It seems difficult to believe, but the ICA Players’ Memorial took place on the second day of summer — Saturday, June 22. The Mountain Home Public Library generously allowed us to take over their common area for the day where 19 players competed for Idaho Chess Association swag-like certificates for free memberships and tournaments. It was a good mix of players with half being rated over 1000, some adults, mostly teens, a few youngsters and three females.
Mountain Home was well represented with John Glenn and Chris Pentico. From the eastern side of the state came Nobel Ang and Porter Nilsson. The bulk of the players were the usual suspects from Boise and the surrounding areas like Forrest Zeng, Justin He and Alyssa Montano. The format was four rounds Swiss with game in 30. Jef Leifeste was the tournament director and received valuable assistance from his wife, Jennifer, and Alyssa’s mother, Crystal Montano.
John Glenn started on board one and got Porter Nilsson in the first round. However, John’s fortunes turned in round two when Bryce Leifeste prevailed. Bryce stayed on board one for the duration, culminating in a tough draw with Finn Belew. Bryce came away with a clean first place with 3.0/4 points. Four players finished with 3.0/4, but on tiebreak it was Nobel Ang in second, John Glenn in third, and Forrest Zeng in fourth.
