Sunday, April 11^th report

Last Sunday, 4/11, ICA welcomed back 25 players to its virtual bi-weekly qualification tournament. The competition was fierce with 15 kids playing in the booster section and 10 in the advancement section. Congratulations to Benny, Jacob, Sanat, and Ronan in the booster section for scoring 3+ points and qualifying for the advancement section in the next tournament! Moreover, congratulations to Michael, Arnav, and Aviana for earning their first 5th category title norm by scoring 3+ points in the advancement section!

Booster Section: Benny and Jacob tie for 1^st place!

In the booster section, Sunday saw a great field of rookie tournament players. The playing field consisted of first and second-time tournament players who were classmates, siblings, and friends. The matches were unpredictable, fast-paced, and intense as players often seemed to make moves as fast as they could. Despite the G25 style format (twenty-five minutes per player's clock), where the maximum time a game could last be approximately fifty minutes+ (due to increment), the average match only lasted about 10 minutes! This is quite normal for new tournament players as they are often nervous about the time clock. Again, congratulations to Benny and Jacob for tying for 1st, and Sanat and Ronan for tying for 3rd! The advancement section awaits the four of you in the next tournament!

Advancement Section: Michael wins for 1^st place!

Despite being a smaller and more exclusive group, the games in the advancement section were no less exciting for players and spectators alike. Through the tournament’s four rounds, we saw these more experienced players fight their way out of sharp and dangerous positions. Similar to the booster section, the majority of these games did not come close to the maximum time limit allotted by the G25 time control and ended in typical windmill and back rank checkmates. However, there were a few standout games that came down to the wire and almost went the distance. It was very encouraging to see these players take more of their time to work through combinations and tactics! Special congratulations to Michael Lokhov for winning all his games and taking 1st place in the section!

Of course, we wish that we could’ve hosted this tournament in person, but it was a pleasure working with the kids through Zoom. Nothing can replace the social atmosphere of an in-person chess tournament, however, keeping a virtual option for players that are burdened by travel may be an unintended benefit that the pandemic has brought the chess community. Nevertheless, we hope that everyone has been enjoying these virtual tournaments as we look forward to the next one on 4/25!