Murrow High School’s chess team wins city title, eyes state and national titles too
Azeez Alade had a plan. He went into the championship game against teammate Alex Ostrovskiy with a move in mind that he was so sure that would work that he couldn’t wait to use it. He methodically played his game, slowly setting up the move, but when the time finally came to execute it he realized that he had fallen into a trap.
“His thought process is incredible,” Alade said of Ostrovskiy. “When he plays, he plays very solid and safe, but there is always a trick. In my game, I wanted to play this one move so badly, but he set a trap for me and I realized that it would have lost almost immediately. I thought it was such a perfect move, but he lays down so many traps that when you step on one it’s over.”
That’s what Ostrovskiy likes to do, he sets traps and waits for opponents to fall into them. It’s a strategy that he used on Sunday when he took first place and led Brooklyn’s Edward R. Murrow High School’s chess team to victory at the 48th Greater New York Scholastic Chess Championships at the Brooklyn Marriott.