July 30 Super Saturday Quads Report
We are halfway through summer, and ICA camps and tournaments are still running strong. We had a solid nine sections at our Saturday quads this weekend including a top section with a master and two experts.
The top section got off to a bit of a rocky start as ICA open regulars and New Jersey chess mainstays Yefim and Lev were both running a bit late. It turned out that the NJ transit train line from Secaucus to Glen Rock had some pretty hefty delays on Saturday due to technical issues. (Yefim comes from Brooklyn and Lev comes from central Jersey, so they both usually take the train to come to ICA tournaments.) After learning about the delays, Yefim departed the train station in an effort to make it to the tournament on time. He found help at a local hair salon, where one of the employees helped him call a taxi to get to the tournament. Meanwhile, Lev took his chances with the train, which arrives just across the street from our Glen Rock location. In a crazy coincidence, they both arrived in the playing room within 10 seconds of each other even though they got to the tournament in different ways. Luckily, since both were late, they played each other in the first round with the missing time split evenly, and the tournament ran smoothly from there.
In the top section, Ethan Modi, one of our junior coaches, continued his march towards the master title with a perfect score. Newcomer Paul scored an impressive two points and only lost to Ethan.
In section two, Jordy squeaked past Ethan Fede by half a point to win the section. Both managed upsets against Thomas, who was easily the highest rated player in the section.
Section three was another decisive victory. David cruised to victory with a perfect score.
Devina won a hotly contested section four with 2.5 out of 3. Every player escaped the section with at least one win.
Section five was the highest section where the prize was split between multiple players. Evan and Ely both made quick work of their other opponents, but neither was able to defeat the other when they faced off in the last round.
Thomas, Nikhil, and Kate all tied for first with two points in section six. Daniel’s streak of impressive performances over the past few weeks finally came to an end, but we are confident he will bounce back next time!
Logan was the clear winner with 2.5/3 in section seven. Matthew fell just short at 2 points after losing his first round to Logan.
Neil crushed his section with a perfect score in section eight, while frequent online quads player and rising in-person talent Dhruva put up another strong performance with two points. The players in this section played very seriously and used all their time. They were one of the last under 1000 sections to finish their games, finishing after several higher sections and all lower ones.
Finally, Parth won for the second week in a row after his USCF debut last week. He was not the sole winner this week, though: Eshan also got 2.5/3 since he drew Parth in their round two game.
Check out the final standings and prizes here.
Check out the rating report here.
Thanks for making the first half of the summer a success for our tournaments and camps by coming to learn and play chess! Camp registration is still open for the later weeks in the summer, so check that out if you are looking to improve your game so you can crush your section next time you play quads!
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