Today, we had another large attendance, with 52 competitors participating in our Quads! The players were split into 13 quads, with the top 4 being played at Game 45, and the rest being played at Game 30.
But we must start with the FIDE event that was being held simultaneously in a different room. As has often been the case, Matan Prilleltensky, accompanied by Noreen Davisson, played against two international opponents through chess.com. And he had an outstanding performance this time around, winning 1.5 out of 2!
As always, his games, along with several others, are publically available on my lichess study: https://lichess.org/study/SD0G1HR6/y6ddaglS
In his first match, after both players castled king side and held stakes in the center, the queen side was left unexplored. Therefore, it was a race between Matan and his opponent over who would control the queen side, via the a-file. Matan eventually gained the open file and, after exposing the king side, the opponent had no choice but to resign. This match is an excellent example of how an attack was launched on both flanks to suffocate the opponent.
The second match was much more closed: there was never a point in which either player was more than (+-1.0 up), or had more than a pawn advantage. This is due to both players prioritizing a strong structure over launching an attack. As a result, a draw was the right result, and led to Matan finishing the day undefeated!
Before the Quads started, there was a minor problem: we had 51 participants, meaning there would be one section with an odd number. However, after Arnav Adepu agreed to join at the last minute, this problem was resolved. And as is usually the case with last minute registrants, Arnav won all three games in Section 3! Arnav’s favorite game was against Ethan Fede in Round 2. This game was a slow burn, with both sides developing and maneuvering.
In the middle game, Arnav (white) had a pawn chain, while Ethan (black) had a passed pawn. While there was no way for Ethan to reach the a3 pawn and kill off the chain, Arnav was attacking the passed pawn non-stop. In the end, all of the pieces other than the king and pawns were traded off, and Ethan resigned after realizing that a breakthrough on the queen side was inevitable.
Finally, we had our first “BCA Derby” of the year, with Goktug Bas (white) and Albert Abzalimov (black) battling it out in Section 2 for school bragging rights!
After exploiting an absolute pin to win a pawn, Goktug was in complete control and began trading off pieces until he found an attack on the opposition king, forcing his opponent to resign after a forced mate in 2!
Congratulations to all winners: click HERE to view rating reports!
Our next Quads will be held next Saturday, February 4. Click HERE to register!
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In addition, click HERE to see the latest article on our student’s accomplishments this month!
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