November 5, 2022, Glen Rock Quads and FIDE Report

 

Today, we had 32 competitors participate in the Glen Rock Quads! They were split into seven sections, with sections one and three being played in a Swiss format.

But first, I must congratulate NM Matan Prilleltensky and NM Derin Goktepe, who performed admirably at their latest Hybrid FIDE Series! They each spent two days at the ICA while competing through chess.com against Bulgarian opposition. Each player finished the weekend with an undefeated record, with Matan finishing with 2.5/4 points, while Derin finished with 3/4 points!

Matan's highlight came in his first game: because his opponent's king was in the center, Matan chose to sacrifice his own pawn to open the position. After exposing his opponent's king, he was able to activate his pieces and put enough pressure on his opponent to force a resignation!

Meanwhile, both of Derin's wins came in the endgame. For each game, Derin and his opponent entered the endgame with equal material. However, Derin was able to outplay both opponents by thinking ahead and gaining the advantage!

 

 

 

The best player of the Glen Rock Quads was Mark Kagan, who, after performing extremely well in the Eastern Chess Congress 2022, won Section 1 with 2.5/3 points! His highlight came in the endgame of the final match. Although Mark was up a pawn, his opponent had enough pieces to frustrate him. However, by pushing his pawns at the perfect moments instead of trading, Mark was able to break through his opponent's structure and was on the verge of promotion before his opponent resigned!

 

An honorable mention goes to Kevin Korogodon, who won Section 6 with 2.5/3 points! Kevin was able to display his knowledge of the relation between pins and discovered attacks to win his matches. For his first victory, Kevin pinned his opponent's pawn to the king with his rook. He then further attacked the pawn with his bishop, and there was no way for his opponent to repel the attack. As a result, not only did Kevin win the pawn, but he won control of the center as well! In his second match, Kevin's opponent pinned his knight to his rook with the queen. As is true in several cases, however, a pin for one person can be considered a discover attacking opportunity for the other - and that is exactly what happened! Kevin captured a pawn with his pinned knight. After his opponent took that knight, oblivious to the fact that the rook behind it was attacking the queen, Kevin was able to capture said queen and win the game!
 

A final honorable mention goes to Bennet Glover, who won Section 4 with 2.5/3 points! In the final game, Bennet's opponent made a mistake. Many inexperienced players can relax after seeing their opponent blunder, and this can lead to them blundering immediately after. As is a common saying in all sports, "You are at your most vulnerable after you had just scored!" However, Bennet took five minutes to carefully analyze the position and plot his path to victory. And his vision became a reality, as he capitalized on the blunder and coasted to victory!

 

Congratulations to all winners! You can see rating reports by clicking on Quads.

Don't forget to sign up for next week's quads ahead of time!! CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!

In addition, we highly recommend for all of our players to register for the upcoming ICA Open on November 19 and the 2022 New Jersey Grade School Championship on November 20!
 

*** If you are an ICA Member/Parent and you/your child are planning on playing at the New Jersey Grade School Championship and other big tournaments, it is highly recommended that you join the Chess Academy Parents Facebook Group. This is a great way for players/parents to get to know each other and to stick together at big tournaments!