15th Women's Continental: Pourkashiyan Punches World Cup Ticket as Americans Sweep Podium

Eight Americans traveled to Dominican Republic for the 15th Women’s Continental Chess Championship, with three sweeping the podium! Held November 23 through 30 at the Dominican Olympic Hostel (Albergue Olimpico Dominicano), the nine-round Swiss tournament was open to all American continent chess federation women players.

With a qualification spot in the 2025 FIDE Women’s World Cup on the line, a number of regulars from the U.S. Women’s Championship and other flagship American events showed up in Santo Domingo with their eyes on the top prize.

WGM Thalia Cervantes Landeiro and FM Zoey Tang entered the tournament as the second- and third-highest rated players, respectively, trailing only Peruvian IM Deysi Cori. WIM Iris Mou and WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan were the fifth- and sixth-highest rated players, respectively, trailing Argentian WGM Candela Francisco Guecamburu (the 2023 World Junior Girls U-18 champion).

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After nine rounds of fierce competition and standings shake-ups, Pourkashiyan and Tang emerged a full point ahead of the nearest competitors, each finishing with 7½/9 scores. Pourkashiyan took the gold and the qualification spot on tiebreaks, with Tang finishing with silver. Three players tied for third with 6½/9 scores, with Cervantes Landeiro earning bronze on tiebreaks.

Seven of the eight USA players (from left): Sharf, Mou, Cervantes Landeiro, Pourkashiyan, Tang, Goodkind, Ayithi (Photo courtesy Kavita Pendyala)

After losing to Francisco Guecamburu in round five dropped her score to 3½/5, Pourkashiyan went on a tear to close out the event with four straight victories.

WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan (L) and FM Zoey Tang (R) each finished with 7½/9 scores to tie for first (Photos courtesy Kavita Pendyala)

WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan (L) and FM Zoey Tang (R) each finished with 7½/9 scores to tie for first (Photos courtesy Kavita Pendyala)

Perhaps none were more dominant than the way she took down the top seed in round seven:

Pourkashiyan needed each one of those victories, too, as Tang entered the final two rounds with a 6½/7 score. Her attacking victory from round two was characteristic of her form throughout the event:

Pourkashiyan entered the penultimate round a full point behind Tang, but she had a chance to catch her in the standings with a head-to-head victory. Predictably, the players were both up for a sharp fight, with Pourkashiyan coming out ahead after some complications:

With each player also winning their final round, Pourkashiyan and Tang tied for first, with the former having better tiebreaks.

With American players so well-represented at the top of the standings, there was bound to be more “cannibalism” than just the two winners’ head-to-head match-up. Indeed, it was Tang’s fifth-round victory over Cervantes Landeiro that separated her from the pack:

The fourth-round match-up between Cervantes Landeiro and Pourkashiyan proved to be as impactful for the final standings as it was fascinating to watch.

Cervantes Pourkashiyan — WGM Thalia Cervantes Landeiro (L) finished third, and her game against Pourkashiyan (R) was easily one of the most interesting endgames of the event (Photos courtesy Kavita Pendyala)

The former jumped out to an early lead with White, going on to convert her initiative into a material advantage and, with further principled decision-making, traded queens to reinforce her advantage. And that’s when things got interesting…

This incredible salvaging of a half-point turned out to be crucial for Pourkashiyan, who otherwise would have still trailed Tang by a half-point at the end of the event despite her head-to-head victory!

Despite these set-backs, Cervantes Landeiro finished strong with wins in the seventh and eighth rounds to catch the pack of players who eventually tied for third. Her eighth-round victory is another fine specimen of attacking chess:

WIM Iris Mou missed out on the tie for third by a half-point, finishing instead in a tie for sixth. With prizes for the top eight finishers, this was a solid result for Mou who, somehow, managed to go the full nine rounds without being paired against another USA player.

WIM Iris Mou (L) and WIM Omya Vidyarthi also entered the event ranked in the top ten out of 50 players, and both posted solid results (Photos courtesy Kavita Pendyala)

WIM Omya Vidyarthi, who finished a half-point behind Mou in a tie for ninth, did not have the same fortune. After reaching a 3½/5 score after a fifth-round upset over Heredia Serrano, Vidyarthi suffered back-to-back losses against Pourkashiyan and Cervantes Landeiro. Considering that her only other loss was to the 2023 World Junior Girls U-18 champ, Vidyarthi can be applauded for going 5½/6 in her remaining games!

Seven eighths of the USA delegation exploring the Olympic Village (Photo courtesy Kavita Pendyala)

As the tournament was open to all women representing American continent chess federations, several USA players rated under 2000 took the opportunity to play a high-profile international event. All three gained rating, too, with no shortage of upset wins and draws to go around.

At only ten years old, Yashaswini Ayithi was the youngest player in the event (Photo courtesy Kavita Pendyala)

Yashaswini Ayithi is currently the fourth-highest rated 10-year-old girl in the country, with a 1713 US Chess rating. She was the youngest player in the entire event, yet gained 30 FIDE rating points for her 3/9 performance (which included two victories over titled players). She has annotated her win over a Uruguayan WFM from round two for us below:

Lauren Goodkind, rated 1868 US Chess, is a Bay Area-based chess instructor who was a regular on the Top 100 Women lists when she competed more regularly (only players who have competed within the past year are on the list). She is currently 68th for Women on the Blitz list and 85th on the Rapid list.

Lauren Goodkind is a chess teacher and author based out of the Bay Area, and defeated her first WGM in this event (Photo courtesy Kavita Pendyala)

In her first classical tournament since 2021, she gained 15 FIDE rating points for a 4/9 performance that included her first win over a WGM. That game, annotated by Lauren, is below:

Finally, Sam Sharf, currently rated 1690 US Chess, is an active player in the New York area who has previously written about her experiences getting back into chess for Chess Life magazine. Sharf was the only player rated below 1900 FIDE to finish with an even score of 4½/9 (or higher), and her 1959 performance rating netted her 55 FIDE rating points.

Sam Sharf gained over 50 FIDE rating points for her putting up an even score against opponents with an average rating 250 points higher than her own (Photo courtesy Kavita Pendyala)

Considering that two of her three losses came to WIMs, as well as her two wins and two draws against WFMs, this was indeed a successful performance for Sharf. But none of her results were more impressive than her eighth-round draw against Ecuadorian WGM Carla Heredia Serrano, which was a truly wild affair in which Sam was winning before move 40, lost shortly thereafter, and holding on for a draw well past the 100-move mark:

Full tournament results can be viewed on Chess-Results.com, and all 24 boards were broadcast live on Lichess, with games available here.