On Sunday, February 12th, the Booster section was a sight to see with many new players joining us for their first tournament. As usual, the people who took more time in their games typically performed better. Now onto our winner's circle: In fourth place was Nikolas Serenkov (3 points)! In third place was Tessa Chow (3 points)! In second place was Brayden Chen (3 points)! In first place, huge Congratulations to Allik Yashayev, ending the tournament undefeated with 3.5 points! All four deserved the right to play in Steppingstone 5 section.

Coach Jesse's highlight: in the final round on board 3, Tea Kim played a solid fork move with her queen against Liam Kelly:

It is also noteworthy to acknowledge both Tea and Liam for really taking their time in this match. Their match was over 30 minutes while the average match was over in 20 minutes or less.

Steppingstone 5 Section Report

This time we were not able to run Stepping Stone 4, but we had an incredibly strong field for Stepping Stone 5.  Abhiram won all 4 games and won the section convincingly, and Jason and Anshul also made norms with 3/4. 

First I will analyze Jason vs Abhiram. 

In this position Ahbiram blundered his knight but did not give up. A couple moves after Ahbiram was actually up a piece. 

After Be7!, black pinned the knight to the queen and was able to win the game. This game is a great example of why you should not give up!

The next game I will analyze will be Dev vs Anshul. 

After f4, Anshul found a nice discovered check. He took on f4 and after Rxf4 Ne6! wins the rook. Nice tactical finish. 

The last game I will look at is Anshul vs Jason. 

Anshul forced Jason’s king into the center and after Qxe5?, Rfe8 wins the queen. This game shows the power of pins, and king safety. 

Overall, the games this week were a little fast but very high level. We hope you guys come to the next edition of the Progressive Tournaments. 

TD NOTE *** Thank you all for playing! The next event will be on March 12!!

If you have any questions about where or what to register for, please email us at chessdirector@icanj.net and we'll get back to you as soon as possible! Thanks***