6/11/2018 – Just like Caruana in Norway, Sam Shankland won his last two games to take sole first place in the American Continental Championship. This was his third tournament victory in a row, an incredible achievement that propelled him to the 27th place in the live ratings list. Diego Flores finished clear second and secured a World Cup ticket. | Pictured: Sam Shankland, Diego Flores and Pablo Salinas | Photos: Uruguayan Chess Federation
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In January, Sam Shankland's rating was 2668, a similar number to the ones shown in his FIDE rating card since 2015. Five months later, he has already climbed to 2727.2 and is now the 27th best-rated player in the world (those who believe in superstitions might say this is "a sign"). His rise was accompanied by three consecutive wins in very strong tournaments.
In April, Sam finished ahead of the Caruana-Nakamura-So trio to be proclaimed 2018 U.S. champion. A few weeks later, he finished first at the Capablanca Memorial, leaving Alexey Dreev a distant one-and-a-half points behind. Only twelve days later, he flew to Montevideo to play the gruelling American Continental. Thanks to his latest results, he arrived as the clear favourite — second seed Jorge Cori entered the event with a 2659 Elo rating, a number that resembles Shankland's January mark.
Shankland and Flores were in a league of their own | Photo: Uruguayan Chess Federation
When we last reported from Uruguay, Shankland was sharing the lead with Neuris Delgado and Diego Flores after eight rounds. On Friday, the American was paired against Argentina's best-rated player, the always dangerous Sandro Mareco. The game was drawn in 26 moves. Meanwhile, Flores defeated Delgado after outplaying him positionally:
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1.e4
1,187,378
54%
2421
---
1.d4
960,973
55%
2434
---
1.Nf3
287,046
56%
2440
---
1.c4
185,216
56%
2442
---
1.g3
19,908
56%
2427
---
1.b3
14,615
54%
2428
---
1.f4
5,961
48%
2376
---
1.Nc3
3,923
50%
2383
---
1.b4
1,791
48%
2379
---
1.a3
1,253
54%
2406
---
1.e3
1,081
49%
2409
---
1.d3
969
50%
2378
---
1.g4
670
46%
2361
---
1.h4
466
54%
2382
---
1.c3
439
51%
2425
---
1.h3
289
56%
2420
---
1.a4
118
60%
2461
---
1.f3
100
47%
2427
---
1.Nh3
93
66%
2506
---
1.Na3
47
62%
2476
---
Please, wait...
1.Nf3Nf62.c4e63.g3d54.Bg2dxc45.0-0Nbd76.Qc2a6A13: English Opening: 1...
e66...Nb67.a4a58.Na3Bxa39.Rxa30-010.e4e511.Nxe5Qd412.Qc3Qxc313.Rxc3Be614.d4Nxa41-0 (40) Wei,Y (2738)-Ponomariov,R (2699)
Danzhou 20177.a4a5LiveBook: 3 Games8.Na3Nb6NThe position is
equal.Predecessor:8...Bxa39.Rxa3Nb610.d3cxd311.Rxd3Qe712.Be3Nfd513.Bc5Nb414.Qc31-0 (48) Mayer,F (2331)-Vatter,H (2322) Saarbruecken
20099.Nxc4Nbd510.d3Be711.Bd2c612.Qb30-013.Nfe5Nb414.Rfd1Nd715.d4Nxe516.dxe5Qc717.Nd6c517...Ra618.Rac1±Bd719.Nxb7Rab8
...Nd5 is the strong threat.20.Bxb4!axb421.Nd6Qa722.Qe3Bxd623.exd6Bxa424.b3Bb525.Rxc5But not25.Qxc5Qxc526.Rxc5Bxe2±25...Bxe226.Rdc1Bb527.Qe5Qb628.Bc6Ba628...Bxc629.Rxc6Qb729.Ba4+-Rbd830.Rc6Qb7
31.d7!Bd331...Qxd732.Rxa632.Rc7Qf3intending ...Be4.33.Qf4 White has
strong initiative.Qxf434.gxf4f635.f3e5?35...Kf7±was necessary.36.fxe5And now e6 would win.fxe537.Re1Rxf337...g538.Rxe5Bg638.Rc8Rff839.Rxd8Precision: White = 84%, Black = 39%.1–0
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In the penultimate round, one of America's strongest young talents, Jeffery Xiong, had White against Shankland. They had drawn rather quickly in this year's U.S. Championship, but Saturday's game followed a very different script. In a sharp Sicilian, Sam went for a typical exchange sacrifice, 16...Rxc3:
Xiong - Shankland
Black to move
The decision was approved by the computer, but there was still a long road ahead. Shankland, however, proved his technical prowess once again and, despite being an exchange down, used his bishop pair to get an overwhelming advantage. Xiong did not resign quickly, but had to accept defeat on move 41, staring at Black's five connected passed pawns on the move:
Xiong resigned
Flores drew Robert Hungaski in Round 8, so Sam caught him in the lead before Sunday's last round. Both players were paired against IMs about 200 points lower-rated than them. Only Shankland triumphed, however. His final victim was the winner of Wednesday's blitz event, Tomas Sosa. The young Argentine already had a worse position, but his 18...e5 left his king too vulnerable:
Shankland - Sosa
White to move
After 19.dxe5 Bxe5 20.Bd3 g6, Shankland finished the game in style:
The attack on the kingside is too strong
The sacrifice is screaming to be played: 21.Bxg6! hxg6 22.Rxg6+ Bg7 28.Rh4 and White's rooks dominate the open g and h-files. Sosa tried to find a perpetual, but to no avail. Resignation came on move 33.
Shankland's last round win annotated by GM Daniel King
When Sosa resigned, it was not clear that Shankland would finish clear first, however, as Flores had a positional advantage against Peru's Brian Escalante. The advantage disappeared on move 29:
‘First Steps in Positional Play’ attempts to equip the viewer with all the information he or she needs to begin to tackle this aspect of chess. Players below 1500 will benefit from this basic advice. Players above 1500 will enjoy the detailed examination of many current master games. This is an enjoyable tour of positional play from which everyone can learn.
Flores - Escalante
White to move
Here, Flores played 29.Kf2 instead of the correct 29.d4. It's better to fix the black pawn on a light-square in order to attack it later with the bishop. Escalante did not take long to equalise and the players agreed to a draw after 35 moves.
Flores got a crucial win over Delgado | Photo: Uruguayan Chess Federation
In the U.S. Championship, Fabiano Caruana had a great performance, but Shankland's was almost too good to be true. Flores found himself in a similar situation in Montevideo, as his seven wins in eleven rounds were not enough to finish ahead of Sam. Nonetheless, the player from Junin had a great tournament.
The World Cup spots
Shankland and Flores grabbed two of the four World Cup spots offered in the tournament. They will both travel to Batumi next year. Sooner than that, however, they will play in this year's Olympiad, where the U.S. team will add even more power to its very strong line-up. With three top-ten regulars and an inspired Shankland on fourth board, is it too much to call them clear favourites ahead of Russia?
The American Continental Championship awards four tickets to the World Cup and does not use mathematical tiebreaks to allocate them. Thus, the seven players that tied on 8/11 played a single round-robin with a 15+10 time control to decide who would get the cherished spots. The contenders were Jorge Cori, Emilio Cordova, Kevin Cori and Brian Escalante from Peru; Sandro Mareco from Argentina; Pablo Salinas from Chile; and Robert Hungaski from the United States.
The drawing of lots before the playoff | Photo: Uruguayan Chess Federation
Peruvian GM Jorge Cori finished with four wins undefeated to take the top spot, followed by GM Emilio Cordova, also from Peru, with 4.0 / 7. The pair earns a ticket to the first round of the next FIDE World Cup knockout event slated for 2019.
Cordova can thank his teammate for sealing his place by beating Sandro Mareco in the last round of the tiebreak in a wild game. At one moment, Mareco had a fearsome attack and was just a few moves away from winning.
Cori vs Mareco
Position after 37.Qd1
The Argentinian didn't manage to find 37...Qb4, holding both the rook on g4 and the pawn on b3 and threatening the devastating ...Rxg2+.
Instead, Mareco played 37...Rg5 allowing Cori to collect the b3-pawn and stabilise his position. He managed to defend against the black attack, beat back an exchange sac and forced resignation on move 59. (You can find all tiebreak games below.)
Antonio PereiraAntonio is a freelance writer and a philologist. He is mainly interested in the links between chess and culture, primarily literature. In chess games, he skews towards endgames and positional play.
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