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Bruzon Takes First at American Continental Championship

Lazaro Bruzon scored 8.5 points in 11 rounds to take clear first at the American Continental Championship. Bruzon finished just a half-point ahead of a group of seven players. By winning the event, Bruzon clinched a spot in the FIDE World Cup, a knockout tournament which will qualify players in the next FIDE World Championship cycle.

Despite Bruzon's impressive result, the main subject after the tournament quickly became the tiebreak between the seven players who were tied for second place. FIDE had announced that seven players would receive places in the FIDE World Cup, meaning that after Bruzon's spot, there were only six places remaining for the seven tied players.

The situation became further complicated due to the makeup of the seven players. Six were strong grandmasters: Julio Granda, Alexander Onischuk, Gilberto Milos, Gata Kamsky, Ruben Felgaer and Giovanni Vescovi. However, the seventh player was 15-year-old Gaston Needleman, an untitled player rated 2242 from Argentina. Needleman had the tournament of his life, defeating US grandmaster Alexander Shabalov, and fighting for his position among the second-place finishers by drawing Kamsky in the final round.

A rapid tiebreaker was held immediately after the final round to award the World Cup spots. Since only the last-place player would miss out on an invitation, the strategy for the grandmasters was obvious - take no chances, obtain draws and avoid losses at any cost. In fact, any player (other than Needleman, who was last on tiebreaks) could draw every game and clinch a spot in the World Cup.

Although not every game was drawn, many of the games were - some in just a few moves. Needleman, after winning his first game, lost four of his last five to finish last and miss out on his bid for the World Cup. Outside of games played by him, there was only one decisive result in the tiebreak tournament (a win by Grandy over Felgaer).

Soon after the tournament ended, reports in Argentina accused the grandmasters of colluding against Needleman to ensure they earned the World Cup invitations. However, these stories were quickly put to rest by Needleman and the grandmasters - it was the situation that dictated how the tiebreaker proceeded, not any plot by the stronger players.

Fortunately, the story had a happy ending for Needleman. On Tuesday, FIDE announced that Needleman would also be receiving an invite to the World Cup, in honor of his outstanding performance in the Continental Championship.

Here is one of Needleman's most outstanding performances of the tournament: his round 10 win over Shabalov.

White: Shabalov, A (2593)
Black: Needleman, G (2242)
American Continental Championship, Round 10
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be2 a6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Kh1 b5 9. Nxc6 dxc6 10. f4 Bb7 11. e5 Nd5 12. Ne4 Be7 13. Qe1 c5 14. Bf3 O-O 15. Bd2 Nb4 16. Qf2 Rfd8 17. Be3 Bxe4 18. Bxe4 Nd5 19. Bd2 g6 20. Rae1 Bf8 21. g4 Bg7 22. Bg2 Rd7 23. Qg3 Re8 24. Re2 c4 25. a3 c3 26. bxc3 Nb6 27. f5 exf5 28. gxf5 Bxe5 29. Bf4 Rde7 30. f6 Bxf4 31. Rxe7 Qxe7 32. Qxf4 Qe3 33. Qc7 h5 34. Qb7 Nc4 35. Bd5 Ne5 36. Qxa6 Qc5 37. Qb7 Rd8 38. Bb3 Rd7 39. Qe4 Kh7 40. a4 Ng4 41. Qf4 Ne3 42. axb5 Qxb5 0-1