The 2024 Autumn Open Chess Tournament took place from September 27-29. The event was held at the Holiday Inn Resort in Lake Buena Vista. A field of 163 players competed in the five-round tournament.
Players had the option of a 3-day schedule starting Friday evening with a time-control of 90 minutes with 30 second delay or could opt for a 2-day schedule starting Saturday morning, with the first two rounds having a shorter time control of 60 minutes with 5 second delay. The tournament featured six sections ranging from Master/Expert to Scholastic U1200.
The action kicked off on Friday night at 7:00pm with 43 players for the 3-day schedule with the final game ending just around midnight. Play resumed Saturday morning at 11 a.m. with the full roster of players present in the tournament room. Round 3 started at 5pm on Saturday evening with the 2 & 3-day sections merged into one section for the rest of the tournament.
The third-round games finished just after 9pm. This was followed by a USCF rated Blitz tournament that began just after 9pm, (see below). Sunday morning began with a free chess lecture at 9am. Then the fourth round of the tournament started promptly at 10 a.m. This was followed by the fifth and final round of the competition that started at 2:30 p.m. and continued until just after 6:30. After play concluded prizes were awarded to the winners of each respective section.
Master/Expert Section
A total of thirty-four players competed in the Master/Expert; the tournament’s top rated section. This was also the largest section other than the Scholastic/U1200 and was dual rated for both USCF and FIDE. Congratulations to the trio of FIDE masters: FM Jorge Oquendo (2484), FM Yans Griones Barrios (2463) and FM Brejesh Chakrabarti (2377) who shared first place with 4 points winning them each a prize of $544.
Each FM had 3 wins and 2 draws. FM Oquendo drew both FM Barrios and FM Chakrabarti in rounds 4 and 5. Three masters would each score 3.5 points to tie for 4th place and win $56.67 each. Nick Moore (2321) lost only to the top-rated player FM Jorge Oquendo and drew his final round game with Brian Amaya (2202) who along with Ryan Hamley (2246) went undefeated with 2 wins and 1 draw. Nate Ziegler (2112) also scored 3.5 points to win the top U2200 prize of $272.
Class A Section
The Class A/U2000 Section was also dual rated for both USCF and FIDE. With only 10 competitors in the section, players had an excellent chance of winning one of the 5 cash prizes being offered. Congratulations to eight-year-old Zhihan Zu (1748) who won clear first place and the $544 prize with 4 points in what turned out to be a very competitive section. Zhihan clinched his victory with a win in round 5 over tournament veteran Paul Leggett (1728) in what was a de facto first place game. With that being his only loss, Paul won clear second place and a prize of $272.
Eduardo Meza Luna (1654) and Mark Giovannetti (1970) shared 3rd place/U1900 prize $119/each with a score of 3 points. Wayne Strickland (1816) who handed Zhihan his only loss in the tournament finished with a score of 2.5, and along with Kas Baumstark (1649) and Thomas Henry (1638) won $22.67, their share of the 4th place prize.
Class B Section
Often the smallest section in the tournament, the Class B (U1800) had 17 players this time around. Congratulations to three players: Rui Sha (1795), James Williams (1655) and Evan Qian (1645) who shared first place winning them each $311.67. Although Rui went undefeated and gave James and Evan their only loses in the tournament, he drew 2 of his games, which left them all tied with 4 points. Four other players: Aaron Hawkins (1753), Alexander Kristiansson (1537) and Addison Baumstark (1530) finished with 3 points to share the rest of the prize money: $42.50 each.
Class C Section
Twelve players competed in the Class C (U1600) section. Once again, a score of 4 points was the top score and once again a talented 8-year-old won the section. Congratulations to Nicholas Tadros (1400), who won clear first place and a prize of $544. Nicholas’ only loss came against Stone Wang (1552) who tied for second place with Johnny Jobst (1223) with 3.5 points. Each received $187. Jacob Lewin (1572), Stuart Elvers (1518) tied for 4th place with 3 points, and each won $34. Mauricio Coral (1298) won the U1500 prize of $102 with his score of 3 points.
Class D Section
Twenty-seven players competed in the Class D (U1400) section. Congratulations to Robert Hinton (1243) who scored 4.5 points to win clear first place and the $442 prize. Tristan Squire (1377) and Gari Jaswin Reddy (1177) each scored 4 points to share second/third the place prize netting them each $161.50. Jared Oehrlein (1325) won the 4th place prize of $51. Coco Yao (1178) and Luis Morales (unr) also finished with 3.5 points to share the U1300 and U1200 prizes and each received $68.
Scholastic U1200 Section
With 57 players, the U1200/Scholastic was the largest section in the tournament. This section was played with 3 games on Saturday and two on Sunday with a time control of Game in 60 minutes with a 5 second delay. Congratulations to Rhodes Brassil (941) and Mithrran Prakash (941) who were the only players in the Autumn Open to win all five of their games!
Mithrran and Rhodes each took home $127.50, while a group of 7 players scored 4 points to share 3rd and 4th place. Congratulations to: Parvati Chakrabati (1044), Alyssa Mogg (1044), Vladislav Nazarenko (996), Fernando Centeno (874), Suraj Jani (857), Carter Hiett (830), and Nikita Mylotskyi (823) who each took home $17.
Saturday Night Blitz
A USCF-rated Blitz tournament was held on Saturday night after play finished in the main tournament hall. Seventeen players competed in the four double rounds, where each player played one game with white and one game with black with a time control of 5 minutes with no delay.
Congratulations to Blitz tournament winner Bryan Amaya who won clear first place and $100 with an impressive score of 7.5 points. Brayan also tied for first place in the Blitz at our Sunshine Open in July. In second place was FM Barrios with 6.5 adding $70 to his winnings for the weekend. Adrian Lara and Ayush Roy tied for 3rd place with 6 points and each won back their $20 entry fee. Three players: Monesh Vigneshwaran (1152), Alyssa Mogg and Landon Meadors (1006) shared the 1st and 2nd U1200 adding up to $23 each.
Tournament Side Events/Comments
The Sunday morning chess lecture was given by Chess Expert Andrew Rae (2000). Andrew was also competing in the Master/Expert Section who finished with a respectable 2.5 points and only lost one game to FM Jorge Oquendo on Friday night. Thank you, Andrew, for sharing your knowledge and for giving an entertaining lecture to a small but delighted crowd. The Central Florida Chess club would also like to thank all the players who participated in the Autumn Open.
Thanks also goes out to CFCC Club president Larry Storch and VP Kevin Sibbitt who organized the event, as well as, Charles Hatherill (National TD) who served as FIDE arbiter and tournament director, Alex Dshalalow, who served as floor TD of the main tournament and the Blitz, and Steven Vigil (Senior TD), who served as chief tournament director for the event.
Thank you also to Zoe and Peter of Orlando Chess & Games who ran the chess store throughout the weekend featuring a nice selection of books, sets and chess merchandise.
The CFCC’s next 3-day event, the CFCC 2025 Winter Open and Scholastic, will be held at the same venue, January 17-19, 2025. We look forward to seeing you there!
-Steven Vigil
CFCC Senior Tournament Director
