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Made Possible by the Generosity of
The winning team from Allison Transmission of (left to right) Alex Huffine (board three), Sam Baker (board two), Logan Cross (board one), and Nikita Varfolomeev (board four).
October 26, 2024: Allison Transmission won the 2nd annual Corporate Chess Challenge in Indianapolis!
The 2nd annual Corporate Chess Challenge, presented by Cohen & Malad, LLP, occurred on Saturday, October 26, and this time at the new venue of Newfields where teams were allowed to walk around exhibits and gardens between matches. Teams of four competed for the prize of being "Indy's Smartest Company," and this year, Allison Transmission defended their title successfully to win it again!
Going into the final of four rounds, Eli Lilly & Company was the challenger with 2.5/3.0 to Allison's 3.0/3.0. With a win, Lilly would have taken the title. While Logan Cross on board one for Allison was a difficult adversary for anyone--he has an 8-0 record in this event the past two years--the other three boards had shown vulnerabilities earlier. Roche Diagnostics, a newcomer but VERY competitive, almost took advantage of those vulnerabilities with advantages in the middle game on all three lower boards, unfortunately having the tides turn on two of them for an overall loss.
Lilly hoped to change that, and they began winning board 3 to go up 1-0. Then Lilly had a huge advantage on board two after a Knight fork of the King+Rook, but Allison got a draw in a threefold repetition, meaning Lilly was up 1.5-0.5. Allison soon won a pawn endgame on board 4, evening the score at 1.5-1.5. Logan Cross on board one got his opponent into time pressure, and converted it to victory for a successful title defense.
2024 Final Team Standings
Allison Transmission 1 (4.0/4.0)
Roche Diagnostics (2.5/4.0)
Eli Lilly & Company (2.5/4.0)
OmniSoc + Newfields Hybrid (2.0/4.0)
Newfields (0.5/4.0)
Allison Transmission 2 (0.5/4.0)
This year's event raised more than $7,000 (net) to continue six free chess programs at Title I schools in Indianapolis:
1) Brookside School 54 (IPS)
2) George Washington Carver School 87 (IPS)
3) George Julian School 57 (IPS)
4) James Whitcomb Riley School 43 (IPS)
5) William Bell School 60 (IPS)
6) Girls in STEM Academy (Washington Township)
