ICA Scholastic Chess Camp Week 4 Report:

There was no Bob “The horse” related news for this week, though we did have two pieces of negativity occur.  Firstly, we established a “black list” for bad behavior, which blocks the child on it from receiving prizes they may have won during the week.  If the child is not returning for additional weeks the prizes may be given only to parents on the express condition that they understand what the child did.  If the child is returning for additional weeks they have another week to adjust their behavior to be eligible for the prizes already won in the previous week.  Secondly, there was a ridiculous complaint regarding somebody’s child not receiving prizes despite the number of categories.    The response to said criticism is that we have a number of categories precisely so that children have many chances to win, without actually being given something for free.   We feel this sets a bad precedent and doesn’t make children try, since the prize is expected and not earned. 

With that said here are the award winners for the week:
In regular chess, Sid Wagh won first, Phillip Blumin took second, and Josh Lerman third in section one.  In section two, Jacob Tepler won first, with Alan Stolyarov second, and Daniel Khaitov third.  Allan Zhang took first in section three, with Nick C second, and Zachary Mankowitz third.  Gabriella won section four, with Ben Pyatski second, and Daniel Cohen third.  Michael Yerokhin won section four. 

Alex Belov won for best notation, while Qihan won for the simul taking WGM Tatiana to 63 moves which was longer than anybody else.   Madeline won the rated problem solving competition, while Nick C won the unrated variation. 

The best students in each group were: Daniel Khaitov in Tanya’s group, Lily Del Pilar in Genry’s group, Alan Stolyarov in Richard’s group, Mathew in Ivette’s group, Douglas in Eve’s group, and after an epic all week struggle both Greg Pylypovich and Chris Elson won in Slava’s group.

Charli Coward also won a prize for winning her first ever tournament game.

In Blitz, Alan Stolyarov won the older group, while Anthony Clemente won the younger one.

The blitz/bughouse was won by the Explosive Watermelons, led by Daniel Khaitov, with teammates David Fefer, Greg Pylipovich, and Eitan Chechik.

The best in sports were, Jeremy, Nicholas C, Daniel K, Gabriella, Greg P, Sophie, and Danik Stern, all in order from oldest to youngest age group.

Michael Yin won healthy lunch, while Eitan Chechik got the prize for best effort. 

In Sergey’s camp Sebastian Spitz won EVERYTHING, winning the classical tournament, the blitz tournament, problem solving, and sports.