Labor Day Action 9/2/23

Last Saturday, on 9/2/23, the Atlantic Chess Association held the Labor Day Action tournament at the Courtyard Marriott by Tysons. Over 20 players participated in what was the first tournament of this type hosted by the Atlantic Chess Association. FM Trung Nguyen swept the Open Section 4-0, while Sam Laikin (unr!) also went 4-0, beating Oliver Yu in the last round to clinch first place in the U1600 section.

Nguyen’s victory began with a win against Joy Zhang. In the next round, I was paired against Nguyen himself, after winning my first round game against Lulu Huang. This hard-fought game, where both players had only seconds on the clock towards the end has been analyzed below:

Next, Nguyen was paired against Roger Pauley, who himself had won his first two games against Atharva Haldankar and Joy Zhang respectively. He won this game as well, followed by a win over Lulu Huang to close out the tournament.

The U1600 Section boasted 15 players, with 4 players rated 1500 or higher. A particularly noteworthy performance was of Oliver Yu, rated 994, beating Francis Khuu, Caden Liu, and Ameya Rajeev, all having published ratings above 1500! Here is his favorite game from the tournament, analyzed below:

We also want to congratulate Sam Laikin, who beat Bhargava Krishna Konda, Goodness O Atanda, and Keith Fugle, all rated 1300 or higher. Finally, he won against Oliver Yu in order to win the section. 

We want to thank everyone who showed up to the tournament despite the short notice. We plan to have another Action tournament soon, so stay tuned!