On what was our first ICA Open of 2023, we had 20 participants vying for the grand prize! In addition, we had 46 participants play at our quads, with the top three sections being played at Game 45, and the third section being played in a Swiss format.
Before the events began, Kevin Korogodon was congratulated for successfully creating a chess club at his school! We at ICA are always proud whenever our students go on and do great things in their respective communities; it is even more impressive when noting that Kevin only began competing at our events less than a year ago!
Now, onto the tournament, where there is only one place to start. Section One was filled with drama, upsets, and unwavering determination from all four players! In the first round, our two highest rated players, Mark Kogan and Nicholas Ferrone, and our two lowest rated players, Goktug Bas and Thomas Holder, faced off. Thomas (who was the lowest rated in the section by a big margin) and Goktug drew, while Mark defeated Nick, gaining revenge for his defeat last week and putting the series at 2-1 to Mark for the year!
But the second round is really where the drama unfolded. First, Thomas gained a draw against Nick after some very resilient play (a more than 150 point upset!) In the other game, Goktug (white) squared off against Mark (black).
As the lower rated player (by a substantial margin), Goktug knew he needed to produce something special to get something out of this match. And so he did: Goktug played a new opening - the Trompowsky Attack - to catch Mark off guard. After a wild opening where Goktug was wide open, yet had a monopoly over the center and the c-file, Goktug gained a pawn; and then another one to properly end the contest!
But in the final round, pandemonium broke out! First, Thomas, riding the momentum from drawing Goktug and Nick, defeated Mark, marking the biggest upset of the night! This put Thomas’s final tally at 2 points, and Mark’s at 1 point. In the other game, Goktug and Nick had a drawn position. Nick, however, was absolutely desperate to get the win: he was prepared to risk finishing bottom of the section in order to achieve this. So he sacrificed his bishop for a pawn in order to attempt to break through and promote his other pawn! Unfortunately for him, however, this backfired badly and, after picking off several of Nick’s pawns with his knight and king, Goktug promoted and put Nick to the sword. As a result, Goktug finished with 2.5 points and won the section, whilst Nick finished with 0.5 points. However, Nick’s efforts have to be commended: the fact that he could not accept a draw and was willing to risk losing in order to win shows a lot about his fighting spirit! So congratulations to everyone from Section 1 for producing a proper show and fighting to the end!
Speaking of fighting spirit, Agranya Kancharlapalli was made to work for his perfect 3/3 in Section 5, but he definitely deserved it! In his final match, Agranya was clearly losing. It seemed that, after winning his first two games, he would not be able to claim the prize for himself. However, Agrayna stayed sharp in the mind and, after a blunder from his opponent, Agranya found a checkmate in one to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat (something I have had a habit of doing these past two weeks!)
Now, onto the Open, where the games are always worth rewatching and studying! The game I will highlight is between our coach, Vitaly Tseytlin (white), and one of our top students, Aiden Kennedy (black).
After an equal opening in which the kings castled opposite sides, Vitaly took control of the center. After a mistake, however, Aiden created an attack on the kingside and threatened to promote his pawn. Vitaly, though, responded in style. After allowing Aiden to commit to the attack, Vitaly launched a counter-attack on the queenside, from which he was able to win a knight. As a result, Vitaly had a bishop pair and plenty of past pawns to work with, forcing Aiden to resign.
All players should view this game, as I could not cover all the details in one paragraph: both players showed how to play a very expansive game in which no portion of the board is safe from attack! This game, as well as many others, is available on the following lichess study: https://lichess.org/study/4RYSbyNL
Congratulations to Justin Lee, Yefim Treger, Alexander Wang, and Roman Malyshev for winning the ICA Open with 2.5 points out of three! In addition, congratulations to Yefim for being the top senior, and congratulations to Alexander for being the top junior! Click HERE to view rating reports for both tournaments.
Click HERE to register for next week’s quads, or HERE to register for next month’s Open, which will be held February 11th.
In addition, we will be hosting the Livingston Scholastic next week for ALL levels: click HERE to register!
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