This weekend, we hosted both the Glen Rock Quads and ICA Open. In total, we had 83 participants! Although this number seems large, all four directors were clearly up for the challenge. But nobody was up for the challenge more than Andrew Goldfarb and David Milstein, who pulled off massive upsets in Section 1 of the Quads and Round 3 of the ICA Open, respectively. David’s match, along with an exhilarating match by Goktug Bas, will be analyzed live on the ICA Show. Andrew’s match, however, will be analyzed on this report.
In this match, Andrew was black against Nick. From the start, it was clear just how open this match was. After trading off the minor pieces, the sequence: 11. ... Ng4 12. Qg3 h5 was played. This meant Andrew's king was living dangerously with pawns on both sides advanced. The match continued in an aggressive manner, with Andrew further advancing his pawn to attack his knight, only for Nick to advance to the center of the board. This led to an exchange of knights and bishops, which ended in an equal position on paper, but with more attacking chances for Andrew: the bishop on b7 points directly at the King on h1, while Nick's knight does not have as much power. What occurred afterwards is something I could have only imagined as a blitz game on chess.com: Nick gained four undefended pawns, meaning all he had to do was play calmly, trade when an opportunity presents itself, and then advance his passed pawns. This all fell apart within 5 moves, after 30. Nd2??. Although this move looks fine on the surface: bringing the knight back to defend, Andrew was allowed more time to play 30. ... Rg3, followed by 31. Qe2 Rxh3+, sacraficing the rook! Andrew was able to, however, quickly win it back and follow that up with checkmate.
Overall, this was a very entertaining match, with both players clearly going for the attack. Even with Nick up four pawns, it just took one tempo for Andrew to turn the match on his head.
For analysis on David's and Goktug's matches from the ICA Open, please watch the replay of Sunday's "The ICA Show"!
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