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