Stefan Karpenko Wins Parents Day Blitz Competition;
Beats Out GM’s Alex Stripunsky, and Alex Fishbein!

Despite winning the Open section of the Parents Day blitz competition, and besting 4 time ICA blitz tournament winner GM Alex Fishbein (who brought his son Mitch), GM Alex Stripunsky (who brought his daughter Jane) could not overcome the monster that is Stefan Karpenko. “Styopa” as he is affectionately known, playing in the unrated tournament, managed to accomplish something no competitor at an ICA blitz tournament (or any ICA tournament ever if memory serves) has ever managed to do…

the young Karpenko convinced both of his parents to participate!!!!! And they had to play each other in the first round!!!!

Time was we had no parents (save for occasional GM’s or IM’s who played anyway) ever play in our tournaments, and gradually through effort, and bravery on their part we got some dads to participate.  With that we turned our attention to moms and during the “Mother of All blitz tournaments” Graham McCarthy set the gold standard by getting mom to play alongside him and his brother Blake (dad Stephen participated in other tournaments). 

With that the only logical follow up was to see a child get both parents to play in the same tournament and thanks to Stefan Karpenko this goal has finally been accomplished.

Mom Nastya, and dad Alex, after tremendous convincing on Stefan’s part finally agreed to play.  Both parents played in the unrated section alongside their son, and in the first round were paired with each other (Dad beat mom although I’m not sure if in the end that is what one would call a pyrrhic victory). Next Stefan had to play against mom, and despite reminders about who feeds him, he vanquished his mother nonetheless.  Going into the last round both Stefan, and one other competitor had won all of their games, and ironically had to face each other in the penultimate decider.  His foe, was none other than…

HIS DAD ALEX!

Refusing to offer Dad a draw, and after reminders about who buys him toys (“what toys? Was Stefan’s response), Stefan was unable to overcome “his father.” Thereby in the unrated section Dad Alex Karpenko finished 1^st, son Stefan Karpenko finished second, and Aidan Gershengoren finished third.   

In the u1600 section Desmond Lam lost his last round game, allowing Alex Wang to catch up and tie him for mutual first place and $112.50 to each one with 6/7 points each. Jennifer Xue, and Jane Stripunsky tied for third with 5/7 points and got $37.50 each. Nicholas Ferrone, Teresa Fang, Udbhav Devarakonda, Sean McLaughlin, and Ethan Modi also won prizes for various best results ranging from u800-u1200.  Each got $22.50 for their four wins each. Lastly to round out the section prizes, Ezra Landa, and Moshe Trapedo got twenty bucks each for three wins and best u600 results.

In the Open section GM Alex Stripunsky beat out GM Fishbein by half a point after both drew their first round game against each other. The difference came in round three when GM Fishbein was unexpectedly held to a draw by third place finisher Brandon Jacobson. GM Stripunsky proceeded to defeat Brandon in round eight to claim the $150 first place prize. GM Fishbein picked up $75 for second place, while Brandon Jacobson got $37.50 for third.  The rest of the prize finishers were Leonid Trifonov (Leya’s grandpa) who got $37.50 for best u1800 results, and Mitch Fishbein who got the same sum for best u2000 results.

Finally, in all the hubbub of Stefan Karpenko beating out two grandmasters for the most significant result of this tournament it would be fair to note many players brought at least one parent to the event.  Graham and Blake brought dad Stephen to the event, Leya Rubenchik brought Granda Leonid Trifonov, twins Shuban and Udbhav brought their dad Raghuram, Jane Stripunsky brought her dad GM Stripunsky, and finally Mitch Fishbein brought his dad GM Alex Fishbein.

See everyone at the “Back to School” Blitz on August 20^th.