Fall Dr. Ostfeld Scholastic Championships ’11!
So came and went our first scholastic tournament of the given school year and many a happy student walked away with many a shiny trophy in his grasp. Pizza was eaten, Donuts were too, Soda is bubbly, and so are you shouted the kids to one another as they played and jumped in between the four rounds of intense chess competition. So intense was it in fact that the older section five finished at an unheard of rate being done before section three, or four were completed. Granted only game remained in each (a tense struggle between Alan Stolyarov, and Anthony Gurunian in section four that ended in a draw, and a bitter attempt by Brian Hong to salvage an unsalvageable position from the control of Zachary Mankowitz.) it was surprising that every single one in five ended.
TO THE RESULTS!!!!
Our resident Japanese expert Yuito Tashiro who taught me the meaning of many a word in Japanese (“Ubinto” means “lunch,” while “O-hi-O” and “Yosh” means “good”) at chess camp this Summer, won first place with a perfect score. Josh Hemingson tied for first with a perfect score but was officially second on tie-breaks. Little Mathew Lerman, who recently forgot to do his Russian homework and so was not taken to Toys R Us by his mom, won third place with his only loss coming to the above mentioned Yuito. William Song, Richard Machado, and Tyler Hupart all tied for third place with three points as well.
Section two was dominated by the Belov Brothers with the crowning achievement being brother Nick’s perfect scored first place trophy in this section. After a narrow escape from a Fried liver disaster against Piush Sarkar in round one, Nick soundly defeated all of his opponents before producing a show-finishing scholar’s mate on second placing Malina Pavlova. Malina finished second with three points, and tied with her for said honor were the above mentioned Piush, Daniel Merchel (whose sole loss came to the first place finisher) Belov Brother Alex, little but big Daniel Klevak, Arjun Bidani, and finally Belov Brother James.
The sole winner here was Duy Nguyen who scored a perfect four points to take first. Tied for second were Israel Moshe “Scotch Game is My Name” Shlionsky, and Emre Alptuna, who both scored three-and-a-half points.
Third place saw a tie between four players as Alec Goodman, Bhargav Nagalamadaka, Chris Hadler, and Aditya Gollapudi shared said honors.
Section 4
Section four saw two of our illustrious students illustriously tie for first place sharing a draw between them in their individual game. On tie-breaks Nicholas Konovalenko took first, while Josh Katz took second despite, the three-and-a-half points both players shared. Siddharth held the same score as both winners though because he left and couldn’t play the last round his half point bye did not carry the same weight as the actual draw in the computer based final standings. Ashwin Anbu, and Nick’s sister Sasha “Dodgeball Monster” Konovalenko shared the three point tie break podium.
With but a few players participating Aaron Shlionsky won clear first with a score of three-and-a-half drawing against second placing Michael Zheng. Zheng tied for second with Sam Berrettini, with both players having two-and-a-half points each.
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