It’s another Quad weekend at the International Chess Academy. Groups of four players (sometimes more) are competing against each other for a cash prize.
We try hard to run tournaments with even numbers of players so that no one has a bye. Circumstances don’t always allow us to do so though, such as today when a player called out sick half an hour before tournament start… and one minute after we turned away someone because our tournament was full. Such luck, eh? Bad luck struck again when one of our players never showed up to the tournament. Had we known all this in advance we could have reworked sections so that no one had a bye. Unfortunately we had no way of knowing all of this in time.
So thanks to all the players of Section 1 and Section 11 for being troopers about the byes. Everyone gets them in chess from time to time, but it’s always appreciated when people are understanding when it happens.
One of those sections with byes was Section 11, our youngest rated section. The kids here (as always) were a delight to work with. They’re young, they’re eager, and they truly enjoy playing the game rather than winning or losing. In today’s case the winner was Matthew Yi who went 3-0 against his six other competitors (MORE FROM HIM LATER). Roger Zhao and Elvin Liu tied for second place with 2 points each.
Toward the other end of the spectrum was Section 2 featuring six players with ratings of 1006 to 1158. This well-matched group was won in a tie between identical twins Abhay and Arjun Raina with 2.5 points.
The section I was most curious to watch was Section 4. I’ve met all four kids before, and know three of the four fairly well. All of them: Vigyaant Jain, Jude McCullough, Shivani Sundar, and Rayan Zarieh are great kids who take their chess very seriously. I was very glad the tournament director’s code of neutrality forbids me from rooting for anyone here, as I wouldn’t have been able to pick a favorite. In the end Rayan Zarineh squeaked through with a 2-point win, with Shivani and Vigyaant at least having the satisfaction of drawing against him.
As mentioned earlier, Matthew Yi won all three games in Section 11. Matthew agreed to share a game with extensive commentary (granting him free entry to his next ICA Tournament as he was the only one to do so!) So without further ado, here is
I played in the Glen Rock Quads tournament on July 29th, 2023. During the final game, it was intense. There was a large silence, only the sound of pieces moving. I was black in this game.
It started with a Queen's pawn, with both of us having a fianchetto bishop and knights out. The position came in my favor when my opponent played C4 sacrificing a pawn to get it out of the center. I was able to use a bishop to take a knight that was supporting the center. After this I was able to take a center pawn, and in this exchange I traded queens as I was up 2 pawns. The position became worse and worse as I was able to stack up the rooks and put immense pressure on the bishop. The other rook was too slow as it could not come and save the bishop, which after an exchange won me a full bishop. After that the knight was trying to get in the position, but after taking a pawn it wandered too far in the position and became trapped. This was a devastating blow as the last minor piece he had was taken. With only a rook left, he traded it for my other rook which was the last nail in the coffin. He pushes his pawn with desperation, I push my pawn, He attacks my knight , but it hops away. The position was impossible to win and the final thing my opponent did was resign.
This was my first in-person tournament and I enjoyed the experience. I also learned a lot about how tournaments work and had fun playing side games during the breaks. I am looking forward to the next one!
Congratulations to all winners: click HERE to view rating reports!
Our next Quads will be held next Saturday, August 5. Click HERE to register!
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Section 11: from Matthew Yi’s Perspective
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