I’m not really sure how GM Lenderman got lost on the way to the tournament, but unfortunately for the competition, our own ICA coach, Max “use the” Schwartz , came to the rescue in the nick of time. Rushing to the scene (in this case an obscure Hackensack bus stop) Max, found Alex just as fast as he found the token refutation against the Latvian gambit in three minutes of careful analysis , and made sure the young GM was in the building for the commencement of the first round, and thereby the subsequent endspiel victory in the fourth.
Lenderman, obviously so focused on the task of winning, couldn’t quite find the building on his own, but did find a way to beat 5th placing Arthur Feuerstein, 6th Anna Matlin, and 10th finishing Ben “Chuck Norris” Wolfson. However, as good as Ben, Arthur, and Anna are, given Lenderman’s Lenderific ,and perhaps even ‘bageltastic’ skills, these wins were ones a chess enthusiast would expect to see. The final one against GM Sergey “Curly” Kudrin though was a bit unexpected.
Sergey, who finished third on the strength of wins against 13th George Grasser, 4th Igor Yeliseyev, 9th Linda Diaz, fell to Alex in the fourth and final round.
Sandwiched in between the GM’s, was IM Michael Zlotnikov, who beat the ICA’s newest star , 8th placing Alex “the Cougar” Katz, 11th Yefim Treger, and 12th Boris Privman. A drawn game in the second round against 7th placing James “Wild Wild” West, cost Zlotnikov the 1st place prize.
Alex received $270 for his first place finish and truth be told he should have used part of the money to get Max a Dunkin donut as a thank you for the early morning save.
Michael got $225 for 2nd, while Sergey Kudrin, Igor Yeliseyev, and Anna Matlin got $60 each for earning three points and all officially finishing third.
As usual Arthur Feuerstein claimed the best over 65 prize of $67.50.
Linda Diaz, and Ben Wolfson took home $90 each for best finishes for U2000, and U1800 players, respectively.
Greg “busted neck” Gabovich, and Jacob Berman got $34 bucks each for best results of players under the age of thirteen.
Finally, Joe Mazzeo, and Martin Sobin, got $45 dollars each for best finishes of players with a rating under 1600.
Thirty-two players competed this time around and we’ll see if more folks show up in February for our next competition.
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