After hosting 82 people for our Super Saturday events, there was no rest for our TDs as we were hosting the North Jersey Qualifiers for 97 participants! Our players were split into four sections: K-5 boys, 6-8 boys, 9-12 boys, and K-12 girls. Each section winner would proceed to play in a playoff match against the winner of the South Jersey Qualifiers at a later date.
This tournament was played over four rounds, with blitz tiebreaks if necessary. With more at stake than yesterday, it was pleasantly surprising how smoothly the entire tournament was ran! Mother nature played its part, as the players who finished could go outside to refresh for the next rounds. In addition, because we were ahead of schedule, our players were able to enjoy playing football (or soccer for those who prefer to call it that) between rounds!
Now, onto the results. There were really no surprises in the first round: all of the tournament favorites won their respective games with relative ease. The second round followed a similar pattern, although a few of our most determined players were able to break away from the pack.
In the K-5 boys Section, Julian Ma was the heavy favorite against Luke Shin, who, even with his recent impressive performances in the Glen Rock Quads, did not yet have the pedigree to challenge the behemoths of this section - or so we thought.
Luke (white) played the fantasy variation of the Karo-Cann, which immediately opened up both white’s and black’s king side. Luke sacrificed his bishop to immediately win it back - whilst completely exposing the black king. After that, Julian had to play extremely carefully to not lose a piece. He didn’t: after Luke created a battery with his queen and rook, 12. ... Rf8 was not the right answer: the black rook has been hung, and the game has ended as a contest, leaving Luke at 2/2!
Another title eliminator in the K-5 boys Section occurred between Vihaan Jambudi and Aiden Kennedy. By move 20, it seemed as if Vihaan (white) was getting closer to penetrating through Aiden’s (black) position. Although 21. Qc4 looked great - creating discovered attacking chances - 21. ... Kh8 meant that either Vihaan’s rook or knight would be lost! Aiden took the rook and then promptly marched his f-pawn to control the g2 square. It was then clear that mate is inevitable, and Vihaan resigned, giving Aiden 2/2 points.
Round 3 was thrilling in all Four Sections: this round was like a ‘semifinal’ in that winners play for first place, while losers are eliminated from contention. Unfortunately, the aforementioned Luke Shin lost to Bryan Andrei in the K-5 boys section, meaning there was no way he could win the section. But two other players in that section, Aswath Tippa and Eeshan Hebbar, were on two points each coming into the third round.
Just like in Aiden’s earlier game, it seemed as if Aswath (white) had enough pressure at the start of the game. However, his position completely shattered after 21. gxf3; the idea behind this move was to allow the rook to attack the g-file. However, after Eeshan sacrificed his rook to get the queen out of position, he was easily able to checkmate, meaning one more win would seal his passage into the playoffs. His opponent in round four would be Aiden, who was able to also win his third round!
In the 6-8 boys section, four players were on two points heading into Round 3: Bobby Qian, Alexander Wang, Timothy Xie, and Pranay Govindarajula. Bobby defeated Alex, which, to some people, was an upset. However, that could not compare to what occurred in the game between Timothy and Pranay!
This game featured an intense battle between the pawns on the king-side. Although this battle ended in Pranay’s (black) king being exposed, the king was in absolutely no danger at all. Timothy would not have agreed, though: he tried to put pressure with 20. Ne5+. However, this simply hangs a knight. After 20. ... Qxe5, the queen could not take because Pranay would then take a bishop whilst forking the king and queen. White promptly resigned, meaning the winner between Pranay and Bobby would win passage into the playoffs.
The day before this tournament, Justin Lee convincingly won all three games in the ICA Open Championship! The question today was whether anybody could stop him in the 9-12 boys section. His first two opponents failed.
And although the third - Roger Zhang - was much more qualified rating wise, Justin was always comfortable. He even had enough material to give up one pawn just to simplify. And that advantage told, as Justin won the final round to set up a final against Haari Muthukumar.
The third round of the K-12 girls section featured a title eliminator between Claire Cheng and Eva Vinokvi - where the winner would play the undefeated Sahana Aravindakshan.
Claire (white) opened the game with the queen’s gambit, which Eva rejected with 2. ... e6. Although declining the queen’s gambit usually leads to a less open match, Eva opened up her position with 7. ... g5 and 8. ... c5. Those holes allowed Claire to place her bishops and queen on extremely powerful diagonals, which led to Eva’s king being opened up and to her rook being taken off the board - a convincing victory for Claire!
And so the fourth round matchups were set: Eshaan Hebbar would play Aiden Kennedy in K-5 boys, Pranay Govindarajula would play Bobby Quian in 6-8 boys, Haari Muthukumar would play Justin Lee in 9-12 boys, and Sahana Aravindakshan would play Claire Cheng in K-12 girls. All aforementioned players were on 3/3 players heading into the fourth round (as was Rishan Malhorta from the K-5 boys, who drew Bryan Andrei in the final round, meaning he needed Eshaan and Aiden to draw). Spoiler: each final was decisive, meaning there was no need for any sort of blitz tiebreakers.
And so the fourth round began. I fully expected each match to go down to the wire. This was the case for three of the four matches. However, when I went to check on the 9-12 boys section, I noticed all but one of the boards were still playing. The one finished game was the one between Haari and Justin!
The first critical moment in the match came right after both sides castled. Clearly not happy with his inactive pieces by move 8, Justin (black) offered Haari (white) two pawns, which he accepted! In return, Justin was able to complete his development and place his queen right on the center of the board - winning the b-pawn and more advanced c-pawn whilst destroying Haari’s pawn structure in the process. However, the position was still ‘drawish’. To try taking the initiative, Haari played 18. Rab1 to take the b-file. Justin responded with 18. ... Qa6, simultaneously controlling the vital squares on said file while attacking the rook on f1. He then proceeded to take the d-file and stack his rooks. What followed was some very painful maneuvering on Justin’s side. This resulted in him successfully positioning his rook and queen for a fork: after 30. Rxg2; 31. Kxg2 Qg5+; 32. Kf2 Qxc1 Justin gained a pawn. After some more painful maneuvering in which Justin would either make a check or ensure he himself could not be checked, he gained two more pawns and was able to trade queens. From there, the game was no longer a contest and Justin, in addition to winning 7/7 matches over the weekend, became the 9-12 boys champion!
The next game to finish was the 6-8 boys final between Pranay and Bobby. Although Pranay was the underdog when it comes to rating, he already showed last round how strong of a player he is.
The plan from both sides at the start of the game seemed simple enough: castle king-side and then reinforce the king-side with the minor pieces. Because that side of the board was completely closed off, whoever would control the queen-side would control the game. And it seemed as if Pranay walked right into Bobby’s plan: immediately after Pranay tried to break open the center, Bobby placed his rook on the open c-file. After more prodding from both sides, it was clear Bobby was more active and was creating more tactical weaknesses. And after 40. Nf5, Bobby respond with Nf4+, unleashing a discovered attack on the queen. The queens were traded, but Bobby gained a passed pawn with which he won the rook and bishop. After Pranay resigned after being completely down a rook, Bobby became the 6-8 boys champion!
Next to finish was the K-12 girls match between Sahana and Claire.
This match was by far the hardest for me to analyze as the majority of the moves were designed to prod the opponent rather than to directly attack. So for 33 moves, we had a very tense, equal game which was destined for a playoff. This all changed, however, after Claire (black) played 33. ... Ba6. Although this seems like a fair move to play, it invited Sahana’s (white) knight onto the d4 outpost square. From there, they traded queens and Sahan’s knight became the most powerful piece on the board. On the final recorded move before the players went into time trouble, Claire won the e-pawn. However, because Sahana’s knight and king were much more active, she was easily able to take that pawn back and put enough pressure to win the game, and the K-12 girls championship!
Finally, the match between Eshaan and Aiden in the K-5 boys section had to be decisive so that we would avoid a 3-person playoff.
After a very aggressive opening battle, Aiden (black) inexplicably played 25. ... f5, creating a ton of weaknesses in the position. Eshaan (white) capitalized, creating a passed pawn in the process. With two passed pawns, it was impossible for Aiden to equalize. After a very aggressive fight from him in time trouble, he eventually had to resign, giving Eshaan the K-5 boys championship!
The theme for many of these matches was the same: an equal opening followed by a slight mistake from a player to give the other player another opportunity to create some sort of advantage, whether it be an active piece or a passed pawn. And at this level, once a player gains such an advantage, it is near impossible to equalize.
So congratulations are in order to our four winners who, on June 4, will play their playoff matches against the winners from the South Jersey qualifiers! These matches will occur on the same day at the same place as the Dr. David Ostfeld Memorial Championships in Bergen County Academies, for which I hope to see everyone register!
Click HERE to see rating reports for all sections!
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