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)
The top standings in the 7th Continental Championship
