On Sunday, November 19th, the ICA team went to the New Jersey Grade School Championships in search of glory: the glory of being crowned the best chess player in their grade, and the glory of representing ICA at a major tournament. Although not everyone achieved the former, all our students made us proud at the tournament! This is confirmed by Livingston coach Max Farberov, who said the following:
"I can highlight Liam Fan (previously in Adv Beg with me, currently in intermediate with Coach Mike) and Dylan Tsui (in my intermediate class) for both getting 3/5 in their first time playing the tournament (2nd grade). Dylan has only been playing competitively for about 8 months. Also Udeg Ahuja and Dylan Rosa, both in my advanced class and fierce competitors in our Friday game sessions for each getting 3/5 for 6th grade."
We will now go grade by grade and highlight every student who represented us, regardless of result.
Starting with the First Grade Section, Bryce Cheng and Novak Yang, who are not yet rated, finished with a 50% record: 2.5/5 points; a great result for two new players!
The Second Grade Section had more participants, with Manvik Dave, Lucas Wang, Grace Chen, Hannah Khoroshevski, Elvin Liu, Dylan Tsui, and Liam Fan all participants. But it is Gillian Gao who deserves all the credit for winning ALL FIVE MATCHES to become the Second Grade Champion!
The Third Grade Section also had plenty of participants, with Anna Bejenari, Rayan Zarineh, Neil Rao, Alex Aminetzah, and Emma Shevelenko participating. In terms of winning trophies, this grade was very fruitful from an ICA standpoint, with Kian Zarineh finishing in 10th, Kate Stripunsky in 5th, and Guy Naveh in 2nd. But it is Albert Li, a student of GM Alexander Stripunsky, who dominated, winning ALL FIVE MATCHES to become the Third Grade Champion!
The Fourth Grade Section was a grade of consistency, with friends Benjamin Gorenburg and Liam Kelly, as well as Tyler Angelov and Jayden Ma, all finishing with three out of five, meaning each earned a medal.
But in the Fifth Grade Section, we had yet another invincible, with Yujeong Yeo winning ALL FIVE MATCHES to become the Fifth Grade Champion! In addition, Vihaan Jambudi won four to finish in 6th place while Eli Aminetzah won three to medal. Credit goes to our other two participants, Blake Chang and Samvel Hovsepyan, for participating and gaining further experience.
Although there was no invincible in the Sixth Grade Section, three of our players won trophies: Devina Shah of Livingston, Jack Holder of Glen Rock, and Udeg Ahuja of Livingston! Dylan Rosa medalled, while Siddhanth Nidhin and Yuki Banno both gained valuable experience.
In terms of numbers on the podium, the Seventh Grade Section was one of our most dominant! Tyler Tseng, Anderson Schafer, and Ari Lukatsky finished in 10th, 9th, and 5th respectively. More importantly, however, their aggregate result meant they won the FIRST PLACE TEAM TROPHY for Glen Rock Middle School! Teddy Bernstein (the first guest on The ICA Show) took 4th place while Leah Khoroshevski finished in 2nd! In addition, Vishisht Agarwal and Liam Shah finished with 50%.
The Eighth Grade Section was a section of gaining experience, with Raghav Sambyal, Aaron Kustanovich, Sofia Bejenari, and Lucas Chen all getting in between 2 and 2.5 points. Although Lucas did not win an individual award, he still won Tenafly Middle School the FIRST PLACE TEAM TROPHY with help from his classmates! We still, however, had our fair share of trophy winners, with Thomas Holder getting 8th place, Ido Alkin (a regular on the ICA Show) getting 6th place, and Eva Vinkour getting 4th place!
We now move to the high school sections, where the competition is fierce with experienced players and National Masters competing against our students. In the Ninth Grade Section, Justin Galitsky gained valuable experience against players much higher rated, while Angelo Valentino finished in 8th place!
But now we move into the Tenth Grade Section, where we approach “Junior Coach Territory”. Livingston student Zander Venutolo finished in 8th place, but that is only the start! Teaneck Coach and longtime student Juno Moon finished in 11th place, just falling short of a medal. Livingston Coach David Milstein finished in 9th, Glen Rock Coach Jane Stripunsky finished in 6th, Glen Rock Coach Arnav Adepu finished in 4th, and Camp Coach Choco Chen finished in 3rd! This was a very dominant result, considering the top two players are both rated above 2000!
Only one player, Glen Rock Coach Albert Abzalimov, participated in the Eleventh Grade Section. He finished with three wins out of five, remaining competitive in each match but just falling short in time trouble. Regardless, he still walked away with a medal!
And we wrap up with the Twelfth Grade Section: the final chance for the players to participate in this tournament. The message seemed to get to Jonathan Zeng, Matthew Lerman, and Ethan Modi, as they got together to bring Bergen County Academies the FIRST PLACE TEAM TROPHY! In addition, Jonathan won the 10th place trophy, Matthew won the 5th place trophy, and Ethan finished in Second Place after a draw against a National Master!
As this report comes to a close, I would like to remind everyone that the fun does not stop here! Rather, this report is only part one; this Sunday, November 26th, we will have an EXTENDED EPISODE of The ICA Show! Our start time for that day will be 7pm, rather than 8pm, and many of our participants will feature: you will not want to miss this!
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