ICA FALL CHAMPIONSHIP ’09: Tournament Goers Devour Twenty Pizza

ICA FALL CHAMPIONSHIP ’09: Tournament Goers Devour Twenty Pizza Pies to Set Guinness World Record!

I took the twenty pies in myself. I counted to make sure that there were in fact that many, and that none of the boxes were filled with carrots, or any of that other health food junk (as opposed to actual junk).

As I carried the pies in, somebody, perhaps ICA open winner GM Alexander Stripunsky, standing outside, mentioned a line forming up in front of Grandpa’s Goodies concession stand, all for the sake of getting at the calorie filled Italian legacy. It seemed like a mild exaggeration.

It wasn’t.

One hundred and sixty slices…GONE! GONE!

Like each of the roughly same amount of games that both the Yankees, and Phillies indulged in before reaching the cusp of Baseball’s finale. I hope the kids enjoyed ‘em as much as the games they played, and the trophies, or medals they won in the following sections.

In section one, Rebecca Goldberg, was as good as “Gold,” winning all four games, against the 18^th, 13^th, 9^th, and 4^th place finishers, to claim first place, and what must have been the biggest trophy in her section. In 2^nd place, was ICA camp attendee, Joshua Lerman, who scored three and a half points out of four, beating the 12^th, 19^th, and 7^th place finishers, while drawing in the second round against 8^th finishing Aaron Ayzerov. Rounding out the podium was Spencer Min, who won three out of four, taking down the 6^th, 5^th, and 11^th place finishers, while losing in the 3^rd round against 4^th placer, Zachary Mankowitz. Zachary had a chance for first going into the last round, but going up against Rebecca, a queen blunder early, on a miscalculated Scholar’s mate attempt, sealed the standings shut.

Twenty-two kids participated in this the, 1^st, and smallest of sections, and on a final note, if there was a prize for best hairdo it rightly should have gone to Nava Forman.

In section two, Idan Glickman, a long time veteran of the ICA, and another attendee of the ICA summer camp, got out a chess broom and swept to victory with four out of four wins. The 20^th, 4^th, 11^th, and 3^rd place finishers were the victims of his Mr. Clean effort, and Idan’s biggest fan (i.e. his mom) was quite pleased with the sparkling shine of another in what must, by now, be a good collection of trophies. Jacob Shomstein’s early first round draw, against 18^th placing Michael Gleyzer, didn’t stop him from winning against the 24^th, 9^th, and 7^th placers, but did stop him from equaling Idan’s four for four score and challenging for first place. Regardless, the Shomstein clan should still be enthused about Jacob’s 2^nd place finish, as well as a pretty hefty trophy. Shane Fedorov grabbed third, by beating the 15^th, 6^th, and 5^th place finishers, and could have grabbed first had he not faced Idan in the last round of the day.

Twenty-six kids participated in the 2^nd section.

In section three, Varun Venkatesh, an ICA attendee, beat out the competition to gain 1^st place with a four for four score against the 12^th, 6^th, and impressively 3^rd, and 2^nd place finishers. Matilda Zhang, and AJ Dennis, who got 2^nd and 3^rd,respectively did good against the rest of the field, but just could not solve the positional problem of Varun’s voracious, and vexing attacks.

Fourteen kids participated in section three, thereby making it the smallest of the bunch.

Moving on, if section three was the smallest, section four was the tallest so to speak, with forty-two kids in total. Of those, William Chen, and Clement Shao, both scored perfectly, with William’s win against the 17^th, 21^st, 5^th, and 6^th place finishers, earning 1^st on tie-breaks, over Clement’s 2^nd place wins against the 11^th, 22^nd, 23^rd, and 4^th place finishers. Kaida Tong grabbed 3^rd place winning against the 12^th, 14^th and 20^th place finishers, while drawing in the second round against 29^th finishing Darren Knaub. Kaida’s day wasn’t completely without drama, as 20^th finishing Eric Kong took Kaida to the edge in a tense pawn ending with the clock winding down. Falling asleep twice, or perhaps four times during the game, I woke up just in time to see Eric drop his King against Kaida’s newly promoted queen with a mere nine seconds left on the clock. It was a game worthy of World Series drama, though my grandpa, an accidental spectator waiting to clean up the pieces, wasn’t pleased that Eric and Kaida were battling it out to the last and keeping him from going home.

In section five, Ari “Vladimir Kozlov” Shusterman, pulled off a WWE-like ‘Moscow Mauling,’ of the competition beating the 19^th, 14^th, 11^th, and 4^th place finishers to claim first. Mathew Wang, who also won all four games, got second only because of those pesky tie-breaks which meant his 12^th, 26^th, 8^th, and 7^th place finisher wins weren’t quite as good as Ari’s. Anshul Doshi rounded out the medals with the bronze, beating 13, 23, and 12, while drawing seventh in the third round.

Twenty-seven young adults competed in section five.

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