On April 6, 2024, the Charlotte Chess Center hosted our Rapid & Blitz event at the CCC Main/South location. The day consisted of a five round g10+5 rapid event, followed by a nine round blitz tournament. A total of 40 players participated in the fun!
Rapid
Our two top finishers in the rapid were WGM Dina Belenkaya and expert Krishna Rallabandi, who each scored 4.5/5. The two players drew each other in the fourth round and won all their other games, taking home $100 each for shared first place. Rallabandi gained 37 points of USCF quick rating for his performance, while Belenkaya defeated NM (and FIDE CM) Joseph Wan in the last round to clinch shared first. Dina streamed her games in the event, and the VODs can still be viewed in the archive on her Twitch page!
NM Han Schut and Christopher Williams tied for third place and earned $20 each, scoring 4/5. Meanwhile, Jay Garrison, Ishaan Ballal, Celine Atassi, Ibraheem Naushad, and Raghav Arun each tied for Top U1800 and won $8 apiece.
Other prizes:
Raghav Keskar (Top U1600 - $40)
Eldar Gabidoff (Top U1400 - $40)
Alejandro Sauceda and Jayan Medvin (Top U1200 - $20 each)
Blitz
Grandmaster Olexandr Bortnyk thoroughly demolished his blitz competition, scoring a perfect 9/9. He defeated six of the other top ten finishers, including five titled players. Incredibly, since Bortnyk's rating is so high, he only gained four USCF points for the performance!
Bortnyk took home $200 for his clear first place finish. NM James Chirilov was the only 7/9 scorer and earned $100 for finishing in clear second, with FM Winston Cu-Hor earning $60 for third place. WGM Dina Belenkaya tied with NMs Han Schut and Joseph Wan for fourth-through-sixth place, winning $15 each.
Other prize-winning performances (each player won $40)
Krishna Rallabandi (Top U2100)
Ishaan Ballal (Top U1900)
Raghav Keskar (Top U1700)
Shreyas Karki (Top U1500)
Karim Hindi (Top Unrated)
Look for the next Rapid & Blitz tournament in June!
For upcoming tournaments, bookmark our Events Schedule. The CCC hosts nearly 8 events a week at our facilities in North and South Charlotte, along with bi-monthly major events such as the upcoming ALTO tournament.
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NM Dennis Norman
Chess Coach - Club Journalist
Charlotte Chess Center