A demanding contest
For South American players in particular, it is very difficult to participate in first-rate international events, which are mostly organized in European countries (and lately in the United States). Thus, getting a chance to qualify to the World Cup via a single event is perceived as a huge opportunity.
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In this year's American Continental Championship, 219 players from sixteen different countries gathered in Sao Paulo, Brazil to fight for the coveted tickets to the World Cup (or a chance to face some of the strongest players of the continent).
Besides the locals, the biggest delegations in Brazil's most populous city — over 12 million people inhabit Sao Paulo — were the ones from Argentina and Chile. And the top five seeds came from five different countries: Eduardo Iturrizaga (Venezuela), Rafael Leitao (Brazil), Neuris Delgado (Paraguay), Timur Gareyev (United States, pictured) and Alan Pichot (Argentina).
The taxing eleven-rounder was organized by chess club "Xadrez Total" and ran for nine days — which meant two double-round days were scheduled. A prize fund of 20,000 US dollars, with 5,000 dollars for the winner, was at stake, although, as mentioned, the biggest incentive was getting one of the qualifying spots for the World Cup (the complete list of qualified players has been recently released by FIDE).
The winners
First seed Eduardo Iturrizaga had a commanding performance, as he started with three straight wins and played seven out of the eleven rounds on board one. The Venezuelan finished undefeated, with six wins and five draws. Third seed Neuris Delgado (Paraguay) and tenth seed Yuri Gonzalez (Cuba) tied with Iturrizaga on 8½/11 after avoiding losses all throughout the event, while the big surprise of the event was given by 41st seed Sergio Duran (Costa Rica), who reached the same score despite losing in round three.
In the end, each one of them took home USD $3,125, as the money prize for the first four spots was split evenly. Eight players finished a half point behind the winners.
Final standings (top 12)
Master Class Vol.4: José Raúl Capablanca
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He was a child prodigy and he is surrounded by legends. In his best times he was considered to be unbeatable and by many he was reckoned to be the greatest chess talent of all time: Jose Raul Capablanca, born 1888 in Havana.
k. |
SNo |
|
|
Name |
Gr |
FED |
RtgI |
Pts. |
TB1 |
TB2 |
rtg+/- |
1 |
1 |
|
GM |
Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo |
AV |
VEN |
2625 |
8,5 |
2498 |
75,0 |
9,7 |
2 |
3 |
|
GM |
Delgado Ramirez Neuris |
SC |
PAR |
2605 |
8,5 |
2454 |
72,0 |
7,0 |
3 |
10 |
|
GM |
Gonzalez Vidal Yuri |
AV |
CUB |
2547 |
8,5 |
2441 |
74,0 |
12,6 |
4 |
41 |
|
IM |
Duran Vega Sergio |
AV |
CRC |
2364 |
8,5 |
2402 |
66,5 |
31,4 |
5 |
5 |
|
GM |
Pichot Alan |
AV |
ARG |
2579 |
8,0 |
2504 |
76,0 |
11,6 |
6 |
7 |
|
GM |
Supi Luis Paulo |
SP |
BRA |
2562 |
8,0 |
2454 |
73,5 |
7,1 |
7 |
11 |
|
GM |
Mekhitarian Krikor Sevag |
SP |
BRA |
2545 |
8,0 |
2453 |
74,0 |
9,1 |
8 |
4 |
|
GM |
Gareyev Timur |
AV |
USA |
2588 |
8,0 |
2447 |
68,5 |
2,9 |
9 |
9 |
|
GM |
Fier Alexandr |
PR |
BRA |
2547 |
8,0 |
2441 |
73,5 |
7,6 |
10 |
21 |
|
IM |
Vazquez Guillermo |
AV |
PAR |
2483 |
8,0 |
2412 |
70,0 |
12,3 |
11 |
20 |
|
GM |
Hambleton Aman |
AV |
CAN |
2487 |
8,0 |
2349 |
69,5 |
5,2 |
12 |
22 |
|
GM |
Santiago Yago De Moura |
AV |
BRA |
2473 |
8,0 |
2336 |
68,5 |
4,3 |
...219 players
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Krikor Mekhitarian finished on 8/11 | Photo: Claudia Aquino
Let us recap the path to victory of the four winners.
Eduardo Iturrizaga (Venezuela, 2625)
The top seed started with two straightforward wins and had more of an up-and-down game against Roberto Sanchez in round three — in the end, Iturrizaga won a sharp struggle in 37 moves. Both days with double rounds, he went for quick draws in the second game of the day, splitting the point after 18 and 7 moves respectively.
In the second half of the tournament, Iturrizaga obtained key wins against Pablo Salinas (a Semi-Slav turned sharp in which the Venezuelan outplayed his opponent) and Alexandr Fier (the Brazilian incorrectly gave up an exchange and lost in 36 moves). Finally, two quick draws in rounds ten and eleven were enough to get first place.
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nge2 b6 7.0-0 Bb7 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Qc2 Re8 10.Bd2 a6 11.Rac1 Nbd7 12.Ng3 Rc8 13.a3 Bd6 14.Nf5 Bf8 15.b4 Ne4 16.Ng3 Ndf6 17.Qb2 Bd6 18.Ncxe4 dxe4 19.Be2 g6 20.Rfd1 h5 21.Bc3 Nd5 22.Nf1 Qg5 23.Bd2 Ne7 24.Be1 Nf5 25.Ng3 Nh6 26.Bf1 Ng4 27.Be2 Nxh2 28.Kxh2 h4 29.Qb3 hxg3+ 30.fxg3 Kg7 31.Kg1 Rh8 32.Bf1 Rh5 33.Kf2 Qg4 0–1
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Araujo,S | 2090 | Iturrizaga Bonelli,E | 2625 | 0–1 | 2019 | E48 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 1 |
Iturrizaga Bonelli,E | 2625 | Abdalla,L | 2245 | 1–0 | 2019 | A16 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 2 |
Sanchez Alvarez,R | 2434 | Iturrizaga Bonelli,E | 2625 | 0–1 | 2019 | E12 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 3 |
Iturrizaga Bonelli,E | 2625 | Gonzalez Vidal,Y | 2547 | ½–½ | 2019 | A13 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 4 |
Iturrizaga Bonelli,E | 2625 | Krysa,L | 2517 | 1–0 | 2019 | D71 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 5 |
Garcia Pantoja,R | 2529 | Iturrizaga Bonelli,E | 2625 | ½–½ | 2019 | B41 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 6 |
Iturrizaga Bonelli,E | 2625 | Salinas Herrera,P | 2498 | 1–0 | 2019 | D45 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 7 |
Iturrizaga Bonelli,E | 2625 | Pichot,A | 2579 | ½–½ | 2019 | E01 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 8 |
Fier,A | 2547 | Iturrizaga Bonelli,E | 2625 | 0–1 | 2019 | E25 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 9 |
Delgado Ramirez,N | 2605 | Iturrizaga Bonelli,E | 2625 | ½–½ | 2019 | B82 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 10 |
Iturrizaga Bonelli,E | 2625 | Vazquez,G | 2483 | ½–½ | 2019 | D39 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 11 |
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Neuris Delgado (Paraguay, 2605)
After getting two comfortable wins at the start, Delgado drew three players with ratings around the 2400-mark. For the Paraguayan, rounds four to six were crucial, as he obtained three wins in a row, including a sharp victory from the black side of a Sicilian against Brazilian Everaldo Matsuura and a long technical battle against Leandro Krysa.
In round nine, Delgado drew the strong Argentine GM Alan Pichot with Black, then went on to sign a 12-move tie with Iturrizaga and clinched shared first place with a 50-move win over 2560-rated Federico Perez Ponsa — Delgado was the only one from a six-player chasing pack to catch up with the leaders in the final round.
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1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.g3 Bg7 5.Bg2 e5 6.0-0 Nge7 7.d3 0-0 8.Ne1 d6 9.Nc2 Be6 10.Rb1 d5 11.cxd5 Nxd5 12.Ne3 Nde7 13.a3 a5 14.Ne4 b6 15.Bd2 a4 16.Bc3 Bb3 17.Qd2 f5 18.Ng5 h6 19.Nf3 g5 20.Nc4 Qc7 21.Qc1 b5 22.Ncd2 Ba2 23.Ra1 Be6 24.Qc2 Qd6 25.b3 axb3 26.Nxb3 c4 27.dxc4 bxc4 28.Nbd2 e4 29.Bxg7 Kxg7 30.Qc3+ Rf6 31.Nxc4 Bxc4 32.Qxc4 exf3 33.Bxf3 Ne5 34.Qb3 Rb8 35.Qc3 Rc8 36.Qb3 Qb6 37.Rfb1 Qxb3 38.Rxb3 Nxf3+ 39.exf3 Rfc6 40.Rbb1 Kf6 41.Kg2 Ra6 42.Rb4 Rc2 43.a4 Re6 44.a5 Ree2 45.a6 Rxf2+ 46.Kg1 Rg2+ 47.Kf1 Nd5 48.Rb3 Rxh2 49.Kg1 Rcg2+ 50.Kf1 Ra2 0–1
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Adasme Fredes,M | 2088 | Delgado Ramirez,N | 2605 | 0–1 | 2019 | A37 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 1 |
Delgado Ramirez,N | 2605 | Tsuboi,E | 2233 | 1–0 | 2019 | B47 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 2 |
Proudian,A | 2429 | Delgado Ramirez,N | 2605 | ½–½ | 2019 | B90 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 3 |
Delgado Ramirez,N | 2605 | Sarkar,J | 2389 | ½–½ | 2019 | C47 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 4 |
Gemy,J | 2371 | Delgado Ramirez,N | 2605 | ½–½ | 2019 | B50 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 5 |
Delgado Ramirez,N | 2605 | Fernandez Reyes,L | 2378 | 1–0 | 2019 | B02 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 6 |
Matsuura,E | 2459 | Delgado Ramirez,N | 2605 | 0–1 | 2019 | B90 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 7 |
Delgado Ramirez,N | 2605 | Krysa,L | 2517 | 1–0 | 2019 | C78 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 8 |
Pichot,A | 2579 | Delgado Ramirez,N | 2605 | ½–½ | 2019 | C42 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 9 |
Delgado Ramirez,N | 2605 | Iturrizaga Bonelli,E | 2625 | ½–½ | 2019 | B82 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 10 |
Perez Ponsa,F | 2560 | Delgado Ramirez,N | 2605 | 0–1 | 2019 | B56 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 11 |
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Neuris Delgado | Photo: Claudia Aquino
Yuri Gonzalez (Cuba, 2547)
Cuba sent only two players to this year's Continental Championship, and Gonzalez did a fine job in getting shared first place as the higher-rated player from the island. He kicked off with three wins in which he showed fine positional style, drew Iturrizaga and Roberto Bonilla in rounds four and five, and alternated wins and draws in the remaining six games.
Critical were his victories over Renato Quintiliano and especially over Argentina's top seed Alan Pichot in round ten — Pichot was over-optimistic from the black side of a Sicilian and Gonzalez proved his opponent's play was faulty with precise play.
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Qa4 d6 7.e5 Ng4 8.exd6 Qxd6 9.Bf4 e5 10.Nb5 Qb4+ 11.Qxb4 Bxb4+ 12.Bd2 0-0 13.h3 Bxd2+ 14.Nxd2 Nb4 15.Na3 Nf6 16.c3 Nbd5 17.Nac4 e4 18.Nd6 e3 19.N2c4 exf2+ 20.Kxf2 Rd8 21.Be2 Rb8 22.a4 Be6 23.Rhd1 Nf4 24.Bf3 g5 25.Na5 Bd5 26.Ndxb7 Rxb7 27.Nxb7 Rb8 28.Bxd5 N6xd5 29.c4 Nf6 30.Rd8+ 1–0
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Gonzalez Vidal,Y | 2547 | Pereira,G | 2068 | 1–0 | 2019 | B27 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 1 |
Sega,C | 2220 | Gonzalez Vidal,Y | 2547 | 0–1 | 2019 | A14 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 2 |
Gonzalez Vidal,Y | 2547 | Mieles Palau,D | 2359 | 1–0 | 2019 | B31 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 3 |
Iturrizaga Bonelli,E | 2625 | Gonzalez Vidal,Y | 2547 | ½–½ | 2019 | A13 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 4 |
Gonzalez Vidal,Y | 2547 | Molina,R | 2464 | ½–½ | 2019 | B12 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 5 |
Languidey,S | 2427 | Gonzalez Vidal,Y | 2547 | 0–1 | 2019 | C45 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 6 |
Gonzalez Vidal,Y | 2547 | Hernandez Sanchez,J | 2387 | ½–½ | 2019 | B31 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 7 |
Quintiliano Pinto,R | 2443 | Gonzalez Vidal,Y | 2547 | 0–1 | 2019 | D38 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 8 |
Gonzalez Vidal,Y | 2547 | Mekhitarian,K | 2545 | ½–½ | 2019 | C65 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 9 |
Gonzalez Vidal,Y | 2547 | Pichot,A | 2579 | 1–0 | 2019 | B30 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 10 |
Duran Vega,S | 2364 | Gonzalez Vidal,Y | 2547 | ½–½ | 2019 | A46 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 11 |
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Sergio Duran (Costa Rica, 2364)
Duran was the underdog who made it in Sao Paulo, and he achieved the highest goal of the event after having gone through a host of difficulties from start to finish. After his loss in round three, he bounced back with a win and went on to get two very important draws against Brazilian legend Henrique Mecking and Paraguay's Jose Cubas (Duran held a sharp endgame a rook down thanks to his queenside passed pawns).
In round seven, the Costa Rican beat 2060-rated Sergio Araujo and then went on to get a dream-like streak of wins over Diego di Berardino (Brazil, 2506), Evandro Barbosa (Brazil, 2506) and Pablo Salinas (Chile, 2498) — his victory over Salinas was particularly double-edged, with both players missing chances repeatedly in a thrilling 56-move win for Black. A short draw against Yuri Gonzalez sealed the deal in round eleven.
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1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 c6 6.Bg5 Be7 7.Qc2 g6 8.e3 Bf5 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 0-0 11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.0-0 a5 13.a3 a4 14.Qc2 Qa5 15.Ne1 Nd7 16.Nd3 Be7 17.Rfb1 Rfc8 18.g3 b5 19.h4 h5 20.Qe2 Qd8 21.Qf3 Nb6 22.Rc1 Nc4 23.Rc2 Qd7 24.Rac1 Re8 25.Ne2 Bd6 26.Kg2 Re7 27.Qf6 Re6 28.Qf3 Rae8 29.Nef4 R6e7 30.Re1 Qf5 31.Qd1 f6 32.Kh2 Rh7 33.Rce2 g5 34.Ng2 Qg4 35.Kg1 gxh4 36.Nxh4 Rg7 37.Kh1 Qh3+ 0–1
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De Souza Monteiro,M | 1953 | Duran Vega,S | 2364 | 0–1 | 2019 | D36 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 1 |
Duran Vega,S | 2364 | Januario,S | 2112 | 1–0 | 2019 | E63 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 2 |
Perez Ponsa,F | 2560 | Duran Vega,S | 2364 | 1–0 | 2019 | C50 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 3 |
Duran Vega,S | 2364 | Freitas,R | 2129 | 1–0 | 2019 | A00 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 4 |
Mecking,H | 2576 | Duran Vega,S | 2364 | ½–½ | 2019 | D59 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 5 |
Duran Vega,S | 2364 | Cubas,J | 2493 | ½–½ | 2019 | E91 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 6 |
Araujo,S | 2090 | Duran Vega,S | 2364 | 0–1 | 2019 | A00 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 7 |
Duran Vega,S | 2364 | Di Berardino,D | 2506 | 1–0 | 2019 | D72 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 8 |
Duran Vega,S | 2364 | Barbosa,E | 2506 | 1–0 | 2019 | A48 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 9 |
Salinas Herrera,P | 2498 | Duran Vega,S | 2364 | 0–1 | 2019 | E21 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 10 |
Duran Vega,S | 2364 | Gonzalez Vidal,Y | 2547 | ½–½ | 2019 | A46 | XIV American Continental Chess Championship 2019 | 11 |
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How I became World Champion Vol.1 1973-1985
Garry Kasparov's rise to the top was meteoric and at his very first attempt he managed to become World Champion, the youngest of all time. In over six hours of video, he gives a first hand account of crucial events from recent chess history, you can improve your chess understanding and enjoy explanations and comments from a unique and outstanding personality on and off the chess board.
All available games
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Timur Gareyev photo: Elana de Souza
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