American Continental

**Hans Jung** · Monday, 4th June, 2018, 09:14 AM

Re: American Continental

Good Luck Shiyam and Raja!

**Hugh Brodie** · Monday, 4th June, 2018, 09:16 AM

Re: American Continental

No other Canadians that I could see on chess-results. After 4 rounds, Shiyam is in a 14-way tie for first with 3.5 (he beat a Chilean GM in round 4); Raja has 3 - draws with two GM's.

http://chess-results.com/tnr352351.aspx?lan=1.

**Hans Jung** · Tuesday, 5th June, 2018, 09:48 AM

Re: American Continental

Nice endgame. Nice checkmate Raja!

**Hans Jung** · Tuesday, 5th June, 2018, 09:51 AM

Re: American Continental

Go get those GM's Shiyam!

**Hans Jung** · Wednesday, 6th June, 2018, 01:57 PM

Re: American Continental

Rest day today followed by 2 rounds tomorrow.

**Hugh Brodie** · Friday, 8th June, 2018, 10:40 AM

Re: American Continental

After 8 rounds, Raja has 5.5/8; Shiyam has 4.5/8. Sam Shankland still shares the lead with 6.5/8.

http://chess-results.com/tnr352351.a...&art=4&flag=30

**Vlad Dobrich** · Friday, 8th June, 2018, 09:09 PM

Re: American Continental

Originally posted by Hugh Brodie View Post

After 8 rounds, Raja has 5.5/8; Shiyam has 4.5/8. Sam Shankland still shares the lead with 6.5/8.

http://chess-results.com/tnr352351.a...&art=4&flag=30

It seems the X-table shows the leaders after 9 rounds as ...............

GM Flores Diego ARG 7.5
GM Hungaski Robert USA 7,0
GM Shankland Samuel USA 7,0

**Eric Hansen** · Friday, 8th June, 2018, 10:02 PM

Re: American Continental

Raja has scored his final GM norm with the win today. ~25 rating points needed now to hit 2500 and make the title official. Congrats!

**Vlad Drkulec** · Friday, 8th June, 2018, 10:06 PM

Re: American Continental

Originally posted by Eric Hansen View Post

Raja has scored his final GM norm with the win today. ~25 rating points needed now to hit 2500 and make the title official. Congrats!

Way to go, Raja! Congratulations!

**Hans Jung** · Saturday, 9th June, 2018, 09:56 AM

Re: American Continental

and a very nice game it was. Raja's knights dancing around a positional theme of the C-file targeting a backward pawn. Evntually winning a pawn and translating to bishop dominating knight, active king and rook penetration!

**Hans Jung** · Saturday, 9th June, 2018, 09:58 AM

Re: American Continental

Congratulations Raja on the upcoming GM title! Long time coming but well deserved. Those 25 points should come fast.

**Jeffrey Xu** · Saturday, 9th June, 2018, 02:56 PM

Re: American Continental

Congratulations Raja on your final gm norm!! Now just 25 more fide points to go

**Hans Jung** · Monday, 11th June, 2018, 10:07 AM

Re: American Continental

Congratulations to Sam Shankland who exploded with two consecutive wins and won the tournament! A big win that qualifies him to the World Cup. Just keep playing Sam! Play, play, play and take advantage of your hot streak!

**Wayne Komer** · Monday, 11th June, 2018, 04:59 PM

Re: American Continental

American Continental

June 11, 2018

Sam Shankland (tweet):

(June 10) Won the American Continental with 9.0/11. 2019 World Cup ticket punched, 3 tournament wins in a row, 60 classical games without a loss, 2727 live. Will come back to earth some day, but for now, I'm a happy guy!

His wins from the American Continental:

American Continental
Montevideo, URU
Round 1, June 1, 2018
Shankland, Samuel – Guerrero, Alvaro
E63 King’s Indian, Fianchetto, Panno System

1.g3 Nf6 2.Bg2 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.d4 O-O 5.O-O d6 6.c4 Nc6 7.Nc3 a6 8.b3 Rb8 9.d5 Na5 10.Bg5 b5 11.cxb5 axb5 12.b4 Nc4 13.Qb3 h6 14.Nxb5 hxg5 15.Qxc4 Ba6 16.a4 Nd7 17.Rac1 Nb6 18.Qe4 Nxa4 19.Nxc7 Bc8 20.Nxg5 Bf6 21.Qh4 Bxg5 22.Qxg5 Rxb4 23.Ne6 Bxe6 24.dxe6 Kg7 25.exf7 Rxf7 26.h4 Rf5 27.Qd2 Qb8 28.e4 Rfb5 29.Rc6 Qa7 30.Qf4 Re5 31.Rc8 Rf5 32.Qc1 Rc5 33.Qe3 Qb6 34.Ra8 Rc7 35.Qf4 Qd4 36.Qf8+ Kh7 37.Qg8+ Kh6 38.g4 e6 39.Bf3 1-0

Round 2, June 2
Soto Vega, Jorge – Shankland, Samuel
B31 Sicilian, Nimzowitsch-Rossolimo Attack

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.O-O Bg7 5.Re1 Nf6 6.c3 O-O 7.h3 Qb6 8.a4 Rd8 9.e5 Ne8 10.Na3 d6 11.Nc4 Qc7 12.Bxc6 Qxc6 13.exd6 Nxd6 14.Nce5 Qc7 15.d4 cxd4 16.Qxd4 f6 17.Ng4 Nc4 18.Qf4 Qxf4 19.Bxf4 h5 20.Ngh2 e5 21.Bc1 Be6 22.Nf1 Rd3 23.N3d2 Na5 24.f4 Rad8 25.fxe5 fxe5 26.Ne4 Nb3 27.Rb1 Bd7 28.Bg5 Rf8 29.a5 Bc6 30.Be7 Rf7 31.Bb4 Bf8 32.Nf2 Rd5 33.Rbd1 Rxd1 34.Nxd1 Bxb4 35.cxb4 Rf4 36.Rxe5 Rxb4 37.a6 Kf7 38.axb7 Rxb7 39.Re2 Nd4 40.Rf2+ Ke6 41.Nfe3 h4 42.Nc3 Nf5 43.Ng4 Rb4 44.Re2+ Kd6 45.Ne5 Ng3 46.Nf7+ Kc5 47.Rc2 Kd4 48.Ng5 Kd3 49.Rf2 Rb6 50.Ne6 Ba8 51.Nc5+ Kc4 52.N5a4 Rd6 53.Rf4+ Kb3 54.Kf2 g5 55.Rg4 Bc6 56.Ke1 Kc2 57.Nc5 Rf6 58.Rxg3 hxg3 59.Ne2 Kxb2 60.Nxg3 a5 0-1

Round 4, June 3
Cori Quispe, Kevin Joel – Shankland, Samuel
B12 Caro-Kann, Advance variation

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 Ne7 6.O-O h6 7.Nbd2 Nd7 8.a4 Qc7 9.Nb3 O-O-O 10.a5 a6 11.Ne1 f6 12.f4 g5 13.Nd3 Bg7 14.Nbc5 Nxc5 15.Nxc5 gxf4 16.exf6 Bxf6 17.Bxf4 e5 18.Bg3 Rdg8 19.Rxf5 Nxf5 20.Bg4 Qh7 21.Qf3 Rxg4 22.Qxg4 Rg8 23.Qh3 e4 24.c3 h5 25.Rf1 Rg4 26.Ne6 Bg5 27.Be5 Qg6 28.Nxg5 Qxg5 29.b3 Kd7 30.c4 c5 31.dxc5 d4 32.b4 Ke6 33.Bc7 d3 0-1

Round 5, June 4
Shankland, Samuel – Moradiabadi, Elshan
B53 Giuoco Piano
[Event "13th American Continental"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 a6 6.a4 d6 7.O-O h6 8.Re1 Ba7 9.Nbd2 g5 10.b4 Ne7 11.Nf1 Be6 12.Bxe6 fxe6 13.Be3 Bxe3 14.Nxe3 Ng6 15.d4 g4 16.Nd2 h5 17.b5 axb5 18.Qb3 Qd7 19.axb5 O-O 20.Rxa8 Rxa8 21.Nec4 exd4 22.cxd4 d5 23.exd5 Qxd5 24.Qe3 Nh4 25.Qg3 Nf5 26.Qxc7 Qxb5 27.Qf4 Nd5 28.Qg5+ Ng7 29.g3 Nc3 30.Qe3 Qb4 31.Rc1 Nd5 32.Qd3 Rc8 33.Rb1 Qc3 34.Qxc3 Nxc3 35.Rxb7 Nf5 36.Kg2 Nxd4 37.h3 gxh3+ 38.Kxh3 Rf8 39.f4 Rf7 40.Rb2 Rg7 41.Nd6 Nf5 42.Nxf5 exf5 43.Rb3 Ne2 44.Re3 Nd4 45.Nc4 Rc7 46.Ne5 Rc1 47.Rd3 Ne6 48.Rd6 Nc5 49.Rc6 Nb3 50.Rg6+ Kh7 51.Kh4 Nd4 52.Kg5 h4 53.Nd7 Nf3+ 54.Kxf5 Nd4+ 55.Kg5 Nf3+ 56.Kh5 Kh8 57.Nf6 Rc8 58.Kg4 Nd4 59.Kxh4 Rf8 60.g4 Ne6 61.f5 1-0

Round 6, June 5
Flores, Diego – Shankland, Samuel
E54 Nimzo-Indian, Gligoric System, main line

1.c4 e6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 c5 8.O-O cxd4 9.exd4 b6 10.Bg5 Bb7 11.Rc1 Nc6 12.a3 Be7 13.Ba2 Rc8 14.Re1 h6 15.Bh4 Nh5 16.Bg3 Nxg3 17.hxg3 Bf6 18.d5 exd5 19.Nxd5 Bxb2 20.Rc2 Bxa3 21.Rd2 Bc5 22.Nc3 Qc7 23.Rd7 Qb8 24.Ng5 Nd8 25.Nge4 Rc7 26.Qg4 Rxd7 27.Nf6+ Kh8 28.Qf5 g6 29.Qh3 Bxf2+ 30.Kxf2 Rd2+ 31.Ke3 Qe5+ 32.Nce4 Qd4+ 0-1

Round 10, June 9
Xiong, Jeffery – Shankland, Samuel
B90 Sicilian, Najdorf, Adams Attack

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h3 g6 7.g4 Bg7 8.Be3 O-O 9.Qd2 b5 10.Bg2 Bb7 11.a3 Nbd7 12.g5 Nh5 13.Bf3 Ne5 14.Bxh5 gxh5 15.O-O-O Rc8 16.Kb1 Rxc3 17.Qxc3 Bxe4 18.f3 Nxf3 19.Rhf1 Qd7 20.Qb3 Ne5 21.Rf4 Bg6 22.Rdf1 e6 23.Rf6 Rc8 24.Bc1 Rc4 25.Qe3 Qa7 26.Nf5 Qxe3 27.Nxe3 Rh4 28.R6f4 Rxh3 29.a4 h6 30.axb5 axb5 31.Rb4 Nd3 32.cxd3 Bxd3+ 33.Ka2 Bxf1 34.Nxf1 Rh1 35.Rf4 hxg5 36.Rf2 Bd4 37.Be3 Rxf1 38.Bxd4 Rxf2 39.Bxf2 h4 40.Kb3 f5 41.Kb4 h3 0-1

Final position in Xiong – Shankland

(Five passed pawns?!)

Round 11, June 10
Shankland, Samuel – Sosa, Tomas
D38 QGD, Ragozin variation

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qb3 a5 6.a3 Be7 7.Bf4 O-O 8.e3 b6 9.Rc1 Bb7 10.cxd5 Nxd5 11.Nxd5 Bxd5 12.Bc4 Bxf3 13.gxf3 Bd6 14.Bg3 Nd7 15.Bb5 Nf6 16.Ke2 Nh5 17.Rc6 Nxg3+ 18.hxg3 e5 19.dxe5 Bxe5 20.Bd3 g6 21.Bxg6 hxg6 22.Rxg6+ Bg7 23.Rh4 a4 24.Qa2 Qd7 25.Rhg4 Qb5+ 26.Ke1 Rad8 27.Rxg7+ Kh8 28.R7g5 Rd1+ 29.Kxd1 Qf1+ 30.Kd2 Rd8+ 31.Rd5 Qxf2+ 32.Kd3 Qf1+ 33.Ke4 f5+ 1-0

American Continental

American Continental

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