CFCC 2016 Class Championship Concludes with John Ludwig Winning Clear 1st Place with a Perfect 5/5!
Board One, Final Round, Miguel Recio(L) (2154) vs John Ludwig (R) (2448) for the 2016 CFCC Class Championship, where the very talented John Ludwig would go on to win with a perfect 5-0 score in the Master/Expert Section!
John Ludwig wins the 2016 Central Florida Class Championship with perfect 5-0 score!
John Ludwig (2448) wins the CFCC 2016 Class Championship held at the International Palms Resort on International Drive, January 29-31, 2016
As some bemoaned the lack of titled players in this particular event, current CFCC Club Champion John Ludwig (2448), who perhaps wished for more titled players and/or GM’s to be in attendance than most, took advantage of their absence to score a perfect 5 points in the Master/Expert section, finishing in 1st Place overall and a full 1½ points ahead of his opponents!
Players in the Master/Expert Section, 2016 CFCC Class Championship tournament
2016 Class Championship returns to International Palms Resort Convention Center
This year the 2016 Central Florida Class Championship made a return to the International Palms Resort & Convention Center, on International Drive in South Orlando, after a two year absence when the club hosted the 2014 Class Championship. The club was attracted to this location because of its nice meeting facilities, free parking, and its convenient location right in the heart of the I-Drive tourist area. In Fact, the club has booked its annual 2016 Orlando Autumn Open tournament at this same location.
High Turnout Provides 94% Prize Fund Payout
Being the club’s first tournament of the New Year, CFCC enjoyed a terrific turnout for its annual Class Championship. With 115 players preregistering online, and many players registering on-site, the tournament reached a total of 140 participants. With the event offering a $7,500 prize fund based on a turnout of 150 players, the club was able to achieve a 94% payout of the tournament prize fund.
Board One, Round 3, Stephen Stoyko (2255) (L) vs John Ludwig (2448) (R), 2016 Class Championship.
Master/Expert Section
Miguel Recio (2154) wins the Expert Class trophy in the Master/Expert section
In the top Master/Expert section, in addition to John Ludwig’s clear 1st place prize of $940, Stephen Stoyko (2243), losing only to Ludwig and finishing with 3.5 points, claimed the 2nd Place prize of $376. Miguel Recio won the Expert Trophy on tiebreaks in a 5-way tie for 3rd Place.
With respect for his opponents in the top section, David Bragg (2202), who is visiting from the state of Washington and one of three Masters in the tournament, commented that the strength of Florida players seemed higher than their ratings indicated!
Final round, Master/Expert section, Gainesville's Cindy Jie (1962) (L) vs Daytona's Kai Tabor (1996)(R) in a game that ended in a draw.
Class a Section
John Givler (1993) wins the Class A section trophy (U2000) with tiebreaks in a 3-way tie for 1st Place.
In the Class A section, John Givler (1971) had 2 draws to finish with 4 points, tying for 1st Place with Warren Jones (1928) and Robert LaChaussee (1834) as he won the section trophy on tiebreaks. Givler has been doing very well with his tournament chess since coming to Florida and has recently tied for 1st Place in the U2000 section at two of our recent events, the 2015 Arnold Denker State Championship and the Orlando Autumn Open last October.
Round 2, Class A, Ryan Hamley (1887) (L) vs Dimitri Kosteris (1723) (R) with Ryan Hamley going on to win the matchup.
Class B Section
Tied for 1st Place, Philip Durand (1744/P25) (L) wins the Class B trophy (U1800) with tiebreaks over James Wnek (1718) (R)
In the Class B section, Philip Durand (1744) and James Wnek (1718) played to a draw in the final round as they each finished in 1st Place with a score of 4 points, with the section trophy going to Philip Durand on tiebreaks.
Durand is new here in Florida and to USCF rated chess, and in January he played in two events (this and the recent Gulf Coast Open) that increased his rating 144 points to 1744, and satisfying his USCF 25th provisional tournament game, bringing him to a USCF regular rating of 1744!
James Wnek, one of our regular strong visiting players from Gainesville, FL. earned a 1st Place tie with 4 points in the Class B section. His hard work and persistent effort is definitely paying off, as he added 98 points to his regular rating that is now over the 1700 mark! This comes not long after his effort last October at the Orlando Autumn Open earned him a rating increase of 54 points that pushed his rating from 1570 to 1624!
Class C Section
Terrance Valjean Washington, Jr. (1595), wins the Class C section trophy (U1600)
In the Class C section, Terrance Washington Jr. (1595), drew his 1st round game and won all the rest to finish in clear 1st Place with 4.5/5 points winning the Class C section trophy, adding a whopping 150 rating points to his USCF rating and winning $688 for his effort! Daniel Flores (1578) (not pictured) finished in 2nd Place.
Class D Section
Benjamin Chen (1402) (L), all the way from Tallahassee, FL., ties for 1st Place in the Class D section, pictured with CFCC National Tournament Director and Event Organizer Harvey Lerman (R).
The Class D section resulted in a tie between Benjamin Chen (1402) and Bach Ngo (1372) (not pictured) as both U1200 players took advantage of the option to play-up one section in Class D, they drew against each other in the final round, with each of them finishing with 4.5/5 points.
Both players increased their ratings well over 200 points and Chen, a 6th grader, had just increased his rating an incredible 250 points at the USCF National K-12 Grade Championship held last December at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort!
Chen won the Class D section trophy on tiebreaks, but Bach Ngo, a 2nd grader, felt so bad about not also getting a trophy that his mother plans on getting one duplicated for him. Both of these players are headed for great things in their young tournament chess career.
Round 5, Gary William Astrologes (L)(1248) vs Nathan Kelly (R)(1310) in the Class D Section (U1400)
Class E Section
The largest section in the tournament by far was the Class E section (U1200) which is open to unrated players, as well as players in the E, F, G, H, I & J USCF rating levels. There were 35 players in this section which included five unrated kids from Jamaica, brought by their chess coach Valentine Spencer, along with coach Steven Morgan who also brought a group of young players from nearby Lakeland, FL.
1st Place
A big congratulations goes to Taneesh Sirivolu (1161) a rapidly improving player from the Dr. Phillips area who won the Class E section with a perfect 5-0 score, adding over 200 points to his USCF rating, winning the 1st Place Class E trophy and earning himself $470 for his hard work and over-the-board play. Great job Taneesh!
Class F-J
Trophy Winners
Section F
(800-999)
Jesse Decker
Section G
(600-799)
Neel Sahai
Section H
(400-599)
David Rodriguez
Section I
(200-399)
Kyle Morgan
Section J
(Under 200)
Roza Zelner
Top Unrated
Kevin Acevedo
Other Tournament Prizes
The winners of the random drawings for Orlando Convention Aid gift certificates were: Aaron Liftig, Ananth Abbaraju and John Givler.
From CFCC
The club would like to thank everyone for the great turnout for this annual event and for supporting over-the-board tournament chess in Orlando!
The CFCC Class Championship event was organized by Harvey Lerman for the Central Florida Chess Club with Steven Vigil serving as Chief Tournament Director. Chess store concessions were provided by Hollywood Kings Chess.
-CFCC