Cuban GM Gonzalez ranks third in the American Continental Chess Championship

HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 11 (acn) With three round left, Cuban GM Yuri Gonzalez ranks third in the American Continental Chess Championship 2019, taking place in Sao Paulo, Brazil, from July 5-13.

Yesterday, in the 8th round, Gonzalez (2.547 Elo points) beat the local IM Renato Quintiliano (2.443), thus tying on top of the standings with 4 other players, all with 6.5 units.
Brazilian GM Alexander Fier (2.547) is the new leader by better tiebreaking and is escorted by Argentine GM Alan Pichot (2.579), while Paraguayan Cuban-born GM Neuris Delgado (2.605) and Venezuelan GM Eduardo Iturrizaga (2.625) appear 4th and 5th, respectively.
After this quintet there is a group of thirteen other players who amount 6 points, including the other Cuban competing in this contest, IM Roberto Garcia (2.529), who currently ranks 15th by tiebreaking.
Gonzalez´s rival today in the ninth round will be the Brazilian GM Krikor Mekhitarian (2.545), while Garcia will clash with the also local GM Yago de Moura Santiago (2.473), although today´s most exciting pairings are Fier vs. Iturrizaga and Pichot against Delgado.
The American Continental Championship 2019 is an 11-round Swiss tournament attended by 220 players that grants four tickets to the Chess World Cup to be held next September in the Russian city of Khanty-Mansiysk, and Cuba already secured its presence there through the current national champion Carlos Daniel Albornoz (2.566), who qualified to this major contest when ranking second in American Zone 2.3 Open of El Salvador, last May.