GM Shankland Wins Continental Champs

US Champion Sam Shankland is not slowing down. After winning the Championship ahead of the American "Big Three", Sam went on to take down the Capablanca Memorial in Cuba. And now, he won the Continental Championships (June 1-10) in Montevideo, Uruguay with 9/11. https://twitter.com/GMShanky/status/1005832127022235648 This puts Sam at an all-time high of 2727, and #27 on the live rankings list, a nice symmetry noted by chess.com. His 27th birthday is in October, but at this rate, his ranking will precede his age by then. https://twitter.com/ChesscomNews/status/1005856476253097984 Sam finished his final round game in style.  

GM Sam Shankland- IM Tomas Sosa 

White to Move and Win 

Show Solution Play through the full game below.

[pgn]

[Event "American Continental Championship"]
[Date "2018.06.10"]
[White "Shankland, Samuel"]
[Black "Sosa, Tomas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2717"]
[BlackElo "2453"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "Argentina"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "ARG"]

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[/pgn]

Sam Shankland also beat compatriot Jeffery Xiong in the penultimate round in a wild Dragondorf.

[pgn]

[Event "American Continental Championship"]
[Date "2018.06.09"]
[White "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Black "Shankland, Samuel"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2656"]
[BlackElo "2717"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]

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[/pgn]

Xiong finished on a high note with a final round victory over GM Ivan Fernandez Morovic.

[pgn]

[Event "American Continental Championship"]
[Date "2018.06.10"]
[White "Morovic Fernandez, Ivan"]
[Black "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D94"]
[WhiteElo "2513"]
[BlackElo "2656"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Chile"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "CHI"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Be2 c5 7. dxc5 dxc4 8. Qa4
Qc7 9. Qxc4 Be6 10. Qh4 Nbd7 11. e4 Nxc5 12. e5 Nfd7 13. Ng5 h6 14. Nxe6 Nxe6
15. Bxh6 Qxe5 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. O-O-O Nf6 18. Bc4 Rac8 19. Rhe1 Qf4+ 20. Qxf4
Nxf4 21. Bb3 e6 22. g3 N4d5 23. Bxd5 Nxd5 24. Rd3 Nb4 25. Rd7 Nxa2+ 26. Kc2
Nb4+ 27. Kb1 Rfd8 28. Red1 Nd5 29. Rxd8 Rxd8 30. Ne2 g5 31. Rd4 Rh8 32. h4 Kf6
33. Rg4 gxh4 34. gxh4 Ke5 35. Ng1 Kf5 36. Rg5+ Ke4 37. Rg4+ Kf5 38. Rg5+ Kf6
39. Rg4 e5 40. Ne2 Ke6 41. Ng3 Nf4 42. h5 b5 43. Rh4 f5 44. h6 Rh7 45. b4 Kf6
46. Kc2 Kg5 47. Rh1 Ne6 48. Kd3 Nd4 49. Rg1 Nf3 50. Rh1 Nd4 51. Rg1 Nc6 52. Kc3
Rxh6 53. Ne4+ Kf4 54. Ng5 Nd4 0-1[/pgn]

The American Delegation: Grandmaster Robert Hungaski also had a fantastic result, and tied for third with 8/11 (currently involved in a tiebreak for World Cup spots). Among Hungaski's victories was this thrilling win over IM Thavandiran (Canada).

[pgn]

[Event "American Continental Championship"]
[Date "2018.06.05"]
[White "Hungaski, Robert"]
[Black "Thavandiran, Shiyam"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2510"]
[BlackElo "2417"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "Canada"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "CAN"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 e6 4. g3 a6 5. Bg2 Qc7 6. O-O d6 7. b3 Be7 8. Bb2 b6
9. e3 Bb7 10. Rc1 O-O 11. d4 Ne4 12. Ne2 Nd7 13. Nf4 Rfe8 14. Ne1 Nef6 15. d5
exd5 16. cxd5 Rac8 17. Nc2 Qb8 18. e4 Bf8 19. Nh5 Nxh5 20. Qxh5 g6 21. Qh4 Ne5
22. Rcd1 Bg7 23. Ba1 c4 24. f4 cxb3 25. Ne3 Nf3+ 26. Rxf3 b2 27. Bxb2 Bxb2 28.
f5 Qc7 29. f6 h5 30. Nf5 Re5 31. g4 Rxe4 32. Ne7+ Kf8 33. Nxc8 Bxc8 34. Qf2 Be5
35. gxh5 gxh5 36. Qd2 Qc5+ 37. Kh1 Bg4 38. Rc1 Rc4 39. Rff1 Bf4 40. Qe1 Be5 41.
Rxc4 Qxc4 42. Qe3 Ke8 43. Qh6 Be2 44. Rc1 1-0[/pgn]

Xiong, Sergey Erenburg and Awonder Liang all tied for 10th with 7.5. Many other Americans also had incredible results, gaining dozens of rating points, including Josh Colas, who finished on 7/11 and Thalia Cervantes, who scored 6/11. Update by Grant Oen of US Chess: "Thalia Cervantes scored a WIM norm. Erik Santarius achieved a live rating over 2400 during the event, and thus fulfilled the last requirement to become an IM (he has three norms and his title application will be reviewed at the FIDE Presidential Board Meeting next month)" Find more details and games on chess24 and the official site.