GM Francesco Sonis Tops CCC's ALTO: Full Recap!
Last weekend, the SouthPark Hilton Garden Inn played host to the latest edition of one of the Charlotte Chess Center’s flagship events: the ALTO! ALTO stands for At Least Twenty One, meaning only adults 21 and older are eligible to play. This iteration hosted 139 participants across three sections, including many CCC regulars, newcomers, and a whopping fifteen FIDE-titled players!
Championship
While plenty of strong players have participated in past ALTO events, it certainly felt like this one was especially top-heavy. A total of five (!) Grandmasters came to play last weekend, as well as another five IMs, one FM, a WGM, two WIMs, and a WFM (CCC coach Uthra Pakkirisamy). The field also included numerous experts and NMs, meaning even the top players wouldn’t have an easy path to the $1,000 top prize.
During the first few rounds of the tournament, it wasn’t obvious which contender would emerge from the pack. Three players started on 3/3 in the top section, including GM Eugene Perelshteyn.
After winning his first round as black in his beloved Accelerated Dragon, Perelshteyn faced IM David Vigorito in an Italian. Black’s king never quite found safety in this one, while white created play in the center and on the kingside, culminating in a massive attack:
The world-famous GM Jacob Aagaard, author of many widely-acclaimed chess manuals, started on 2/2, but faced a very difficult task in his third round. Italian GM Francesco Sonis entered as the event’s highest-rated player and put Aagaard under mild pressure on the kingside. In response, the latter chose to sacrifice an exchange, but this didn’t pan out and it was instead GM Sonis improving to 3/3.
While it’s hardly unexpected to see two GMs start an event with perfect scores, the third player on 3/3 was a bit of a surprise: the upstart FM Ryan Amburgy.
In his third game, Amburgy faced the legendary IM Stuart Rachels, who once held the record for youngest USCF National Master, long before Amburgy was even born! Unfortunately for Rachels, white built up a huge initiative out of the opening and never looked back:
None of the three players with 3/3 continued their perfect scores past the fourth round, as Sonis and Amburgy drew quietly in a QGD, while Perelshteyn drew GM Ashwin Jayaram. All three entered the final round on 3.5/4, while nine players, including GMs Jayaram and Fishbein, were on three points.
Amburgy and Perelshteyn drew, putting each at 4/5, and leaving the door open for GM Sonis to win as black against Fishbein and clinch the event's top prize. It wasn't easy, as white's position was solid for many moves, but eventually black's numerous threats compelled white to give up material.
Sonis received the first place prize of $1,000, while six players ended up with four points and received $133.33 each. Those players included the aforementioned Perelshteyn and Amburgy, as well as GM Ashwin Jayaram, IM Dean Ippolito, NM Naveen Prabhu, and IM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy.
The latter drew in rounds two and three, putting him a little bit behind the field heading into the final day. This ended up working out, as Ostrovskiy avoided facing the other IMs and GMs in the field, winning both of his games on the final day. Maybe his most instructive win, however, was his first game, in which he played very precisely to achieve a great position as black against his opponent's London System:
Also finishing in the money in the Championship section were NM Dominique Myers (a longtime CCC coach!) and Ishaan Ballal, each earning $350 as the top U2250 and U2050 players respectively.
Under 1900
The top scorer in the U1900 section, and the only perfect scorer in the entire event, was none other than Garret Allen, whose rating shot up 92 points for his tremendous performance! Allen's five wins netted him $600 and included this very clean victory as black in a Tarrasch French, using the thematic pawn push g7-g5:
Allen finished a full point ahead of the field, with Leo Poppante, Travis Deere, Ramon Oropeza, Noshir Patel, and Jared Crawford each scoring 4/5 and winning $100 apiece. The top U1650 prize was split between Paul Green, Charlie Manolakis, Jill Rennie, Thiru Gopal, Amresh Kumar, and Darren Stahl, with all six players receiving $50.
Under 1400
Kendric Voss and Frank White split first in the U1400 section, each scoring 4.5/5. The two never played each other but each drew in round four, against Randall Smith and Nathaniel Blanquel respectively, before winning in the last round to clinch a share of first and $375 each. White, who gained over 100 USCF rating points for his performance, received the first place plaque on tiebreaks.
Steven Libonati, Zachary Disharoon, and Liam Maloney tied for third-through-fifth with 4/5 and each received $50, while Sanjivani Pant went 3.5/4 after an opening round loss to finish as the top U1100 player in the event ($200).
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While ALTO is always one of CCC's most popular and fun events, it must also be said that the Charlotte Chess Center family was (and still is) mourning the loss of Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky. Many participants in the tournament had known, played, or learned from Danya over the years, and the chess community, both here in Charlotte and all across the world, will never forget what a tremendous player and person he was.
Tournament standings with USCF rating results can be found here. A big thanks to the organizers and tournament directors who made this event possible, as well as to Kelly Centrelli for providing the photographs used in this article (viewable at this link)! We hope to see you all soon at the Charlotte Chess Center.
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NM Dennis Norman
Chess Coach - Club Journalist
