2012 Continental Chess Championship
The 7th Continental Chess Championship took place from 12-21 October in Mar del Plata, Argentina.
The championship is open to all players from Americas (North, Central and South) of any rating. A rare chance for those with more modest ratings to compete with some of the best players in the region!
The format was an 11-round Swiss Open with more than 200 players taking part, and the top four finishers earned the right to compete in the 2013 World Cup in Tromso. That makes the event effectively a world championship qualifier, so any title norms earned are worth double.
Peru's top GM Julio Granda Zuniga took first place on tie-break with a score of 8½/11. GM Alexander Shabalov, GM Diego Flores and GM-elect Eric Hansen were the other World Cup qualifiers [Correction - it appears that there will be a tie-break playoff between all the players on 8½ points in order to decide which 4 get the qualification spots]
Julio Granda (photo by Graciela Manteiga)
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The top standings in the 7th Continental Championship
| # | Name | Fed | Elo | Pts | Bch | S-B | |
| 1 | GM | Granda Zuniga Julio E | PER | 2647 | 8.5 | 73.5 | 58.75 |
| 2 | GM | Shabalov Alexander | USA | 2570 | 8.5 | 71.0 | 58.75 |
| 3 | GM | Flores Diego | ARG | 2598 | 8.5 | 71.0 | 57.00 |
| 4 | IM | Hansen Eric | CAN | 2527 | 8.5 | 68.5 | 55.50 |
| 5 | GM | Kaidanov Gregory S | USA | 2587 | 8.5 | 67.0 | 52.75 |
| 6 | GM | Iturrizaga Eduardo | VEN | 2639 | 8.0 | 76.5 | 57.50 |
| 7 | GM | Bruzon Batista Lazaro | CUB | 2717 | 8.0 | 74.0 | 55.25 |
| 8 | GM | Mekhitarian Krikor Sevag | BRA | 2503 | 8.0 | 73.0 | 53.00 |
| 9 | GM | Mareco Sandro | ARG | 2581 | 8.0 | 71.5 | 53.75 |
| 10 | GM | Valerga Diego | ARG | 2485 | 8.0 | 70.5 | 53.25 |
| 11 | GM | Leitao Rafael | BRA | 2617 | 7.5 | 75.5 | 53.00 |
| 12 | GM | Ortiz Suarez Isan Reynaldo | CUB | 2579 | 7.5 | 74.5 | 52.00 |
| 13 | IM | Hungaski Robert Andrew | USA | 2451 | 7.5 | 73.5 | 50.50 |
| 14 | GM | Bacallao Alonso Yusnel | CUB | 2580 | 7.5 | 71.5 | 49.50 |
| 15 | IM | Roselli Mailhe Bernardo | URU | 2430 | 7.5 | 71.0 | 51.00 |
| 16 | GM | Cori Jorge | PER | 2522 | 7.5 | 69.5 | 49.00 |
| 17 | FM | Martinez Romero Martin | COL | 2368 | 7.5 | 69.5 | 49.00 |
| 18 | GM | Felgaer Ruben | ARG | 2579 | 7.5 | 69.5 | 48.25 |
| 19 | GM | Hernandez Guerrero Gilberto | MEX | 2531 | 7.5 | 69.5 | 47.25 |
| 20 | GM | Ricardi Pablo | ARG | 2505 | 7.5 | 68.5 | 50.00 |
| 21 | IM | Krysa Leandro | ARG | 2381 | 7.5 | 68.0 | 47.50 |
| 22 | IM | Soppe Guillermo | ARG | 2417 | 7.5 | 67.0 | 45.00 |
| 23 | Umetsubo Cesar Hidemitsu | BRA | 2276 | 7.5 | 65.5 | 44.25 | |
| 24 | IM | Santiago Yago De Moura | BRA | 2364 | 7.5 | 63.5 | 44.00 |
| 25 | Caceres Recalde Fernando | ARG | 2159 | 7.5 | 63.0 | 42.25 | |
| 26 | FM | Paveto Kevin | ARG | 2282 | 7.5 | 61.5 | 41.75 |
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The time control was 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes to a finish with a 30 second increment from the start.
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Games and photo via the official website. Full results here.
