Eduardo Iturrizaga wins American Continental

by Antonio Pereira
7/27/2019 – The 2019 American Continental Championship ran from the 5th to the 13th of July in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The eleven-round open tournament served as a qualifier to the World Cup, with four players getting tickets to the event scheduled for September in Khanty-Mansiysk. Coincidentally, four players — from four different countries — finished on 8½ out of 11, with Venezuelan Eduardo Iturrizaga winning the event on tiebreak criteria. | Photo: Elana de Souza

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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.

Timur Gareyev

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)

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

Krikor Mekhitarian

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 13.a3 30 Bd6 6 14.Nf5 5:01 Bf8 0 15.b4 5:49 Ne4 2:39 16.Ng3 5:37 Ndf6 1:08 17.Qb2 5:37 Bd6 3:53 18.Ncxe4 3:02 dxe4 22 19.Be2 3:08 g6 0 20.Rfd1 2:04 h5 1:05 21.Bc3 2:46 Nd5 2:45 22.Nf1 6:07 Qg5 2:49 23.Bd2 5:09 Ne7 8:40 24.Be1 3:40 Nf5 0 25.Ng3 2:39 Nh6 1:26 26.Bf1 2:46 Ng4 59 27.Be2 3:56 Nxh2 25 28.Kxh2 11 h4 2 29.Qb3 1:56 hxg3+ 0 30.fxg3 11 Kg7 2 31.Kg1 6:15 Rh8 1:16 32.Bf1 16:04 Rh5 33.Kf2 Qg4 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Araujo,S2090Iturrizaga Bonelli,E26250–12019E48XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20191
Iturrizaga Bonelli,E2625Abdalla,L22451–02019A16XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20192
Sanchez Alvarez,R2434Iturrizaga Bonelli,E26250–12019E12XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20193
Iturrizaga Bonelli,E2625Gonzalez Vidal,Y2547½–½2019A13XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20194
Iturrizaga Bonelli,E2625Krysa,L25171–02019D71XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20195
Garcia Pantoja,R2529Iturrizaga Bonelli,E2625½–½2019B41XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20196
Iturrizaga Bonelli,E2625Salinas Herrera,P24981–02019D45XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20197
Iturrizaga Bonelli,E2625Pichot,A2579½–½2019E01XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20198
Fier,A2547Iturrizaga Bonelli,E26250–12019E25XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20199
Delgado Ramirez,N2605Iturrizaga Bonelli,E2625½–½2019B82XIV American Continental Chess Championship 201910
Iturrizaga Bonelli,E2625Vazquez,G2483½–½2019D39XIV American Continental Chess Championship 201911

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 14 13.a3 1:33 a5 9:59 14.Ne4 b6 2 15.Bd2 1:40 a4 1:20 16.Bc3 5:23 Bb3 0 17.Qd2 1:16 f5 55 18.Ng5 20 h6 13 19.Nf3 2:47 g5 4:19 20.Nc4 0 Qc7 51 21.Qc1 17:46 b5 2:16 22.Ncd2 59 Ba2 53 23.Ra1 1:22 Be6 3 24.Qc2 5:50 Qd6 2:23 25.b3 0 axb3 2:41 26.Nxb3 2 c4 8 27.dxc4 1:29 bxc4 2 28.Nbd2 3:05 e4 2:03 29.Bxg7 52 Kxg7 2 30.Qc3+ 50 Rf6 3:51 31.Nxc4 6:09 Bxc4 0 32.Qxc4 2 exf3 9 33.Bxf3 0 Ne5 55 34.Qb3 35 Rb8 11 35.Qc3 46 Rc8 26 36.Qb3 44 Qb6 0 37.Rfb1 Qxb3 38.Rxb3 Nxf3+ 39.exf3 Rfc6 40.Rbb1 Kf6 41.Kg2 Ra6 42.Rb4 Rc2 2 43.a4 53 Re6 44 44.a5 45 Ree2 24 45.a6 1:32 Rxf2+ 0 46.Kg1 Rg2+ 10 47.Kf1 56 Nd5 0 48.Rb3 28 Rxh2 9 49.Kg1 15 Rcg2+ 26 50.Kf1 12 Ra2 30 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Adasme Fredes,M2088Delgado Ramirez,N26050–12019A37XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20191
Delgado Ramirez,N2605Tsuboi,E22331–02019B47XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20192
Proudian,A2429Delgado Ramirez,N2605½–½2019B90XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20193
Delgado Ramirez,N2605Sarkar,J2389½–½2019C47XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20194
Gemy,J2371Delgado Ramirez,N2605½–½2019B50XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20195
Delgado Ramirez,N2605Fernandez Reyes,L23781–02019B02XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20196
Matsuura,E2459Delgado Ramirez,N26050–12019B90XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20197
Delgado Ramirez,N2605Krysa,L25171–02019C78XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20198
Pichot,A2579Delgado Ramirez,N2605½–½2019C42XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20199
Delgado Ramirez,N2605Iturrizaga Bonelli,E2625½–½2019B82XIV American Continental Chess Championship 201910
Perez Ponsa,F2560Delgado Ramirez,N26050–12019B56XIV American Continental Chess Championship 201911

Neuris Delgado

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 26:21 Qxd6 3:41 9.Bf4 17:18 e5 9:35 10.Nb5 8:44 Qb4+ 2:33 11.Qxb4 6 Bxb4+ 39 12.Bd2 4:48 0-0 0 13.h3 1:14 Bxd2+ 1:37 14.Nxd2 14 Nb4 3:40 15.Na3 39 Nf6 36 16.c3 59 Nbd5 37 17.Nac4 1:50 e4 0 18.Nd6 2:39 e3 11 19.N2c4 1:21 exf2+ 20.Kxf2 Rd8 21.Be2 1:01 Rb8 3:49 22.a4 38 Be6 50 23.Rhd1 4:13 Nf4 0 24.Bf3 1:34 g5 5:46 25.Na5 1:49 Bd5 10:17 26.Ndxb7 Rxb7 27.Nxb7 Rb8 28.Bxd5 30 N6xd5 5 29.c4 5:00 Nf6 30.Rd8+ 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Gonzalez Vidal,Y2547Pereira,G20681–02019B27XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20191
Sega,C2220Gonzalez Vidal,Y25470–12019A14XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20192
Gonzalez Vidal,Y2547Mieles Palau,D23591–02019B31XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20193
Iturrizaga Bonelli,E2625Gonzalez Vidal,Y2547½–½2019A13XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20194
Gonzalez Vidal,Y2547Molina,R2464½–½2019B12XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20195
Languidey,S2427Gonzalez Vidal,Y25470–12019C45XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20196
Gonzalez Vidal,Y2547Hernandez Sanchez,J2387½–½2019B31XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20197
Quintiliano Pinto,R2443Gonzalez Vidal,Y25470–12019D38XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20198
Gonzalez Vidal,Y2547Mekhitarian,K2545½–½2019C65XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20199
Gonzalez Vidal,Y2547Pichot,A25791–02019B30XIV American Continental Chess Championship 201910
Duran Vega,S2364Gonzalez Vidal,Y2547½–½2019A46XIV American Continental Chess Championship 201911

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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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
De Souza Monteiro,M1953Duran Vega,S23640–12019D36XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20191
Duran Vega,S2364Januario,S21121–02019E63XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20192
Perez Ponsa,F2560Duran Vega,S23641–02019C50XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20193
Duran Vega,S2364Freitas,R21291–02019A00XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20194
Mecking,H2576Duran Vega,S2364½–½2019D59XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20195
Duran Vega,S2364Cubas,J2493½–½2019E91XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20196
Araujo,S2090Duran Vega,S23640–12019A00XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20197
Duran Vega,S2364Di Berardino,D25061–02019D72XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20198
Duran Vega,S2364Barbosa,E25061–02019A48XIV American Continental Chess Championship 20199
Salinas Herrera,P2498Duran Vega,S23640–12019E21XIV American Continental Chess Championship 201910
Duran Vega,S2364Gonzalez Vidal,Y2547½–½2019A46XIV American Continental Chess Championship 201911

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Timur Gareyev photo: Elana de Souza

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Antonio 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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