Today, we had a great turnout at both our Quads and Open, as a total of 85 competitors participated in our events! In our Quads, 60 players were split into 15 evenly matched sections, with six of our sections being played at Game 45.
Throughout this calendar year, several of our players have been attending every quad in hopes of achieving a 1600 rating and qualifying for our Open as a result. Last week, Arnav Adepu got up to 1596 - close, but not enough. This week, Andrew Cerami won first place in Section 2 and made it to 1536 (honorable mention goes to Ido Alkin for achieving second place in that section whilst not losing a game that day). But congratulations are in order for Goktug Bas for winning Section 1 with 2.5/3 points and breaking the 1600 mark! Assuming he remains above 1600, he will participate in next month’s edition of the ICA Open! And for those complaining that Goktug will not play to preserve his rating, I am delighted with this decision as this means he will be a Tournament Director for the foreseeable future!
But enough about the future: today’s Open featured several National Masters. Three of them - Igor Yeliseyev, Yefim Treger, and Alexander Wang - remained undefeated with 2.5/3 points! In addition, Alex won the Top Junior Prize, while Yefim and Igor won the Top Senior Prize! After winning their first two matches, Igor and Alex drew their final game to achieve this total. But there could only be one winner - not only did NM Gary Leschinsky storm to a perfect 3 points out of 3, but he achieved this by defeating three players who finished the day with 2/3 - meaning they all could have won the tournament if Gary did not show up! When I asked Gary how he felt about his victory, he made it seem as if it was routine - not in speech as if he was arrogant, but in nature.
Although I consider myself a good player, I am far from being a National Master (unless I suddenly resign from my TD duties and play every weekend). Therefore, Gary was kind enough to not only post his match, but he posted annotations as well for all to learn from!
Now, we will go back to the quads, where I have made it a goal to include more matches from lower rated sections. This match in particular was played in Section 11 between Kahan Shah (white) and Ansh Shamdasani (black). Each player had a perfect 2/2 leading up to this match, meaning the winner would take the $60, while the loser would come away with nothing.
This match was the pinnacle of low-rated pandemonium. After an exchange of queens in the opening, Kahan found himself in trouble by move 13, with Ansh threatening 13. ... Nxc2 +, winning the rook for the knight. Rather than castling or, at the very least, keeping the king on the first rank, Kahan played 13. Kd2? Although the king was initially safe, Ansh was able to play 21. ... Ba4+, followed by 22. ... Bxb2, winning a pawn and exposing the king. It was then Ansh’s turn to blunder: after Kahan played 25. Rxa7, Kahan responded with 25. Rb2+??. After Kahan got out of check by moving the king to c1, he was able to attack both the rook on b2 and the knight on a6! Kahan proceeded to win the knight. But the game was not yet over: a series of perpetual checks from Ansh led Kahan’s king to walk all the way to the sixth rank, where Ansh was then able to sacrifice his bishop to win the rook via a discovered attack! But Kahan held his nerve: after trading rooks, his passed pawn was already so far ahead that he was able to promote it and win the game, and the $60: congratulations!
Congratulations to all winners: click to view rating reports for both QUADS and OPEN!
Our next Quads will be held next Saturday, April 29. Click HERE to register!
Our next Open will be held in a month on Saturday,May 20. Click HERE to register!
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