American Continental Championship

For the team chess tournament held between 1971 and 2013, see Pan American Team Chess Championship. For the annual collegiate-level team chess tournament, see Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship.

The American Continental Championship, formerly known as the Pan American Chess Championship, is an individual chess tournament organized since 1945. It is often a qualifier for the FIDE World Cup.

First Pan American championships (1945 and 1954)

The first Pan American Chess Championship was held in Hollywood, 28 July – 12 August 1945. The line-up was as follows:

• 1. Samuel Reshevsky United States 10.5,
• 2. Reuben Fine United States 9,
• 3. Hermann Pilnik Argentina 8.5,
• 4. Israel Horowitz United States 8,
• 5. Isaac Kashdan United States 7,
• 6. Héctor Rossetto Argentina 6.5,
• 7–8. Weaver Adams United States, Herman Steiner United States 5.5,
• 9–10. Walter Cruz Brazil, José Joaquin Araiza Mexico 5,
• 11. Jose Broderman Cuba 3.5,
• 12. Herbert Seidman United States 3,
• 13. Joaquin Camarena Mexico 1.

The second championship was held in 1954 in Los Angeles and was an open tournament.

Winners

Pan American Championship

#	Year	City	Winner
1*	1945	Hollywood	Samuel Reshevsky (USA)
2*	1954	Los Angeles	Arthur Bisguier (USA)
3*	1958	Bogotá	Oscar Panno (ARG)
4*	1963	Havana	Eleazar Jiménez (CUB)
5*	1966	Havana	Eleazar Jiménez (CUB)
6*	1968	Cárdenas	Silvino García Martínez (CUB)
7*	1970	Havana	Eleazar Jiménez (CUB)
1	1974	Winnipeg	Walter Browne (USA)
2	1977	Santa Cruz	Herman Claudius Van Riemsdijk (BRA)
3	1981	San Pedro	Zenon Franco (PAR)
4	1987	La Paz	Pablo Ricardi (ARG)
5	1988	Havana	Juan Borges (CUB)
6	?	?
7	?	?
8	1998	San Felipe	Alexander Ivanov (USA)

American Continental Chess Championship

The American Continental Chess Championship qualified in 2001 and 2003 the top seven players for the FIDE World Championships. From 2005, this tournament has been played as a qualifier for the World Cup stage of the World Championship. The number of players who qualified changed in the various editions. In 2005, the top seven players qualified for the Chess World Cup 2005. In 2014 and 2015 the top four earned a spot in the Chess World Cup 2015.

#	Year	City	# Players	Winner
1	2001	Cali	146	Alex Yermolinsky (USA)
2	2003	Buenos Aires	151	Alexander Goldin (USA)
3	2005	Buenos Aires	152	Lázaro Bruzón (CUB)
4	2007	Cali	116	Julio Granda (PER)
*	2008	Boca Raton	63	Jaan Ehlvest (USA)
5	2009	São Paulo	270	Alexander Shabalov (USA) Fidel Corrales Jimenez (CUB)
*	2010	Cali	67	Sergio Andres Sanabria Rangel (COL)
6	2011	Toluca	222	Lázaro Bruzón (CUB)
7	2012	Mar del Plata	206	Julio Granda (PER)
8	2013	Cochabamba	92	Julio Granda (PER)
9	2014	Natal	194	Julio Granda (PER)
10	2015	Montevideo	163	Sandro Mareco (ARG)
11	2016	San Salvador	78	Emilio Córdova (PER)
12	2017	Medellín	256	Samuel Sevian (USA)
13	2018	Montevideo	167	Samuel Shankland (USA)
14	2019	São Paulo	215	Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli (VEN)
15	2022	San Salvador	117	Timur Gareyev (USA)
16	2023	Juan Dolio	158	Georg Meier (URU)
17	2024	Medellín	387	Roberto García Pantoja (COL)
18	2025	Foz do Iguaçu	226	Samuel Shankland (USA)
19	2026	Oaxtepec	126	Samuel Shankland (USA)

*Note: 2008 and 2010 editions' official name was Campeonato Panamericano-Continental, instead of Campeonato Continental de las Americas as the others.

American Continental Women's Championship

The American Continental Women's Chess Championship serves as a qualifier for the knockout Women's World Chess Championship.

#	Year	City	Winner
1	2001	Mérida	Sulennis Piña Vega (CUB)
2	2003	San Cristobal	Rusudan Goletiani (USA)
3	2005	Guatemala City	Sulennis Piña Vega (CUB)
4	2007	Potrero de los Funes	Sarai Sanchez Castillo (VEN)*
5	2009	Cali	Martha Fierro (ECU)
6	2011	Guayaquil	Deysi Cori (PER)
7	2014	Buenos Aires	Carolina Luján (ARG)
8	2015
9	2016	Lima	Deysi Cori (PER)
10	2017	Villa Martelli	Deysi Cori (PER)
11	2018	Envigado	Deysi Cori (PER)
12	2019	Aguascalientes	Maili-Jade Ouellet (CAN)
13	2022	Cuenca	Jennifer Perez Rodriguez (PAR)*
14	2023	La Habana	Candela Francisco Guecamburu (ARG)
15	2024	Santo Domingo	Atousa Pourkashiyan (USA)
16	2025	Oaxtepec	Candela Francisco Guecamburu (ARG)

• 2007: Marisa Zuriel won the play-off to earn the lone Women's World Championship qualification spot.
• 2022: Lisandra Teresa Ordaz Valdés won the play-off to earn the lone Women's World Cup qualification spot.

Pan American Women's Championship

#	Year	City	Winner
1	1980	Córdoba	Edith Soppe (ARG)
2	1996	Bogotá	Vivian Ramón (CUB)
3	1997	Mérida	Claudia Amura (ARG)
4	1998	San Felipe	Sabina Hernández Penna (ARG)
5	1999	San Felipe	Yadira Hernández (MEX)
6	2000	Mérida	Maritza Arribas Robaina (CUB)
7	2006	San Salvador	Sulennis Piña Vega (CUB)
8	2008	San Salvador	Zirka Frometa (CUB)
9	2010	Campinas	Yanira Vigoa (CUB)
10	2012	Montevideo	Carla Heredia Serrano (ECU)
11	2014	Palmira	Beatriz Franco (COL)
12	2016	Manzanillo, Colima	Deysi Cori (PER)

References

• BrasilBase: Campeonatos Panamericanos (in Portuguese)
• Complete standings on Chess-Results: 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
• FIDE: 2011
• Results from The Week in Chess: 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008
• American Continental Women's Championship standings: 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Further reading

• Golombek, Harry, ed. (1977), Golombek's Encyclopedia of Chess, Crown Publishing, ISBN 0-517-53146-1

External links

• 2003 on uschess.org Archived 8 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine
• 2005 edition, Chessbase
• On the championship as qualifier
• Biography on Eleazar Jiménez
• Biography on Silvino Garcia Martinez