ICA Early Winter Championship Proceeds Without President Obama!

So apparently the president plays chess (with his wife no less) and was supposed to come to our tournament to participate.  Of course, as unlikely as this sounded, given that I voted for the old Republican guy, and that it wasn’t on CNN or anything, I was still expectant given that the news came from a reliable source named Solomon Lerner.   I should have known Solomon was just having fun at my expense given that he promised Ronald Mcdonald, and the Wu Tang Clan would show up last time around, which didn’t happen of course, but I was naïve enough to believe in the “audacity of hope,” and played the game Benjamin Franklin said to continue playing in a hopeless position.

Uh, anyway, in section 1, with twenty-eight kids competing, Nicholas Sternheim beat 4,12,11, and third place Brycen Kirschner to take first place.  In second, was Zachary “Scholar’s Mate” Mankowitz beat the 16^th, 15^th, 19^th, and 7^th place finishers to take home his own shiny trophy.  The aforementioned Brycen Kirschner took third, beating the 5^th, 14^th, and 13^th finishers, before going down to Nicholas in the last round.

In section 2, Vruthik Thakkar, came in first winning against the 21^st, 5^th, 4^th, and 6^th place finishers. His nearest rival,  second placing, Brian Song beat out the 31^st, 15^th, 13^th, and 7^th placed finishers and only came in second because of tie-breaks.  Arpan Gupta was third, drawing with 11^th placed Sam Weinstein,  and then beating the 26^th, 24^th, and 12^th placed finishers.  Thirty-three kids competed in the second section.

Joshua Clune won section 3 with a bye in the first round but convincing wins against 2^nd placing Alexander Poste,  3^rd placing Connor  Jordan, and finally fifth placing Sophie Goldberg.   Alexander Poste, the aforementioned 2^nd placer, beat the 10^th, 7^th, and 8^th placed finishers.   Connor Jordan beat the 11^th, 7^th, and 6^th placed finishers  to take third. Only thirteen kids competed here, which means there is room for aggressive expansion so tell your friends or something.

Section 4, suffered no shortage of participants with forty-three competitors all jealously admiring Neil Miller who won against the 24^th, 27^th, 6^th, and 4^th placed finishers to take home gold.  Mignel O’malley  took second with wins against the 35^th, 23^rd, and 10^th placed finishers, and drawing with the 7^th placed Eric Kong.  Sindu Shanmugadas got third with wins against the 32^nd, 28^th, and 13^th finishers, and a draw against 5^th placed AJ Dennis.

Section 5, saw Shivani Shanmugadas claiming first place with three and a half points, winning against 17, 12, and 2^, while drawing with 3.  Robert Elliot took second beating the 22^nd, 5^th, and 9^th placed finishers, but losing to the above mentioned Shivani.  Ethan Klein beat the 23^rd, and 8^th placed finishers, drew with Shivani, and 4^th finishing Maxim Farberov to take third.  Twenty-six kids competed in section 5.

With that we wish you some happy holidays and will see you next year.

PS  as always we had some apple donuts left.