Fighting Chess!
The South American zonals are, by tradition, very hard fought and often produce wonderful examples of fighting chess, full of risk-taking and passion.
With only two qualifying spots available to the upcoming World Cup, there is that much more incentive. After 7 rounds of play we find multiple ties at the top. The final 2 rounds should be very tense!
Classification after 7 rounds
Below is a small selection of games that I consider to be amongst the more interesting produced so far. Enjoy!
Games
[Event "Zonal 2.5 Absoluto"]
[Site "Montevideo"]
[Date "2019.4.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Peralta, Fernando"]
[Black "Belmes, Martin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "E41"]
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 c5 5.Bd3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 b6 7.Ne2
Ba6 8.e4 Nc6 9.O-O Na5 10.e5 Ng8 11.Ng3 Ne7 12.Nh5 Kf8 13.Qg4
Ng6 14.Bg5 Qb8{[#]} 15.f4 Bxc4 16.Bxc4 Nxc4 17.f5 exf5 18.Rxf5 Rg8
19.Rxf7+ 1-0
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GM Fernando Peralta. One of the strongest players from South America ever.
[Event "Zonal 2.5 Absoluto"]
[Site "Montevideo"]
[Date "2019.4.15"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Salinas Herrera, Pablo"]
[Black "Peralta, Fernando"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "D38"]
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.Qc2
c5 8.e3 Qa5 9.Bd3 c4 10.Bf5 O-O 11.O-O Re8 12.Nd2 g6 13.Bh3 Kg7
14.Rae1 Nb6 15.Bxc8 Raxc8 16.f3 Nfd7 17.Ndb1 Nf8 18.a3 Bd6 19.Qd2
Ne6{[#]}
20.Bf6+ Kg8 21.f4 Nf8 22.Be5 Bc7 23.g4 Bd8 24.g5 Ne6 25.Qg2
Ng7 26.Bxg7 Kxg7 27.f5 Kg8 28.Rf4 Be7 29.Ref1 Bd6 30.R4f3 Rcd8
31.Qf2 Nd7 32.Rh3 Re7 33.Qh4 1-0
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IM Pablo Salinas. Four times champion of Chile
[Event "Zonal 2.5 Femenino"]
[Site "Montevideo"]
[Date "2019.4.15"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Gomez Barrera, Javiera Belen"]
[Black "Podesta, Sofia"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "C10"]
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Bd3 Nxe4 7.Bxe4
Nf6 8.Bd3 Bd6 9.Qe2 b6 10.Ne5 Bb7{[#]} 11.Bb5+ Ke7 12.Nc6+ Bxc6 13.Bxc6
Rb8 14.Qf3 Qc8 15.O-O Rd8 16.Bg5 h6 17.Bd2 Kf8 18.Bxh6 Be7 19.Be3
g6 20.Bh6+ Kg8 21.Rad1 Kh7 22.Bf4 Kg7 23.Be5 Rh8 24.Rd3 Qd8 25.Qf4
Bd6 26.Rf3 Bxe5 27.dxe5 1-0
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Javiera Gomez Barrera
[Event "Zonal 2.5 Absoluto"]
[Site "Montevideo"]
[Date "2019.4.17"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Mareco, Sandro"]
[Black "Pichot, Alan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "D28"]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 a6 6.O-O c5 7.Qe2
b5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.Bxb5+ Nbd7 11.Ba4 O-O 12.Nc3 Qc7
13.e4 Bd6 14.Bg5 Ne5 15.Rac1 Qa5 16.Bf4 Nxf3+ 17.Qxf3{[#]} Nxe4 18.Nxe4
Qxa4 19.Bxd6 Bxe4 20.Qg4 h5 21.Qxh5 Rfd8 22.Qe5 Bg6 23.Qg3 Qxa2
24.h4 Qd5 25.Be5 Qd3 26.f3 Qe3+ 27.Kh2 Rac8 28.Rfe1 Qh6 29.Bc7
Rd4 30.Bf4 Rxf4 31.Rxc8+ Kh7 32.Rh1 f6 33.Qf2 Ra4 34.g3 e5 35.Rd1
Bf5 36.Rb8 Rc4 37.Rd2 e4 38.Rdd8 Kg6 39.Rh8 Qc1 40.h5+ Kg5 41.f4+ 1-0
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GM Sandro Mareco. Currently #1 player in Argentina
[Event "Zonal 2.5 Absoluto"]
[Site "Montevideo"]
[Date "2019.4.17"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Rodriguez Vila, Andres"]
[Black "Cubas, Jose Fernando"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "B80"]
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 a6 3.Nf3 d6 4.g3 Nf6 5.Bg2 Nc6 6.d4 cxd4 7.Nxd4
Bd7 8.O-O e6 9.Be3 Be7 10.f4 O-O 11.Qe2 Qc7 12.a4 Rac8{[#]} 13.f5
Nxd4 14.Bxd4 Qc4 15.Qd2 exf5 16.exf5 Bc6 17.Rf4 Nh5 18.Rg4 Bf6
19.Rd1 Rfe8 20.Qf2 Bxg2 21.Kxg2 Be5 22.Rh4 Nf6 23.Bxe5 Qc6+ 24.Qf3
Qxf3+ 25.Kxf3 Rxe5 26.Rf4 d5 27.g4 h6 28.Rb4 Rce8 29.Kf4 g5+
30.fxg6 fxg6 31.Rxb7 g5+ 32.Kg3 Re3+ 33.Kg2 Nxg4 34.Nxd5 Re2+
35.Kg3 h5 36.h3 Nh2 37.Nf6+ Kf8 38.Nh7+ Kg8 39.Nxg5 Rxc2 40.Rd6
Nf1+ 41.Kh4 Rc4+ 42.Kxh5 Ng3+ 43.Kg6 Rf4 44.Rg7+ Kf8 45.Nh7# 1-0
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GM Andres Rodriguez
[Event "Zonal 2.5 Femenino"]
[Site "Montevideo"]
[Date "2019.4.16"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Sarquis, Maria Belen"]
[Black "Fernandez, Maria Florencia"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Eco "B09"]
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.e5 dxe5
8.fxe5 Nh5 9.Be3 Bg4 10.Be2 f6 11.exf6 exf6 12.Qd2 Re8 13.O-O-O
Ne7 14.Nh4 Bxe2 15.Qxe2 Nd5 16.Qc4 c6 17.Bd2 Kh8 18.Rhe1 Qd7
19.Nf3 Nhf4 20.g3 b5 21.Qf1 Nxc3 22.Bxc3 Nd5 23.Bd2 Nb6 24.Kb1
Nc4 25.Bc1 a5 26.Rxe8+ Rxe8 27.Re1 a4 28.Rxe8+ Qxe8 29.Qe1 Qd7
30.b3 axb3 31.axb3{[#]} Nb6 32.Qa5 Nc8 33.Ba3 Kg8 34.Bc5 Bf8 35.Qb4
Bxc5 36.Qxc5 Ne7 37.Nd2 Qe6 38.Kb2 Nd5 39.c4 bxc4 40.bxc4 Ne3
41.Kb3 Qg4 42.Ka4 Qe2 43.Nb3 Nxc4 44.Qxc6 Qa2+ 45.Kb4 Qxb3+ 46.Kc5
Nd2 47.Qe8+ Kg7 48.d5 Qc4+ 49.Kd6 Ne4+ 50.Ke6 Ng5+ 51.Kd6 Nf7+
52.Ke7 Qc5+ 0-1
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IM Maria Florencia Fernandez. Twice champion of Argentina
