Empire Chess Report for the Summer Issue

The following is my unedited report that I had sent to the editor of Empire Chess the quarterly magazine of the New York State Chess Assosiation. I am unsure how much copy will be given to the WNY report, so I thought I would let our membership read the report as I had submitted it. Buffalo-Niagara Chess News by Dr. Mark Mieth During this spring a very vibrant chess community continues to grow out on the Niagara Frontier. Once again the primary gardener cultivating this field is “the chess ambassador”- Mr. Michael Mc Duffie. Not only is he tending his initial school clubs in the Buffalo area, he also has plowed new ground with more scholastic clubs in the cities of Lockport and Niagara Falls. All tolled he has founded or help establish 8 such clubs. On top of all that, he also continues to hold monthly USCF rated tournaments every second Saturday of the month at the Main Place Mall in downtown Buffalo. Meanwhile I have been more of a gentleman farmer by complementing the efforts with sponsoring and directing the monthly free USCF events as well as the premier USCF rated scholastic event in the area- The Stella Niagara Excelsior Scholastic. With this in mind, let’s survey the landscape. March 2007 AQE Bill Zachary Memorial : High school student Steven Demjanenko sprouted up in the 19 player field of the Open section and tied for first with Roy Hamann with an undefeated 3.5/4 score. Finishing first in the 6th -8th grade section with a perfect 4/4 was Morgan Beach, while Ryan Madden captured first in the 3rd-5th grade section with a 3.5/4 score. Niagara Falls, Ontario Open: Reverend Marijan Procyk represented our nation well by finishing with a positive score of 3.5/5 and raised his Canadian rating to 2163 in a very strong field that included several FIDE Masters. April 2007 Marchand Memorial: Several Buffalo-Niagara players flourished at Rochester’s biggest event. Although not “best in show” they blossomed nicely. They included second place finishes for the U2200 prize by Rev. Marijan Procyk; Roy Hamann second in the U1800 section; and John Dolan and Dr. Mark Mieth tying for second place in the U1400 section. Free April: 18 players took part and despite missing the first two games, Rev. Procyk continued to thrive by winning the tournament with a 3.5/5 score. AQE Sherman Thomas Memorial: Attracted 34 players with excellent growth shown by Randall Beach, with an perfect score in the 3rd-5th grade section, and Partho Bhattacharaya who won the 6th-8th grade section with an undefeated 3.5/4. Vance Williams and Mark Clark tied for first in the Open section with 3.5/4 scores. Growing like weeds in the open section, however, are Evan Ashton and Yakun Hu. Third Annual Stella Niagara-Excelsior Scholastic: 40 players participated in 4 sections. Germinating in the Beginner section and winning in a playoff over Rex Herzberg was Jacob Bennett. Third place went to Ryan Palmisano. In the Intermediate section a Pennsylvanian Cody Hennard rose above a crowded second place crop of locals including Aaron Mc Duffie, Neil Kasalra, Tyler Smith, Ryan Madden, and Ed Basinski. In the Advanced Scholastic section growing like a sunflower was Bob Shao who bested the another bumper crop of locals finishing second including Nolan Henrie, Benjamin Havey, Partho Bhattacharya, and Alex Mieth. In the Quick Open section tying for first were Tom Warner and Rev. Procyk with third place finishers of Todd Hennard, David Biddle, Evan Ashton, and Michael Mc Duffie. May 2007 Free May: A sudden change of climate must have allowed for new faces to pop up on the leader board with numerous upsets occurring. Francis Buenagel had a ratings increase of 147 points thanks largely to a 362 point upset, meanwhile fellow UB student Brady Shannon scored a 596 point victory. But, the biggest upset of 614 points went to Paul Gillmeister as he beat Rev. Marijan Procyk in the final round and thus finished clear first with a 4/5 score. AQE Habeeb Memorial: A hearty but somewhat sparser crowd ignored the beautiful weather and braved playing chess on Mother’s Day weekend. The field was split into just two sections with Aaron McDuffie winning the scholastic section and Mark Clark winning the Open. Chicago Open: Spreading out into unfamiliar territory, UB student Harish Srinivasan showed the nation that Buffalo breeds resilient chess players by capturing 2nd place in the Under 1700 section despite losing his first round game. His final round game is below: Harish Srinivasan (1621) –Jerry Christner (1682) [B01] "Scandinavian defense” Chicago Open U1700 Round 7 May 28, 2007 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Bf5 5. Bd3 Bg6 6. Nf3 Nf6 7. Ne5 Bxd3 8. Qxd3 c6 9. O-O e6 10. Bd2 Qd8 11. Rfe1 Be7 12. Ne4 Nxe4 13. Rxe4 Nd7 14. Nxd7 Qxd7 15. Rae1 O-O-O 16. b3 Bd6 17. c4 c5 18. Bc3 Qc7 19. g3 Rhg8 20. a3 g5 21. b4 cxd4 22. Rxd4 Be5 23. Rxe5 Qxe5 24. Rxd8+ Rxd8 25. Qxd8+ Kxd8 26. Bxe5 g4 27. c5 Kd7 28. Kf1 Kc6 29. a4 a5 30. bxa5 Kxc5 31. Bc3 Kc4 32. Be5 Kb4 33. Bc7 Kxa4 34. Ke2 Kb5 35. Ke3 Kc6 36. Bb6 Kd5 37. Kf4 f5 38. f3 h5 39. fxg4 hxg4 40. Ba7 Kd6 41. Ke3 Ke5 42. Kd3 Kd5 43. Kc3 Ke4 44. Kc4 e5 45. Kb5 Kf3 46. Kb6 Kg2 47. Kxb7 Kxh2 48. Bb8 e4 49. Bf4 e3 50. Bxe3 Kxg3 51. a6 f4 52. Bxf4+ Kxf4 53. a7 g3 54. a8=Q g2 55. Qa1 Black resigns 1-0 June 2007 First Annual Buffalo Mayor’s Cup: Destined to become the event to conclude the season, Michael Mc Duffie revived the battle to determine who the chess kings are of the Buffalo area. Nearly 50 players partook in this challenge in 4 sections. Winning the U1000 section was his son Aaron McDuffie with a perfect 5/5. Evan Ashton captured the U1400 crown with an undefeated 4.5/5. Tom Warner took home the U1800 title also with a perfect 5/5. Seventh-grader Bob Shao (1654 pre tournament) won the top scholastic performance award by posting over a 2000 level performance in the Open section. He may have shed the sunflower label and more aptly be considered a growing Venus fly trap as he drew the top two rated players in the tournament who were rated 2271 and 2155! The new king of chess for 2007 and winner of the Buffalo Mayor’s Cup is National Master Eddie Mark III. He went undefeated with a 4/5 score. Finishing second were Experts Mark Clark and Douglas Dubose. The decisive victory for NM Mark was this third round game: NM Eddie Mark III (2096) – NM Barry Davis (2155) [A13] Third Round of the First Annual Mayor’s Cup of Buffalo-June 10, 2007 1. c4 {0} e6 {0} 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 dxc4 4. Qa4+ Bd7 5. Qxc4 Bc6 6. Nf3 Nd7 7. d4 Nb6 8. Qd3 Nf6 9. O-O Be4 10. Qb3 Qd5 11. Qd1 Bxb1 12.Rxb1 Qxa2 13. Bf4 Nfd5 14. Qc2 Bd6 15. Ne5 Bxe5 16. Bxe5 O-O 17. e4 Ne7 18.Rfc1 Qa5 19. b4 Qa3 20. Bxc7 Rfc8 21. Qd2 Nc6 22. Bxb6 axb6 23. d5 exd5 24.exd5 Ne5 25. d6 Nf3+ 26. Bxf3 Qxf3 27. Rxc8+ Rxc8 28. d7 Rd8 29. Re1 Qc6 30.Re8+ Rxe8 31. d8=Q h6 32. Q8d3 b5 33. Q2c3 Black resigns 1-0 Upcoming Events: Monthly 10 point enhanced Grand Prix Tournaments at the Main Place Mall Second Saturday of each month on July 14, August 11, and September 15 October 12-14 Second Annual Jeff White Memorial-Excelsior Open (likely) 40 point enhanced Grand Prix tournament and International Chess Festival in Niagara Falls, NY Please also remember to check www.buffalochess.blogspot.com for daily information about the chess happenings in the Buffalo-Niagara region. Faithfully submitted by the “chess doctor” aka Dr. Mark Mieth NB: I have included the captions for the attached pictures from the recent Mayor's Cup if you wish to use them.