Wallach wins Highland Park, Liang takes second

NM Ken Wallach, the perennial winner of Highland Park tournaments had no trouble in his games against his opponents in the last installment, which took place on April 24 at the Moose Lodge. There was one exception: when he sat across the board from Awonder Liang in the 3rd round. Ken and Awonder played to a draw the day before at Scott Silverman Memorial Tournament organized by Sevan Muradian. The 8 year-old from Wisconsin, who is ranked #1 nationally, fought bravely and wisely in this game as well, with the contest going down to the wire until he had only 6 minutes left to Wallach’s 1 minute in the G/45 event.

White (Liang) has managed to stay even throughout the encounter, committing what seems the only mistake well after move 80. White to move in the position shown.

1. Kg2 Qc6  Which led to exchange of Queens. Black’s extra pawn proved to be the decisive factor.

Shredder came up with drawn ending even after exchange of the Queens. But that’s a 3000- rated  program with no pressure of head-to-head battle, no clock, no master twice your size facing you, no 3 hour drive and 10 hours of chess  in the last day and a half, no looming 3 hour drive home.

One can’t be but impressed by Awonder’s achievements. Kudos to his dad Will as well, who spends hours on chess with his son, in addition to helping Awonder and his two brothers achieve excellence at school as well.

Both of his brothers, Adream, 9, and Able, 6 are nationally ranked. Ken Wallach finished with perfect 4 out of 4. Awonder was second with 3. Three players ended up with 2.5 points – Daniel Bronfeyn, Greg Divinsky and David Gorelik Bronfeyn edged out the others on tie-breaks and breaking 1600 barrier for the first.

In the U1000 Vishesh Verma, Buck Finn and Daniel Burack finished 1-2-3, with Daniel Himmelfarb claiming best result for U600 in his very first rated tournament. Nathan Weisskopf and Allen Terman finished second and third in the U600.

It’s always a special treat to see an elementary-school-aged  kid beat up on a high schooler. Well, it was a triple treat to see Daniel Burack, a 4^th grader, Daniel Himmelfarb, a 1^st grader and 3^rd grader Sam Lichtman, all from Highland Park beat high school opponents.

And lastly, all experts and masters out there: you have a narrow window of opportunity to beat Awonder Liang. But hurry, the window is closing fast. Awonder is well ahead of pace set by such brilliant young players as Robert Hess, Sam Shankland, Daniel Naroditsky, Hikaru Nakamura, Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri. He gained a couple of hundred points in less than a year and the chances are as he gets GM lessons and gains even more tournament experience, his rating gains will accelerate. So call your local organizer and see if Awonder is playing. Who knows, maybe you’ll be playing against the future of chess.