12th Annual Fairfield County Open

4/27/19

36 players, including two grandmasters and one international master participated in this year's Fairfield County Open. As always, the tournament boasted $2,000 in guaranteed prizes for a day of intense G/10 speed chess. Blitz specialist GM Maxim Dlugy and GM Joel Benjamin, having just returned from successfully defending the United State's title at the World Senior Team 50+ championship, were the two favorites going into the start of the event.

The big upsets began as early as round two. FM Leif Pressman, NM Ian Harris and NM Furqan Tanwir each suffered defeats at the hands of experts Andrew Colwell, Hanon Russell and Ismael Pagan respectively. These upsets, along with the GMs giving up a string of draws in the middle of the tournament, opened up opportunities for others to sneak onto the podium.

Going into the final round, GM Maxim Dlugy and NM Furqan Tanwir (having recovered from his earlier upset loss) were tied for the lead with 5/6 points each. Their final round encounter was decided in favor of the GM who took clear first place with 6/7 and earning $500 for his efforts! Meanwhile, GM Joel Benjamin and NM Zachary Tanenbaum finished tied for second with 5.5/7 each, earning $250 a piece. NM Furqan Tanwir and FM Daniel Shapiro tied for the top U2400 prize with 5 points and took home $100 each.

Expert John Kelly and the unrated Donald Uzoma each scored and impressive 5/7 to win the top U2200 and U2000 prizes respectively. They each earned $200 for their phenomial efforts. Four points was enough to claim both the U1800 and U1600 prize. Three players, Ryan Wantroba, Luis-Jaime Casenas and Leo Bykhovsky earned $67 each in a tie for the U1800 prize. The U1600 prize of $200 went to Reynaldo Perez.

Congratulations to all of today's big winners and thank you to everyone that made it out to participate!