CCFC 2nd FIDE Masters & Amateur Qualifier
August 20th – 21st
This year’s FIDE Masters and Amateur Qualifier featured two highly competitive sections. International Master Dean Ippolito participated in his first tournament at the club and was the favorite to win the event with a $500 guaranteed first prize. Ippolito faced his former student National Master Ian Harris in the first round and won after a grueling five hour battle.
However, Harris was the one who would wind up having the last laugh as while Ippolito was held to draws by the remaining players in the field, Harris recovered from the first round loss to post three wins and claim clear first with a final score of 3.0/4.
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The Amateur Qualifier was not without its share of drama. Going into the final round Vladimir Polyakin was the only player with 3/3 and led the rest of the field by a full point. However, he lost his final round game against CCFC regular Hanon Russell allowing both Russell and Ethan Gu to catch him. This resulted in an exciting blitz playoff to determine who would win the $300 prize.
The first game between Russell and Gu was won by Ethan. Ethan then would go on to face Polyakin for the championship.
In the final seconds of an endgame, Polyakin overstepped on time and it was Ethan Gu who emerged from the playoff victorious and as the winner of the tournament!
Thank you everyone who participated and congratulations to all of the players who put in excellent performances.