2019 American Continental Championship Designated Players

The 2019 American Continental Championship will take place July 5 – 13 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.  Please see full information here.  It is an 11 round swiss event open to players from the Americas.  Up for grabs are a $20,000 prize fund plus FIDE direct titles and norms.  In addition, the top four players not otherwise qualified will qualify for the 2019 FIDE World Cup.  Last year’s Continental was won by 2018 U.S. Champion Sam Shankland. The top three interested American players, using the May 2019 FIDE Rating List, will be designated as the US Chess official representatives.  That designation will be made on May 1.  Official players will get complimentary room and board – either double occupancy with full board (food) or single occupancy with no board.  The deadline to apply for this official designation is April 30 – interested players should contact US Chess FIDE Events Manager, Grant Oen at grant.oen@uschess.org.  All US Chess players are welcome to participate as extra players, but only our official three representatives will receive conditions from the organizers. All players are responsible for their own hotel, travel, FIDE fees, and tournament registration fees and arrangements.  Although players may even register through June 5, it is suggested to register early in order to take advantage of entry fee discounts and confirm participation.  All tournament registration, hotel reservations, and visa requests, including for official players, are done directly with the organizers – it is not necessary to contact US Chess unless you are interested in applying for an official representative. The organizers’ contact email is continentalxadrez2019@gmail.com, and Continental Deputy President Darcy Lima (Brazil) can be contacted at gmdarcylima@gmail.com.