Panamanian Chess Championship

The Panamanian Chess Championship is the individual national chess championship of Panama. The first edition was played in 1945 and won by Rubén Darío Cabrera. It was originally a biennial event, and from 1945 to 1961 six championships were played, and from 1962 to 1971 eight championships. From 1972 to 1976, it was held annually, but the tournament of 1977 never finished because the beginning of a long schism in Panamanian chess. From 1978 to 1988, it was again held annually. In 1989 and from 1991 to 2004, two organizations held separate events, resulting in two champions, but in 1990 there was a single competition, and therefore one champion. In 2005 both federations made peace, and since then there has only been one championship each year. The women's chess championships began in 2002 and has been held annually since then. Panama is the only country in the world where a father and daughter have been champions in the same year twice, 2003 and 2008. To show the rise of new istmhian chess, Panama took in 2008 the Centroamerican Championship by the hand of Jorge Baules, first IM of Panama. In 2010 don't played because official budgets trouble with "PANDEPORTES", the government sports entity (they have 3 chiefs in only eleven months), and played the tournament in the firsts months of 2011.