American Continental Rd3-4: A leader at last

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.

Round three

Sunday was a big day in more ways than one. In an already intense and important competition such as the American Continental, it was the only day with two rounds, meaning a long and tiresome day of battle. There was still no point in talking about leaders, since after two rounds they numbered more than made sense to mention, but by the day’s end one lone warrior would stand apart.

The round started at a bright and early 9:30 AM, and while most players were still settling in, and even I was still doing the rounds taking some pictures, a message came in over Skype asking me if there was a mistake in the transmission.

Mistake? Why? The broadcast says top-seed Granda Zuñiga lost in 16 moves. After some checking, and not a little consternation by other players hearing the news and arbiters, it was confirmed. What had happened?

IM Alan Pichot, the reigning World Youth under-16 champion, could not have wished for more:
beating the top-seed in record time. (Click on image for high-res version)

IM Alan Pichot - GM Julio Granda Zuñiga (annotated by IM Luis Rodi)

IM Luis Rodi explains, "Black loses a pawn since Qxb5 is answered by Ba4 and Bxd7. The database contains numerous games with this exact position and disaster, including.... Hou Yifan-Granda Zuñiga (Merida, 2008), in which the Peruvian resigned in the exact same position!

On the stage, the top-seed was stunned after 16.Nxb5 and stared at the board for nearly ten minutes. He finally shook out of it and with a wry laugh resigned. Other top players have also fallen victim to this, such as Smyslov in Moscow, 1950, who resigned one move later against Boleslavsky. Tseschkovsky played 16...Nc5, the most practcal reply, and actualy managed to wring out a draw from Savon in 1975.

What can one say about what happened? Julio's enormous talent is widely recognized, but it can also be his downfall as was the case here. He often seeks to play lines that go off the beaten path, but lines in which he himself is not necessarily well versed. That is apparently what happened here as the Peruvian played a little played variation, choosing logical moves that led to a position the Peruvian simply forgot he had played once before."

Brazilian IM Evandro Barbosa (2438) also got a result drawing GM Ruben Felgaer

American GMs Alexander Shabalov and Aleksander Lenderman drew their game in round three

Peruvian Jorge Cori had a perfect 3.0/3 start. (Click on image for high-res version)

Lunch and games

After round three was over, Gregory Kaidanov and I decided to walk back to the center to grab some lunch during the multihour gap. The day was still incredibly pleasant and it was only a couple of kilometers away.

On the way we saw a beautiful fountain and could not pass up the chance

We found a nice place, had a relaxing lunch and decided to stroll a bit. After a few blocks in a direction we had not really explored yet, we saw a huge congregation of people in front of a building that took us by surprise since until now, the streets had been quite empty on this Sunday afternoon.

As we approached we were astonished to see it was a massive Gamer’s Convention

Much like a Comic Convention or the like, gamers come to play and compete in video and computer
games, and many will go to great lengths to outdo the others as they dress in their favorite characters

The perfect excuse to enjoy Halloween more than once a year! (Click on image for high-res version)

One thing was clear, the kids were having a ball

Still, not all were interested in video games, and this motley crew set up a board for their own entertainment

They were hardly the first or last we would see setting up chess games every which where

Round four

This was the biggie and was possibly an even larger surprise than the previous round. No, none of the GMs were going to resign in fewer moves than Granda's disaster, but by the end of the round, only one player would still had a perfect 4.0/4 score, and it was who that might astonish.

When we arrived in the playing hall, the tables had all been set up, and one could see the arbiters all in deep concentration on one of the computer screens before the round started. They never said a word. What were they up to?

Football! Indeed, two of the country's most important teams were duking it out on the turf,
and since the arbiters are all South American, where football is as much sport as religion, how
could they not be following it until the very last minute? (Click on image for high-res version)

The ever-ebullient WCM Lorena Garcia from Venezuela

FM Roberto Andrade

The definition of Power Play

Brazilian José Pereira Braga is one of many amateurs enjoying the event

The masters

On the top stage, the defining battle took place between IM Yago Santiago and GM Sandro Mareco

IM Yago Santiago - GM Sandro Mareco (annotated by IM Luis Rodi)

IM Yago Santiago the first to take the sole lead with 4.0/4

Venezulean GM Eduardo Iturrizaga is in the pack right behind with 3.5/4

Standings after four rounds

Click for complete standings

The top eight boards of the event can be followed live at both the official site and on Playchess.

All photos by Albert Silver

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.