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With a final score of 4.5/5 points, CFCC wishes to congratulate Orlando’s own NM Nick Moore (2292) for winning clear 1st place and champion of our 2024 Sunshine Open tournament this past weekend at the Holiday Inn Lake Buena Vista Resort!

We’d also like to thank all the players who participated and congratulate those who placed in their respective sections!

Central Florida Chess Club (CFCC)

2024 CFCC Sunshine Open
Final Round - Board 1

by Steven Vigil, CFCC Senior Tournament Director

The 2024 Sunshine Open Chess Tournament took place from June 14-16. The event was held at the Holiday Inn Resort in Lake Buena Vista. A field of 195 players competed in the five round tournament. Players had the option of a 3-day schedule starting Friday evening with the full 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 about 50 players for the 3-day schedule. The competition resumed Saturday morning at 11 a.m. with the full roster of players now present in the tournament room. Round 3 started at 5pm on Saturday evening with the 2&3-day sections now merged into one section for the rest of the tournament with the full 90 minute/30 delay time control.

The third-round games finished just after 9pm. This was followed by the blitz tournament side event that began around 9:30 (see below). Sunday morning began with free chess lecture at 9am. Then the fourth round of the tournament started promptly at 10 a.m. This was followed by a very competitive fifth and final round of the competition that started at 2:30 p.m. and continued through the afternoon. 

Master/Expert Section

Thirty-two players competed in the Master/Expert section. This was the tournament’s top section and was dual rated for both USCF and FIDE. Congratulations NM Nick Moore (2295) who won clear first place in Master/Expert Section and the $1020 prize. After securing a draw against the tournaments top rated player FM Jorge Oquendo (2484) in the fourth round, Nick had 3.5 points and trailed  NM Ryan Hamley (2230) who sat in first place with 4 points.

Ryan had just come off an impressive fourth round victory against IM Bach Ngo (2423).  Playing with the black pices, Nick was able to score a nice victory vs. Ryan. Meanwhile the tournaments two top rated players Bach and Jorge faced off to a draw. This left Nick in clear first with 4.5 points with Jorge, Ryan and Phillip Durand (2020) tying for 2nd place with 4 points and each winning a prize of $453. With 3.5 points IM Bach shared 4th place with Nate Ziegler (2037), Jerry Yao (2015), and Aakash Jani (1934) netting them each $53.25.

Class A Section

Twenty nine players competed in the Class A/U2000 Section. This was the only other section to alsobe FIDE rated. Congratulations to Ayush Roy (1886) and Luke Gorman (1813) who tied for first place with 4 points. While Luke lost only one game, Ayush finished undefeated with two draws. The four point performance was good enough to earn each player $510. Four players scored 3.5 and shared the 3rd/4th place with 3.5 points Daniel Ruvins (1959), Jose Diaz (1941), Jack Firestone (1652), and Kiani Walker (1600) each won $76.60.

Class B Section

As usual, the Class B (U1800) Section was the smallest of the tournament; this time with 15 players. As in Class A, 4 points would be the top score of the section. Congratulations to Amit Prasad (1526) and Omatharv Vaidya (1594) who shared first place and won a prize of $499.50 each. Amit and Omatharv drew when they faced off in the third round and then drew their final round games to finish as  the only undefeated players in the section. Andres Lopez (1354) and Bill Waite (1700) tied for thirs and won $149 each. Mr. David Raymond (1700), Mike Ward (1588) and Daniel Tal (1575) tied for 4th place and each won $28.33 with 3 points.

Class C Section

Twenty players competed in the Class C (U1600) section. Once again, a score of 4 points was good enough for a share of first place. Eric Richardson (1490) and Evan Qian (1312) agreed to a draw in their fifth round matchup. This secured them each the $489 share of first place to cap off an undefeated performance. Four players: Oleg Semenov (1487), Srikuthi Neralla (1381), Richard Liu (1284) and Andrew McGrath (unr.) finished with 3.5 points share 3rd/4th place; $95.75 each.

Class D Section

Twenty eight players competed in the Class D (U1400) section. Congratulations to Sean Luoung (1311), who score 4.5 points and won clear first place and the purse of $553. Mauricio Coral Jr. (1162), Nelson Frioni (1357), and Harrison Stroud (1165) each finished with 4 points to share second place honors and a payday of $170 each. Aadarsh Sundarapandian (1159) and Nyle Siddiqui (1231) shared the 4th place prize earning them each $64. Steve Fales (1094) and Johnny Jobst split the U1100 prize to win $21.50 each with 3 points. 

Scholastic U1200 Section

The U1200/Scholastic Section was by far the largest section in the tournament with 64 players. Congratulations to Lyric Gibbons (1047) who won clear first place with a score of 5 points! Not only did Lyric win the $213 prize, but she was the only player in the entire tournament to score a perfect score and win all five of her games! Aaahan Gupta (778) also finished undefeated scoring 4.5 points and winning clear second place and $106.

This left a group of 8 players with 4 points who  tied for 3rd/4th/U1000 & U800 prizes. Congratulations to Yuvraj Jashnani (971), Ananya Hariharan (699), Arham Shah (1172), Prajwal Reddy Chintamani (1100), Gus Bleakley (1016), Vladislav Nazarenko (969), Gnansathvik Reddy Padiri (916) and Mukilan Karthik (637) who each took home $24 for their 4 point effort. The Scholastic section also featured the tournament’s biggest upset (with non-provisional ratings).

Biggest Upset Game Prize

Congratulations to Ishaan Adhikari (218) overcame a rating difference of 363 points to defeat Anthony Guzman to win the $21 Upset Prize! Honorable mentions go out to Johnny Jobst (1047) win over Nelson Frioni (1357) 310 point upset in class D and Jolie Huang (1964) 296 point upset over Jacorey Bynum (2260) in the Master/Expert Section.

Saturday Night Blitz

A blitz tournament was held on Saturday night after play finished in the main tournament hall. Twenty players competed in the four double rounds, where each player plays one game with white and one game with black. Congratulations to Blitz tournament winners Jacorey Bynum (2260) and Brayan Amaya (2172) who tied for first place with a score of 7/8 to each win $125. Aleks Fetlyaev (2119) won 3rd place and $75 with 6.5/8.  The Top U1700 of $50 prize was shared by William Lacey (1533) and Francisco Goldenstein (1610) who finished with 5/8.

Tournament Side Events

The Sunday morning chess lecture was given by yours truly, local chess coach, Steven Vigil. A small brave group gathered to hear my analysis of a classic Capablanca miniature vs Marc Fonaroff played in 1918. I challenged the audience to calculate some of the tactical postions, as well as endure through my jokes and anecdotes. 

The Central Florida Chess club would like to thank all the players who participated in the 2024 Sunshine Open. Thanks also 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 for 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 Autumn Open and Scholastic, will be held at the same venue, September 27-29 2024. We look forward to seeing you there!

 -Steven Vigil

CFCC Senior Tournament Director

2024 Sunshine Open Slideshow Gallery
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(All tournament photos have been uploaded)