Late But Great-Results From Jersey State (It Rhymes!)!
Spitz Sensational First Place Finish Punctuates Powerful Performance From ICA Individuals!
Junior High School Section (Kindergarten-Ninth Grade)
In a performance worthy of his chess playing white house hero, Barack Obama, Sebastian Spitz, put his name in the hat for a future white house bid with a terrific 1st place finish at the latest New Jersey State Scholastic Chess Championships. With seventy-eight of New Jersey’s finest chess players competing in his section, Sebastian dominated the field, defeating everyone in his path, including highest rated Daniel “I have a 1794” Zhu, in the very last round. Aside from first place, Sebastian was also the only ICA competitor to score a perfect “five out of five,” and also the only player from our school to have an article written about him in the local paper thanks to the performance. Finishing in joint third, with four out of five points, were Eric “King” Kong, and Gilad “Big G” Drillich. Other ICA participants included Charles Jiang, who scored three-and-a-half points, as well as Amol Pasarkar, and Jeffrey Xu, who both scored three out of five points.
Congrats to all our Junior High Schoolers!
Elementary Section (Kindergarten-Sixth Grade)
With seven ICA’ers out of a total ninety-three participants, it was Chris “Shaolin Chess” Shao, and Haik “insert football snap joke” Der Manuelian, leading the troop with terrific top ten finishes. Chris finished 8th on tie-breaks with four out of five points, only losing to the eventual second place finisher, while Haik, who also scored four out of five total, was on the verge of a draw against the sixth place finisher, when he made a routine mistake in a king-pawn vs. king ending. Though the result of the game was disappointing, what is equally un-disapointing (if such a word even exists) is the professional way in which Haik went about winning the next two rounds after this “Alapin-like Blunder” loss. With the point being, that it takes character to continue playing strong after unexpected disappointment.
Other ICA finishers, included Amey Pasarkar, who scored three-and-a-half points to finish outside the top ten, as well as Michael Aksen, and Mitchell Yang, who both scored three. Also finishing with respectable scores were Dwight Jose Moran, and Nastya “King’s Gambit Special” Klevak, who scored two-and-a-half points each, to garner a decently sized trophy.
Congrats to all the Elementary grade Folk!
Primary Section (Kindergarten-Third Grade)
With eighty-one participants, six ICA’ers competed in the youngest of sections, and despite four top ten finishes, none of our students could crack the Rishi Rajendran, first place wonder. Clement Shao, finished third on tie-breaks, with four out of five points, and had a chance for first, right up until the last round when he met the above mentioned first place finisher, and went down without much tangible resistance. Ditto for Ryan Hoang, who ended up with four out of five, and finished tie-break fourth, losing to the first place menace in the second to last round. Our best chance came in the second round when Zachary Love, who finished in eighth place on tie-breaks with the same four out of five points, got into a terrific position against the winner, but lost the game due to that pesky villain named “Time Trouble.” Clement, and Zachary Love, both gained fifty ratings points because of their terrific performances.
Phillip Lee, who also scored four out of five, ended up in tie-break ninth, because of a second round loss to Ryan Hoang.
Other ICA’ers who competed were Joshua Lerman, and Zachary Lyandres who both netted three out of five points for respectable standings finishes, as well as trophies. Josh, Phillip, and Zachary Ly also gained one-hundred ratings points, with Joshua being second among all competing first graders, and Zachary Ly finishing third among competing third graders.
Congratulations to all our primary grade folk!
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