The Pan American Chess Championship, also American Continental 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) edit
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.[1]
The second championship was held in 1954 in Los Angeles and was an open tournament.[2]
Winners edit
Pan American Championship edit
# 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 edit
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 Winner 1 2001 Cali Alex Yermolinsky (USA)
2 2003 Buenos Aires Alexander Goldin (USA)
3 2005 Buenos Aires Lázaro Bruzón (CUB)
4 2007 Cali 
Julio Granda (PER)
* 2008 Boca Raton Jaan Ehlvest (USA)
5 2009 São Paulo Alexander Shabalov (USA) Fidel Corrales Jimenez (CUB)[3]
* 2010 Cali 
Sergio Andres Sanabria Rangel (COL)
6 2011 Toluca Lázaro Bruzón (CUB)
7 2012 Mar del Plata Julio Granda (PER)
8 2013 Cochabamba Julio Granda (PER)
9 2014 Natal, Rio Grande do Norte Julio Granda (PER)
10 2015 Montevideo Sandro Mareco (ARG)
11 2016 San Salvador Emilio Córdova (PER)
12 2017 Medellín Samuel Sevian (USA)
13 2018 Montevideo Samuel Shankland (USA)
14 2019 São Paulo 
Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli (VEN)
15 2022 San Salvador Timur Gareyev (USA)
16 2023 Juan Dolio 
Georg Meier (URU)
*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 edit
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 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 2016 Lima Deysi Cori (PER)
9 2017 Villa Martelli Deysi Cori (PER)
10 2018 Envigado Deysi Cori (PER)
11 2019 Aguascalientes 
Maili-Jade Ouellet (CAN)
12 2022 13 2023 La Habana Candela Francisco Guecamburu (ARG)
- In 2007 Marisa Zuriel won a rapid playoff with Sarai Sanchez Castillo to qualify for the world championship but the Champion of the tournament was Sarai Sanchez:[4][5]
Pan American Women's Championship edit
# 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 edit
Notes edit
- ^ Hollywood 1945 Pan-American Championship BrasilBase
- ^ Wall, Bill. "California Chess in the 1950s". Retrieved 23 August 2015.
- ^ There was no playoff to determine the winner: Chessdom report, blog of the official website
- ^ "Bienvenido a la Asociacion Sanluiseña de Ajedrez".
- ^ ChessBase report (in Spanish)
Further reading edit
- Golombek, Harry, ed. (1977), Golombek's Encyclopedia of Chess, Crown Publishing, ISBN 0-517-53146-1