Three Jersey Boys Shine at the Eastern Chess Congress

International Chess Academy (ICA) proudly celebrates the results of three of our students at the 25th Annual Eastern Chess Congress, October 1-3, in Princeton, NJ.

First, we want to congratulate Gary Leschinsky, of Mahwah, NJ for crossing the 2200 rating mark and impressing us all so much with his performance!

Gary is one of our brightest stars, and he faced several titled players in this highly competitive 5-round event, including a Grandmaster, GM Andrew Tang, a highly rated, top U.S.A. player.

Gary was able to show off in the match when he chose to sacrifice his queen late in the round, and gain the advantage (see picture of move).

Unfortunately, though Gary tried hard to defeat GM Tang, the game ultimately resulted in a draw, but not without attracting attention and forming a crowd.

GM Tang won the entire tournament in a tie for first and 4.5/5 points, and we’re extremely proud to say that Gary was the only player in the tournament to take points off him!

At the end, Gary had managed to defeat two Fide Masters, and score a draw against one GM and one IM (Zlotnikov)!

With these exciting results, he is now on his way up the ladder to titled play. We're very excited to witness Gary's progression and want to commend him on his tireless determination to work with our coaches, dedicate countless hours of study, and consistently participate in tournaments in order to improve his game.

We’re extremely happy that he and his family chose to enroll at ICA and elected to study with our team of coaches and GMs. According to Mr. Leschinsky, Gary's father, the "ICA School of chess rocks!"

Ethan Modi, of Haworth, NJ and Aiden Kennedy, of Palisades Park, NJ also participated in the Eastern Chess Congress tournament, and also ended up achieving impressive results!

Ethan played in the open section and scored 3.5/5. The open section included multiple GM's and other titled players. Ethan's performance earned him a tie for 6th place and 2nd place for the U2300 class prize! This latest finish takes Ethan up to 2130 USCF and edges him closer to master level!

Aiden played in the U1300 section, and scored 4/5 points. His only loss was to the eventual tournament winner in the final round! Aiden went into the last round with a perfect 4/4 score and was matched with Daniel Goldovsky who has a rating of two hundred points above him. Although he fought hard, Aiden ended in a tie for 3rd place, but, earned himself over one hundred rating points in the process! This brings Aiden up to 1251 USCF. Nicely, done Aiden!

Congratulations to all three!

For more information about ICA, visit: www.icakidsonline.com.

View the tournament's list of entries: https://chessaction.com/tournaments/advance_entry_list.php?tid=mp+knA==