GM Francesco Sonis Perfect at Charlotte February Open!

With a perfect 5/5 score, GM Francesco Sonis swept last weekend's Charlotte February Open, winning the event's top prize of $1,000. The tournament took place at the SouthPark Hilton Garden Inn, welcoming 144 players for the classical portion, plus a few other big names in the blitz side event!

The Charlotte February Open was held from February 20-22, hosted by the Charlotte Chess Center. With three sections of FIDE-rated chess and a blitz tournament on Saturday evening, the total prize fund was $6,000. Top games from each section are viewable on chess.com via DGT, with some of the most impactful ones reproduced below. 

Championship

Four Grandmasters participated in the Charlotte February Open, with three of them finishing in the money. It was GM Francesco Sonis, a former ALTO champion, who ultimately topped the field with five wins. Here's his round two victory:

Sonis is no stranger to winning major events, having been the Italian U12 champion in 2013 and the Italian champion overall in 2024! One of Sonis' most important games in this tournament came in round four, taking down FM Levi Esquivel with the white pieces. The latter entered the round as one of four players on 3/3, alongside GMs Sonis, Zapata, and Erenburg.

Finishing just behind Sonis in the final standings was GM Sergey Erenburg, who drew GM Elshan Moradiabadi in the fourth round before winning his final game against Vishnusankar Jonnalagadda. The game was up for grabs until both sides reached deep time pressure, when black found a winning tactical shot to win white's queen:

Erenburg's 4.5/5 gave him the clear second place prize of $700, while GM Moradiabadi's draws in round three and four made his final game a must-win. Facing NM Alexander Crump (a CCC coach!), Elshan pulled out all the stops. While the position may have been a draw with best play for many moves, it required lots of precision under heavy pressure, and eventually white was able to break through.

Elshan's win earned him a share of the third place prize alongside NM Naveen Prabhu, with both players scoring 4/5 and earning $200 each. FM Esquivel, NM Zubin Baliga, and experts Vihaan Pendse, Sritej Sattaru, and David Katsman all split the top U2200 prize and took home $80 apiece.

Under 2000

Two players tied for first atop the U2000 section: Lennie Cohen-Solal and Jack Firestone. The two drew each other in the final round (view that battle here) and won each of their other games to finish on 4.5/5.

In the previous round, Cohen-Solal won a clean game as white in a symmetrical structure, using a clever tactic to finish black off.

Both Cohen-Solal and Firestone received $550, with the former taking the first place plaque on tiebreaks. Other prizewinners were Sanchit Haripradeep, Laura Zhang, Brandon Tregde, Kai Modaresi-Beal, and Virah Phadke ($40 each for shared third place) as well as Pranav Arun and Benito Losada ($150 each for top U1800). 

Under 1600

Just like in the U2000 section, the two leaders of the U1600 drew each other and swept the field otherwise. Samuel Priddy and David Lander Floyd each gained well over 100 rating points for their 4.5/5 performances, earning $450 apiece. The former secured the top plaque on tiebreaks.

Here's Floyd's prize-clinching final game, featuring a string of tactics aimed at deflecting black's queen away from the defense of the bishop on d6. Black ultimately gave up the queen, but to no avail:

Also finishing in the money were Ismayil Ismayilli and Neil Noronha, each losing to Floyd and winning all other games, receiving $250 each.

Find USCF rating results from the tournament here, while DGT games from the tournament can be viewed at this link

Blitz Championship

Saturday evening's blitz tournament featured one big section that any player in the main event could enter, for free! Yet it was several familiar faces to the CCC who weren't playing the open who wound up atop the standings. GM Kayden Troff, who teaches the Elite class at the Charlotte Chess Center's North location, scored 5.5/6 to take clear first place, earning the top prize of $200.

Tying for second place were Vihaan Pendse, Aldiyar Zhandaulet, NM Andrew Wu, and GM Olexandr Bortnyk, each scoring 5/6 and winning $40 apiece. Incidentally, GM Bortnyk coaches the Elite Team at the CCC Main/South!

Other prizewinners were:

- Celine Chen, Isabella Yan, Siddharth Basavaraju, and Thomas Kemp Jr (Top U2000 - $20 each)

- Rohan Shah, David Floyd, Thomas Kemp Sr, and Jordan Carter (Top U1700 - $15 each)

As always, a big thanks to our tournament directors for help making this event possible, and to Kelly Centrelli for providing the photos used in this report.

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NM Dennis Norman

Chess Coach - Club Journalist