More Buffalo-Niagara Karma?

Good things happen to people who visit our area! GM Polgar and FM Truong were elected to 4 year terms to the USCF executive board. I am confident that this will be the best thing to energize American Chess since the Bobby Fischer craze in the early seventies. Also joining them will be Bauer and Berry. Way to go Buffalo! (and the rest of the USA) You have chosen well.

For more details see:

http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2007/07/new-era-for-uscf.html or

http://beta.uschess.org/frontend/news_7_471.php

"Help the Doctor!"

As the USCF election ballots are being counted (and early results are going well for the future of US chess with Polgar, Bauer, Truong and Berry leading for the 4 spots), it is time again to vote. This time it is for the directors of the New York State Chess Association (NYSCA) http://www.nysca.net/.

I am on the ballot as a candidate for one of the 6 upstate directors and could use your vote. So all of you who are NYSCA members check your recent issue of Empire Chess (the Summer edition with GM Perelshteyn and Ron Lohrman on the cover) for your ballot and vote! Those who are not yet members consider joining NYSCA to get its benefits and then also vote. Contact Phyllis Benjamin at nyscasec@msn.com to become a member.

Help the doctor and he will help you.

Are we now on the National Chess Radar?

Have you visited the USCF website recently? If not you should check this out: http://beta.uschess.org/frontend/news_7_463.php

Props to NM Eddie Marks for getting this published and for bringing more national recognition for the "Buffalo-Niagara Chess Renissance."

My games at AQE Minorities in Criminal Justice July 2007

I had promised to put my games from the July 14th tournament "AQE-July-Minorities-in-Criminal-Justice" on our website, so here they are! In so doing, I am hoping for some comments. What mistakes were made? Was there something better at some point?

Thanks again to "The Chess Ambassador" Mr. McDuffie for arranging and directing this event. The full cross table for this tournament can be found at: http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?200707141051-12304570

1. Westcott Glen - Marijan Procyk (Time trouble. At the end I lost on time, but since black had K+R+P against K white had no winning material and that is draw.) 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 Bg4 4.Be2 e6 5.O-O Bd6 6.Nbd2 O-O 7.c3 Nbd7 8.Qc2 c5 9.e4 dxe4 10.Nxe4 Bf5 11.Bd3 Nxe4 12.Bxe4 Bxe4 13.Qxe4 Qc7 14.Bg5 Rfe8 15.Rac1 f6 16.Bh4 Rad8 17.Bg3 Bxg3 18.hxg3 c4 19.Rfe1 b5 20.Re2 Re7 21.Rce1 Rde8 22.Qf4 Qa5 23.Qd6 Nf8 24.a3 Rd7 25.Qc6 Red8 26.Qe4 Qb6 27.Nd2 e5 28.Nf3 exd4 29.Nxd4 a5 30.Qf3 Ng6 31.Qf5 Ne5 32.Rxe5 fxe5 33.Rxe5 b4 34.axb4 axb4 35.Rb5 Qh6 1/2 http://chess.maribelajar.com/chesspublisher/viewgame.php?id=1185078993 2. Marijan Procyk - Bob S. Shao 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qc2 c5 6.Bg2 Bb7 7.O-O cxd4 8.Rd1 Bc5 9.Nxd4 Bxg2 10.Kxg2 Bxd4 11.Rxd4 Nc6 12.Rd1 O-O 13.Bg5 Nb8 14.Nc3 h6 15.Bxf6 Qxf6 16.Qe4 Nc6 17.Rxd7 Ne5 18.Rd2 Rfd8 19.Rad1 Ng6 20.Rd7 Nf8 21.R7d3 Qe7 22.Nd5 Qg5 23.f4 1-0 http://chess.maribelajar.com/chesspublisher/viewgame.php?id=1185079284 3. Mark J Clark (2095) - Marijan Procyk ( Again I was in time trouble but I was able to hold on and white resigned in a lost position. This was a very tough game.) 1.e4 c6 2.f4 e5 3.Nf3 exf4 4.d4 g5 5.Bc4 d5 6.exd5 cxd5 7.Bb5 Nc6 8.O-O Be6 9.Ne5 Qc7 10.Nd2 Bd6 11.Ndf3 h6 12.c3 Nf6 13.Qa4 Bd7 14.Nxd7 Nxd7 15.Re1 Kf8 16.Qb3 Nf6 17.Bd2 Na5 18.Qc2 Ne4 19.Rad1 f5 20.b3 Rc8 21.Rc1 a6 22.Bf1 Kg7 23.Qd3 b5 24.Rc2 Qd8 25.Bc1 g4 26.Ne5 Bxe5 27.dxe5 Qb6 28.Kh1 Rxc3 29.Qxc3 Nxc3 30.Rxc3 Qf2 31.Rd1 Re8 32.Rcd3 Qxa2 33.Bxf4 Nxb3 34.Rxd5 Re7 35.Bd3 Nd2 36.Rd6 Ne4 37.Bxe4 fxe4 38.R6d2 Qe6 39.g3 Qc6 40.Kg1 b4 0-1 http://chess.maribelajar.com/chesspublisher/viewgame.php?id=1185079757 4. Marijan Procyk - Thomas Warner (Black's 8th move was premature. Castling was in order. White was confused by 12.a4 but was that a bad move?) 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f4 c5 6.d5 b5 7.cxb5 a6 8.Nf3 Qa5 9.Bd2 Nbd7 10.Be2 axb5 11.Bxb5 Ba6 12.a4 O-O 13.e5 dxe5 14.fxe5 Ng4 15.Bxd7 Qc7 16.Bxg4 1-0 http://chess.maribelajar.com/chesspublisher/viewgame.php?id=1185080026

Stoyko Exercizes

The 2005 USCAK Tournament in Philadelphia was a 6 player round robin event. My result was +4 -1. The one game which I lost was against FM Steven Stoyko. In this game, I prematurly resigned. I had thought I was losing the pawn, but this was not true. Properly played it could have been a draw. Anyway I "googled" Stoyko and found his exercizes, which might be of interest to you: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/danheisman/Articles/Exercises.html More information can also be found at http://www.kenilworthchessclub.org/articles/lectures/stoyko/stoyko-lecture-4-21-05.htm

FM Steven Stoyko

AQE July Minorities In Criminal Justice Results

The full cross table for this tournament can be found at: http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?200707141051-12304570

The Grand Prix tournament held at the Main Place Mall, Buffalo New York, today attracted 24 chess players from the 42 who had indicated that they would participate. The Masters Open Mayor Byron W Brown Section drew 7 of the 11 advanced registrations, U1500 Antoine M Thompson Section attracted 10 of the 13 advanced registrations and the New York State Minorities In Criminal Justice Section attracted 7 of the 18 students who pre-registered. The tournament was named in honor of the New York State Minorites In Criminal Justice organization for their donation of a brand new high speed Compaq Laptop computer for tournament play, chess training and chess education. It certainly will serve the chess community well. We proudly accept and appreciate their support. In the Scholastic Section, 1st Place with an undefeated 4 - 0 score was Ryan Madden from Pioneer Middle School, Arcade NY. 2nd Place went to new USCF member, Bethany Cates from Bennett Park Montessori School in Buffalo, NY. While 3rd Place went to another new USCF member, Lucas Hurtt from 66th Street School in Niagara Falls, NY. Others new to tournament play and USCF membership were Victoria Stauffiger (66th Street School) Niagara Falls NY, Rey Cruz (Enterprise Charter School) Buffalo NY and Frank Rodriguez (Stanley Makowski Early Childhood Center) Buffalo NY. The U1500 Antoine M Thompson Section had a three way tie for 1st Place as Robert Gerow, Dr. James Paul, and Francis Buennagel split the prize money. We welcomed new USCF member Michael Hillery in this group. Honorable mention goes to scholastic player Aaron Mc Duffie (Casey Middle) Amherst NY, who did not rest on his laurals as the U1000 Mayor's Cup City Champion 2007, and stepped up to the higher section and even scored his first win in this more competetive bracket. In the Master's Open Mayor Byron W Brown Section, National Master Marijan Procyk (2059) won with an undefeated with 3.5 points. He captured 1st Place after defeating Mark Clark (2106) from Jamestown NY, who was the highest rated player in this section. Mark Clark and Robert Johnson (1863) tied for 2nd Place with 2.5 points. Upsets in this section included David Miller (1595) defeating Robert Johnson (1863), Glenn Westcott(1653) tying Marijan Procyk (2059), and Robert Johnson (1863) (Jamestown NY) tying Mark Clark(2106). Mayor's Cup 2007 Champion NM Eddie Mark, did not play but made an appearance and played some speed chess against Marijan Procyk. Eddie also posed for pictures and awarded the trophies to the scholastic winners. He just had come back after playing in the 7 day schedule of the World Open Tournament in Philadelphia PA, in which he just missed winning some prize money. The next AQE NYS Minorities In Criminal Justice Grand Prix Tournament will be on Saturday, August 11th. Main Place Mall, 390 Main Street, Buffalo NY, 4 Round Swiss, Game 45. Advanced Entry Fee $35 before Monday August 6th, vs $45 CASH ONLY AT THE SITE. You can also pre register by emailing to arcangel8chess@yahoo.com with complete name, USCF ID number, current USCF rating and section either Open or U1500 section.

AQE Minorities In Crimial Justice Day

Saturday, July 14th, 2007 Main Place Mall 390 Main Street Buffalo, NY 14201

Grand Prix Swiss Format, Check In no later than 9:15am if not Advanced Paid! Sections: Masters Open, U1500 and Scholastics First round start at 10am, Rd2 at 11:45am, Rd 3 at 1:30pm and Rd 4 at 2:15pm 4 Round Swiss Format, Game 45, Entry fee $35 and $15 Scholastics Masters Open Cash Prizes $150-$90-$60, Clas prize $75 Scholastics Prizes Trophies for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. All participants must be or must become a USCF member to play. No eliminations. TD can combine sections if attendance is low. Weather forcast calls for RAIN! Get your Online entries to arcangel8chess@yahoo.com in now, with name, USCF ID number, and USCF current rating. CASH ONLY at the Site. Must bring chess set, chess board, chess clock, pencil and able to write algebraic notations. Come early so we can start on time! Same format for August 11 and Septemeber 15th, 2007. I have invited JP Losman and Melvin Fowler both from the NFL Buffalo Bills Football team who also play and Melvin has played with us at Spot Coffee and is interested in helping us promote Chess in Western New York.

Coming soon to a park near you?

Imagine if Buffalo-Niagara could have its own version of NYC's Washington Park?

I had just spoken to a nice gentleman and causual chess player who is involved in the renovation of a park in Buffalo that is located at the intersection of Main and Jewett in Buffalo. He said that they were considering adding inlaid outdoor chess tables there. This would be great!

He mentioned that he thought there was a few such tables in Lewiston. I was not aware of this and I will go check on this.

Summertime and chess in WNY would be a tremendous combination. I would even be interested in sponsoring a staged traveling outdoor tournament circuit.

Does anyone know where else in the area such outdooor chess activity is taking place?