ICA Summer Camp 2010 Day Camp Week 5

Week five concluded without much fanfare, but with a reinforcement of an age old chess adage that goes as follows: “nobody ever won a chess game by resigning.”  Despite repeated pleas, and annoying requests over and over, none of the children who asked to quit the games they were losing were allowed to do so.  Down bishops, rooks, and even queens everyone was told that resigning was not an option and thus had to soldier on till the very bitter end.

Not surprisingly, seventy-five percent of the games ended with the losing side either drawing an initially lost position, winning a drawn one, and in more than one case winning a lost one as well. 

Though some may laugh at this practice, I find that silly because if grandmasters, world champions and otherwise stronger players make mistakes in such positions (as rare as it is), why can’t everybody else?

The results, and standings of these tournaments were heavily affected by the fact that there were no resignations or draws this week (exceptions such as perpetual check, and stalemates were accepted, while theoretical draws such as opposite colored bishops and even endgame material were not.)

Section two was won by Zachary Love who clinched first after only playing four of the first five rounds. Surprisingly he lost his last round game to Victor Ionita in a brilliant game awarded game of the week honors for its quality.  Dwight Moran took second, and Phillip Blumin third.

Section three, was won by Connor Jordan, with Josh Lerman taking second, and Michael Gleyzer taking third.

Section four, was won by Zachary Mankowitz after a few lucky breaks and an extremely effective use of the queen/bishop battery.  Idan Glickman took second after a last round upset of then tournament leader Joonah.  David Fefer took third place.

In section five, Thomas Vandalovsky took first after a last day play off against tournament leader Malina Pavlova, who he caught after Andrew Zaslavsky scored an upset win in the final tournament round. 

Winners for best notation were David Ionita in the younger section, and Anthony Gurunian in the older section.

Simul winners were Elisheva Drillich in the younger section for thirty-one moves against Danny, and Michael Aksen for sixty moves against Johnson. Michael ended Phillip’s reign as the king of the simul survivors with the victory.

However, as compensation Phillip was the winner for the problem solving competition.

The best students in each group were:  Connor Cabrera in Tanya’s group, Joshua Lerman in Danny’s group, Michael Gleyzer in Solomon’s group, Victoria Gu in Slava’s group, Andrew Zaslavsky in Robert’s group, and Thomas Vandalovsky in Johnson’s group.

The Friday blitz/bughouse team championships were won by the “A-Team” led by Connor Jordan and his teammates Josh Lerman, Michael Gleyzer, and Victoria Gu.

In sports, the winners were: David Fefer in the oldest group, Zachary Love in the second oldest, Nicole Moiseyev in the third oldest, Idan Glickman in the fourth, Zachary Mankowitz in the fourth, and Joshua Lerman in the fifth.

Idan won the prize for soccer, while Zachary Love won the prize for dodgeball.

The winning team in the relay races competition was Solomon’s “Don’t laugh at our team name because we are going to beat you.” It included David Fefer, Zachary Mankowitz, Joonah, Victoria Gu, Dwight Moran, and Idan Glickman.

The art contest winners were Nicole Moiseyev as the art teacher’s choice (the coaches agreed this picture and Andrew’s picture were the best) and Andrew Zaslavsky as the coaches’ choice.

Andrew Shamis got the prize for healthiest Thursday lunch.

See you all in week six and remember

DON’T QUIT! EVER!

Sergey’s Master Camp

In Sergey’s camp the results were as follows:
David Rubenfeld won first in the classical chess tournament with Sebastian Spitz, and Michael Finkel tied for second.

Sebastian Spitz won the blitz tournament.

Nicholas Katz won in problem solving beating out Ariel Shusterman, while Ari won the overall sports competition.