Final round, board 1→ CM Diego Jimenez Leyva (2190) (L) vs NM Rahgav Venkat (2338) (R) - CFCC 2026 Autumn Open & Scholastic, September 25-27, 2026
Post-tournament news coverage
Tournament Recap | Top Section PGN’s
Event Slideshow
2026 Autumn Open
With 4/5 points, CFCC wishes to congratulate NM Raghav Venkat (2338), NM Vikram Srivastava (2298), NM Alexander Jasinski (2285), and CM Ubaldo Lopez Naranjo (2204), for their 4-way tie for 1st place at our 2026 Autumn Open this past weekend at Delta Hotels by Marriott Orlando Celebration in Kissimmee!
2026 Autumn Open Scholastic (U1200)
CFCC wishes to congratulate Joshua Aby (1120) for his clear 1st place win with a perfect score of 5/5 points in our 2026 Autumn Open Scholastic tournament!
2026 Autumn OPEN SATURDAY NIGHT BLITZ
With a score of 7/8 points, CFCC wishes to congratulate NM Raghav Venkat (2210) for winning clear 1st place in our 2026 Autumn Open Saturday Night Blitz tournament!
We also wish to thank all the players who participated and congratulate those who also placed in their respective sections!
Central Florida Chess Club (CFCC)
TOURNAMENT RATING REPORTS
TOURNAMENT STANDINGS
2026 Autumn Open & Scholastic
Tournament Recap
By Scholastic Chief TD Alex Dshalalow
The 2026 Autumn Open & Scholastic, the Central Florida Chess Club’s third and final tournament of 2026, returned to the greater Orlando area, taking place at the Delta Hotels by Marriott Orlando Celebration in Kissimmee. The venue, first introduced this past summer for the annual Sunshine Open & Scholastic, had received overwhelmingly positive feedback and once again proved an excellent setting for a weekend of competitive chess.
As usual, five rounds were played across six sections, including the ever-popular Scholastic division. Players seeking to improve their FIDE ratings had that opportunity in the Master/Expert and Class A sections, while the remaining competitors battled it out in the Class B, Class C, Class D, or Scholastic sections.
In all, 199 players (not counting the blitz event) competed for generous prizes, with only two sections producing outright winners: Class A and Scholastic. Adhering to CFCC’s familiar format, the main sections began Friday evening and concluded Sunday afternoon, while Scholastic competition got underway Saturday morning.
Players preferring a shorter weekend could opt for the two-day schedule, offered in each main section. That schedule began Saturday morning with the first two rounds played at a faster time control of G/60 with a five-second delay. The two schedules merged for round three, with all remaining games played at the standard G/90 with a 30-second delay.
On Saturday evening, after the completion of round three, 28 players returned to the main ballroom for an eight-round blitz tournament, adding another dose of excitement to an already busy chess weekend.
Sunday morning featured a book signing by Brad Buchanan, author of Spy’s Mate: A Novel, who also presented a brief lecture on the KGB and Russian chess. The program included a reading from the novel, followed by a Q&A session with the author.
Below, please find a more detailed report for each section as well as the blitz tournament
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The race to the top here was a very tight ordeal which resulted in a four-way tie for 1st-4th place with 4 points: NM Raghav Venkat (2330), NM Vikram Srivastava (2292), NM Alexander Jasinski (2278), and NM Ubaldo Lopez-Naranjo (2191). Venkat could have potentially secured clear first if he had won his last game against Diego Jimenez (2184). However, the game was drawn, while Srivastava, Jasinski, and Lopez-Naranjo all won their round five games to catch up to Venkat. Two players followed this group with 3½ points: Diego Jimenez and CM Maxwell Yang (2178).
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Unlike the crowded finish in the Master/Expert section, Class A produced an outright champion. Ridhaan Dande (1883) claimed clear first place with an impressive 4½ points, securing the title after drawing his final-round game against Joseph Toth (1915). Toth finished with 4 points, sharing 2nd–4th place with Maksim Kalashnikov (1900) and Nazar Deputat (1806).
The final round could easily have rewritten the standings. A victory by Toth over Dande would have given him sole possession of first place, or potentially a share of the top spot with Kalashnikov. The latter, however, was held to a draw in his final game against Philip Durand (1986), leaving Dande as the section's undisputed champion.
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Much like the Master/Expert section, Class B featured a closely fought race for first place. Zachary Jeffcoat (1733) and Coeus Li (1594) both finished undefeated with 4 points, sharing the top honors. Each had surrendered just one draw heading into their decisive fifth-round meeting. With neither able to break through, their final encounter also ended in a draw, leaving them tied atop the standings.
Close behind was a trio of players finishing with 3½ points and sharing 3rd–5th place: Glenn Leotaud (1720), James Williams (1680), and Vivan Jaiswal (1648). Williams and Jaiswal faced each other in the final round, with their game also ending peacefully. A victory by either player would have elevated the winner into a three-way tie for first place, demonstrating just how close the competition remained until the very end.
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Continuing the trend of shared first places, Luis Montana (1435), Archit Dev (1481), and Daneel Kuznetsov (1411) finished on 4 points which was good enough for 1st-3rd place. Montana and Dev drew each other in the last round, while Kuznetsov defeated Dev Nagavalli (1469) to claim his spot on the podium. Once again, history could have been rewritten had either Montana or Dev won their last game: Class C would have crowned a sole winner.
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This was a heated battle all the way to the end. The start of round five had two clear leaders with 4 points: Rajib Chowdhury (1158) and Matthew Mills (1230). Paired against each other in the final round, either one could have ended up in clear first with a perfect 5 points. Nonetheless, the players ended up drawing their game and split the big prize. 3rd-4th with 4 points was claimed by Julian Vega (1307) and Nikita Mylotskyi (1324), both winning their final round games to lock in their prizes.
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As usual, the Scholastic section was the biggest one of the event, with 50 young players competing for the top prizes. Following in the footsteps of Class A winner Ridhaan Dande, Joshua Aby (1120) took undisputed first place, having won all five games and defeating contenders Jude Raad (746) and Nathan Farabaugh (1213) in the final 2 rounds. In the spirit of claiming each podium to themselves, Henry Teaford (1195) scored 4½ points to win clear 2nd place, defeating Vijwal Chintamani (1117) in the last round.
A hungry pack of 4 pointers claimed 3rd-6th place: Farabaugh, Bodhi Herman (908), Raad, and Antharya Akarsh (771). All but Farabaugh won their final-round games to reach this milestone. As with Joshua Aby, Farabaugh had 4 points going into the final round and could have clinched 1st had he defeated the eventual winner Aby. Nevertheless, these young players finished with massive rating gains and the satisfaction of a successful tournament-level chess performance.
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No one argues with tradition. Especially when the tradition is Saturday night blitz after round 3! Of all the loyal chess enthusiasts gathered for the weekend, 28 followed the traditional path of playing 8 games of blitz in a four double-round blitz swiss format.
Coming in first place all by himself was NM Raghav Venkat (2193 blitz) with 7 points, conceding only 2 draws to Ayush Roy (1894 blitz) and Ridhaan Dande (1602 blitz). 2nd-4th place was taken by Stone Wang (1928 blitz), Ridhaan Dande, and Allan Griffin (1331 blitz).
Also following tradition was the fact that the blitz event was brutally strong, with lots of high-rated players finishing out of the money. Upsets and overachieving performances dominated this blitz tournament, which had a very generous $500 guaranteed prize fund.
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The tournament ran smoothly throughout the weekend, with rounds starting on time and the entire event reflecting the careful planning and organization of the Central Florida Chess Club. Much of the credit belongs to CFCC president NM Larry Storch, whose (mostly) behind-the-scenes efforts helped make the weekend another successful addition to the year’s tournament calendar.
The tournament was directed capably and professionally by chief TD Steve Vigil with Charles Hatherill performing the duty of chief FIDE arbiter, while yours truly acted as assistant TD in the tournament. For those who also wanted to incorporate a little shopping into the chess weekend, chess sets, clocks, books and other chess-related merchandise were available for purchase in the chess store, operated by David Zelner.
2026 Autumn Open & Scholastic Slideshow
