November 12, 2022, Glen Rock Quads Report

As the New Jersey Grade School Championship is approaching, today served as the perfect practice: it was the perfect time for several of our players to put together what they learned from previous classes and tournaments and gain confidence before the event!
The first winner of the day was Emma Shevelenko, who won Section 8 with 3/3 points!

In this game, Emma (white) was able to expose a mistake made by her opponent. After black played 7. ... h6. Emma saw an opportunity to not only win a pawn, but to also open up black's kingside and expose this weakness. The game progressed: 8. Nxf6+ gxf6. 9. Bxh6 Re8. 10. Nh4 Bd4. 11. Qg4+ Kh8. 12. Qg7#. Within six moves, Emma was able to open up the king and capitalize on this advantage in the best possible way!

The next winner was Kevin Korogodon, who won Section 7 with 3/3 points! His highlight came while he was playing black: by applying significant pressure to his opponent's f2 and h2 pawns with three different pieces, Kevin was able to overwhelm the opponent and quickly end the game after capturing one of the pawns which left the opponent king exposed!

The penultimate winner of the day was Thomas Holder, who won Section 2 with 2.5/3 points!

In the moves leading up to this position, Thomas (black) was able to damage his opponent's pawn structure on the queenside. However, a bad structure does not equate to an advantage unless it can be exposed, and that is what Thomas did by playing 17. ... Bd3, getting behind the pawns and attacking the rook. After the rook (obviously) ran away to b2, the game continued: 18. ... bxc5. 19. Qa3 Rxb2. 20. Qxb2 c4. Thomas was able to win a pawn and solidify his dominance over the center.

But the most drama was reserved for the top section. Leading into this match, Angelo Valentino and Mark Kogan (last week's Section 1 winner) each had 2/2 points. Their final game would determine whether Mark would retain the title, or whether Angelo could score a victory over his rival. In truth, I can easily discuss the entire game: it was a battle that symbolizes the newly forged rivalry between two of our up-and-coming players! But instead, I will start at move 16.

Here, both players were fighting for the c-file and control over the queenside. But Angelo (white) played a beautiful sequence which ended with his rook claiming the c-file for itself! The game progressed: 16. Nd6 Bxd6. 17. Qxd6 h6. 18. Bf4 Ne4. 19. Qd4 f5. 20. f3 Nf6. 21. Bd6. Now, Angelo has total control over the center: his bishop and queen are perfectly placed to annoy Mark. The game continued: 21. ... Rf7. 22. c5 bxc5. 23. Rxc5 Nd5. 24. Rdc1.

Angelo claimed the c-file and doubled up on it with the rooks!

The next step is to infiltrate the back rank and convert the advantage into a win. The game progressed: 24…Qg5 (or else Angelo would've played Rc8, winning the queen). 25. h4 Qg6. 26. Rc8+ Kh7. 27. Ra8 f4. 28. g4 Ne3+. 29. Kf2 Qf6. 30. Qe4+ g6. 31. g5 Qxb2. 32. Be5! simultaneously threatening the queen and Rh8#. This effectively ended this game as a contest and handed Angelo bragging rights for the week!

Although I am intrigued what will happen the next time Angelo and Mark play each other, they both, in addition to everyone else mentioned in this report, have the matter in the form of next week's New Jersey Grade School Championship to contend with! Stay tuned to see how our members fare against some of the best the state has to offer!

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

All results can be found at Quads.

Don't forget to sign up for next week's quads ahead of time!! For those competing in the Championship, this is the best way to get some last minute practice: CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!
In addition, we will be running the ICA Open at Glen Rock this Saturday as well! Click HERE to register, or click HERE for more information.
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