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On Sunday, January 15th, the Booster section had 12 players. Congratulations to Omer, Dev and Suyash for getting 3+ points and qualifying to play in Steppingstone 5 section on February 12. Some notes from TD Andrew about games in round 1 & 2: |
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In the first round, the most back-and-forth game was Dev playing white facing off against Tea, playing black. This game, although relatively short, featured an early fight for the center, before Tea attacked Dev’s castled king, while Dev retaliated with some counterplay on the queenside. Tea was able to open Dev’s king up, and successfully checkmated with a queen and helper mate. |
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Another game worth noting was Kaitlyn playing Ryan, which had quite a notable checkmate. Ryan was able to push Kaitlyn’s king through to the center of the board, and checkmated with two pawns and a helper rook in the late middle game! The second round had students taking a bit longer on average in their games, which is always a welcome sight! |
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Tea played white against Omer, which proved to be an exciting matchup with both players fighting for control of the center, and a few trades early on. Omer was able to get the upper hand after trapping Tea’s bishop and didn’t give up the pressure until he checkmated Tea with a queen and helper mate, using the extra minor piece he was able to acquire. |
Steppingstone 5 Report (by TD Jesse) |
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| On Sunday, January 15th, the 14 participants in Steppingstone 5 had an exciting day. Players who took their time during the rounds typically did better. |
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The real fight took place in final game between two leaders: Elizabeth and Anshul. In the below position Anshul could have won the game with a beautiful ‘double threat’: 31.. Ra6! and if bishop retreats: 32.. Rb6!! But instead, he made multiple blunders and lost this very important game. Now a look into the winner's circle: Third place goes to Paul Hong with 3/4 points! Second place goes to Anshul Mallempati also with 3/4 points!! (had a win against Paul) And in First place, with a perfect score of 4/4, the champion of the day was Elizabeth Seleznev! Congratulations!! Paul achieved his 1st norm, Anshul achieved his 2nd norm (needs to pass the test to become Steppingstone 4 eligible), and Elizabeth confirmed her category 5 norm (Steppingstone 4 eligible). |
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TD NOTE *** Thank you all for playing! The next event will be on FEBRUARY 12 |
If you have any questions about where or what to register for, please email us at chessdirector@icanj.netand we'll get back to you as soon as possible! Thanks*** |
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