brandon |
|
AV |
|
2582 |
8 |
71,5 |
77 |
53,50 |
51,5 |
0 |
11 |
8 |
7,88 |
0,12 |
10 |
1,2 |
12 |
21 |
|
IM |
Villanueva, Mario |
S35 |
AV |
|
2454 |
8 |
70,5 |
75 |
52,75 |
49,5 |
0 |
11 |
8 |
6,89 |
1,11 |
10 |
11,1 |
13 |
16 |
|
GM |
Hardaway, Brewington |
|
AV |
|
2502 |
8 |
68 |
74 |
54,25 |
46,5 |
0 |
11 |
8 |
8,35 |
-0,35 |
10 |
-3,5 |
14 |
11 |
|
GM |
Quesada Perez, Luis Ernesto |
|
AV |
|
2546 |
7,5 |
75,5 |
80,5 |
52,25 |
54 |
0 |
11 |
7,5 |
6,83 |
0,67 |
10 |
6,7 |
15 |
7 |
|
GM |
Hong, Andrew |
|
AV |
|
2579 |
7,5 |
74 |
80 |
52,25 |
49,5 |
0 |
11 |
7,5 |
7,94 |
-0,44 |
10 |
-4,4 |
16 |
31 |
|
IM |
Schnaider, Ilan |
|
AV |
|
2388 |
7,5 |
72 |
77,5 |
49,25 |
47,5 |
0 |
11 |
7,5 |
5,88 |
1,62 |
10 |
16,2 |
17 |
22 |
|
IM |
Di Berardino, Diego Rafael |
S35 |
SP |
|
2448 |
7,5 |
70 |
75 |
48,25 |
47 |
0 |
11 |
7,5 |
7,49 |
0,01 |
10 |
0,1 |
18 |
18 |
|
GM |
Shabalov, Alexander |
S50 |
AV |
|
2483 |
7,5 |
69,5 |
75,5 |
49,50 |
48 |
0 |
11 |
7,5 |
8,00 |
-0,50 |
10 |
-5 |
19 |
32 |
|
GM |
Lima, Darcy |
S50 |
SC |
|
2380 |
7,5 |
69 |
74 |
47,25 |
47 |
0 |
11 |
7,5 |
6,59 |
0,91 |
10 |
9,1 |
20 |
5 |
|
GM |
Mareco, Sandro |
S35 |
AV |
|
2585 |
7,5 |
68,5 |
74 |
49,00 |
48 |
0 |
11 |
7,5 |
8,76 |
-1,26 |
10 |
-12,6 |
21 |
26 |
|
IM |
Liascovich, Lucas |
S35 |
AV |
|
2417 |
7,5 |
67,5 |
72,5 |
47,25 |
47,5 |
0 |
11 |
7,5 |
7,80 |
-0,30 |
10 |
-3 |
22 |
37 |
|
IM |
Ticona Rocabado, Licael |
|
AV |
|
2359 |
7,5 |
67,5 |
72 |
46,00 |
44 |
0 |
11 |
7,5 |
7,46 |
0,04 |
10 |
0,4 |
23 |
24 |
|
IM |
Panjwani, Raja |
S35 |
AV |
|
2446 |
7,5 |
65 |
70 |
47,25 |
44 |
0 |
11 |
7,5 |
8,60 |
-1,10 |
10 |
-11 |
24 |
19 |
|
GM |
Hungaski, Robert |
S35 |
AV |
|
2477 |
7 |
71 |
76,5 |
44,00 |
49 |
0 |
11 |
7 |
7,04 |
-0,04 |
10 |
-0,4 |
25 |
25 |
|
IM |
Coro, Lucas |
|
AV |
|
2434 |
7 |
70,5 |
75,5 |
43,50 |
50 |
0 |
11 |
7 |
6,52 |
0,48 |
10 |
4,8 |
...224 players
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