August AQE NYS MINORITIES IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE TOURNAMENT REPORT

A large and eager field of chess players in the U1600 section brought up the total to 32 players in this Saturday's Main Place Mall "August Alliance for Quality Education-New York State Minorities in Criminal Justice Tournament". The ratings report is at http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?200708117971.0-12549083 Winners in the Mayor Brown Open section were: 1st- MARK J CLARK of Jamestown, 2nd place went to DAVID "Pawnmaster" MC DUFFIE, Baltimore MD and THOMAS A WARNER, Southtowns. Kudos also go out to Mr. Clark for bringing 3 new chess players all of whom participated in the U1600 section and to Mr. Warner who brought scholastic Ryan Madden-who competed for his first time in an U1600 section.

Most remarkable, however, may have been "The Pawnmaster's" performance. He remains in town while recovering from injuries- suffered when thugs attacked him with 2 x 4s and knives then stole his money and left him for dead on the sidewalk in Baltimore. Despite this recent tragic event, he bettered his performance from the 2007 Mayors Cup by defeating James Davis, David Miller, and Harish Srinsan. His only loss was to this month's undefeated winner Mark Clark and in that back and forth game he was up a whole piece for quite some time. Click the following link to replay that game : http://chess.maribelajar.com/chesspublisher/viewgame.php?id=1186964999

Upsets in this section were Thomas Warner (1753) defeating 2007 Mayors Cup Champion NM Eddie Mark (2121) (Click the link to play the game Play through Tom Warner Vs Eddie Mark), James Davis (1309) defeating David Miller (1610), and Mark Clark (2084)also defeating NM Eddie Mark (long live the king). U1600 Senator Antoine M Thompson section winners were as follows: 1st- EVAN ASHTON, Clarence NY, who followed up his U1400- 2007 Mayors Cup Championship with an undefeated performance, 2nd Place-JAMES J PAUL, tied for 3rd place were JOHN L JOHNSON of Rochester, DAVID M BIDDLE of Tonawanda and MICHAEL D HILLERY. Upsets were Evan Ashton (1372) defeating David Biddle (1446) and Steven Baer (1110) defeating Lucas Seybold (1202) of Jameston. Special mention goes out to Mr. William Rich who convinced a number of his Amherst Senior's Center friends to play tournament chess-some of them for the first time. Well done! Scholastic "Criminal Justice" section winners were:1st-RICKY N MC ARTHUR of Ft. Erie, Canada with an undeafeted score, 2nd place- BEN HUGHES also from Ft. Erie, Canada (and was invited by Ricky to come play here in the States) and 3rd Place-VICTORIA A STAUFFIGER of 66 Street School in Niagara Falls. This was her first chess trophy! Congratulations to all.

A special thanks goes out to George Barton, who presented the Archangel 8 Chess Academy with a new sign "Chess Tournament Today." The chess graphics were donated by employees at his company. It will be updated with the ARCHANGEL 8 CHESS ACADEMY on both sides for display. The upcoming Main Place Mall tournaments on September 15th, October 20th, November 10th and December 8th will all be Chess Cafe Grand Prix events. These will be listed as the Buffalo Monthly Open 10 point (enhanced) Grand Prixs. Cash prizes Open section $250-$150-$100, Class prizes for U1900 and U1750 $75 each. U1600 Cash prizes $150-$90-$60. Advanced registrations are always greatly appreciated via email arcangel8chess@yahoo.com, and confirmation with checks mailed to Archangel 8 Chess Academy, 60F Guilford Lane, Buffalo NY 14221. Don't forget to check the September Chess Life, this blogspot, as well as Empire Chess for more updates. USCF rated chess tournaments are back in Buffalo-Niagara region! Our numbers will continue to grow. So bring a friend, or two, and maybe you will be rewarded as a section champion as well.

I will try to get the ratings report to the USCF this week.

Thanks to all who participated and to those who were thinking of attending but couldn't, you really missed out this month!