Our New First Grade Champion!

After becoming the New York State 1st grade champion, does Felix now have his sites on the entire USA?

Success in Saratoga!

Our hero.

Rev. Marijian Procyk, chess mentor, and Dr. Mark Mieth, his humble driver,

with Felix Ling NYS 1st Grade Champion 2007

FELIX (YUANFEI) LING , who recently turned 7, entered his first USCF rated tournament-The New York State K-8 Championships- this weekend in Saratoga Springs, NY and he came home with a trophy as big as he is! (Quite frankly, it was so big,it was hard to get into the SUV he was riding in.) He scored 4/7 in the combined first and second grade section which tied him for third overall in that section. He, however, was the top first grader in the state on tie breaks. His provisional rating is now 799. I am certain that that number will quickly climb and he will accumulate many more awards in the near future.

Other notable side lights from ths weekend are:

REV. MARIJAN PROCYK having the opportunity to play 3 FIDE titled players in the Empire State Open and finishing a very respectable 3/6 in the Open section and increasing his rating closer to the master level. He also found a new Chinese Buffet restaurant that he likes, but, alas, no mango pudding.

The only other WNY local scholastic player, THOMAS HAHN, from Stella Niagara Education Park, performing admirably in the challenging 5th grade section with a 3/7 score. (The top player in that section is rated 1800+)

Merry Christmas to all!

I just wished to take this opportunity to wish one and all a very

Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year!

From "the chessdoctor"

PS: I will not be able to be at the regular Wegmans Wednesday chess session tomorrow 12/26/07.

EARLY CHILDHOOD CHESS TRAINING CLASSES

MAIN PLACE MALL - UPPER LEVEL 390 MAIN STREET BUFFALO, NY 14202 MALL POLICY STATES ALL STUDENTS MUST BE SUPERVISED AT ALL TIME WHILE DURING MALL HOURS BY GUARDIAN OR PARENT. REGISTER NO LATER THAN 9:30AM CLASS STARTS PROMPTLY AT 10AM UNTIL 2PM CLASSES FOR STUDENTS IN GRADES 2ND THRU 8TH GRADE. STUDENTS WHO ARE LOOKING TO PARTICIPATE IN CHESS CLUB AT THIER SCHOOL. ENTRY FEE: $10 PER STUDENT PER DAY OR $30 FOR 3 DAYS. BRING CHESS SET, CHESS BOARD, NOTEBOOK AND PENCIL. BEGINNERS, FEMALES AND HOMESCHOOLERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO PARTICIPATE. ADVANCE NOTICE BY EMAILING ARCANGEL8CHESS@YAHOO.COM. TEACHERS, PARENTS ARE WELCOME TO HELP BE TEAM LEADERS TO LEARN HOW TO MANAGE THEIR CHESS CLUB AT SCHOOLS.

BUFFALO BLIZZARD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS REMINDER

KENMORE COMMUNITY CENTER 135 WILBUR AVENUE, (ELMWOOD AND MANG) KENMORE, NY 14217 REGISTRATION: 8am till 9am LATE ARRIVALS MUST TAKE ONE HALF POINT BYE! SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29TH, 2007 CANADIAN RATED PLAYERS, FEMALES AND HOME SCHOOLERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REGISTER. 5 ROUNDS, SWISS FORMAT, USCF RATED OPEN TOURNAMENT, NO ELIMINATION ROUNDS ONE THRU FOUR: GAME 45, FINAL ROUND 5 GAME 60. ROUNDS BEGIN AT 10AM, 11:45AM, 1:30PM, 3:15PM AND 4:45PM. ALL PLAYERS MUST HAVE CHESS BOARD, CHESS SET, WRITE NOTATIONS, CHESS CLOCK AND PENCIL. CHESS GEAR VENDOR SOPHIA LEWIS WILL BE ON SITE FOR HOLIDAY TIES, GIFTS, CHESS EQUIPMENT AND CHESS BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE. CASH PRIZES IN ALL SECTIONS BASED UPON 20 ENTRIES ARE AS FOLLOWS: 1ST PLACE: TROPHY AND $150, 2ND PLACE $90, AND 3RD PLACE $60. LEVELS OF PLAY ARE: OPEN SECTION, U1600, U1400 AND U1200. ENTRY FEE $25 ADVANCE BEFORE DECEMBER 22ND OR $35 (USD) CASH AT THE DOOR, NO CHECKS OR CREDIT CARDS. CAN PRE-REGISTER BY EMAILING ME COMPLETE INFORMATION WITH FULL NAME, CURRENT USCF ID NUMBER, CURRENT USCF RATING, ADDRESS AND CONTACT NUMBER. EMAIL ME AT ARCANGEL8CHESS@YAHOO.COM. ALL CHECKS MAILED TO ARCHANGEL 8 CHESS ACADEMY, BLIZZARD CHAMPIONSHIPS, 60F GUILFORD LANE, BUFFALO NY 14221. GROUP DISCOUNTS FOR 6 OR MORE FROM SAME CLUB OR SCHOOL.

KEN-TON SCHOLASTIC CHESS LEAGUE RESULTS

The Ken-Ton Chess League has completed its 2nd week of competition. The Chess League meets every thursday night from 6pm till 8:30pm at the Kenmore Community Center, 135 Wilbur Avenue, Kenmore NY 14217. All ages and levels of play are encouraged to participate. Beginners, females and home schooolers are encouraged to participate. Expert Rated Chess player, Douglas Dubose gave all the students personal time for chess improvement before their matches. We applaud Douglas Dubose and Tony Kimbourgh for thier time and talent offered to our students. This week saw First grader and Home Schooled, Samantha Rodriguez take the lead in competition. She is currently in first place with a total of 932 points. All players begin the league with 900 points. Points are deducted or added based upon thier opponents club rating. Match play saw Samantha Rodriguez defeat Jessica Lester 7th grader, Andrew Lester 8th grade defeated Frankie Rodriguez 4th grade, Katie Czerwinski 5th grade defeats and upsets Trevor Cohn 4th grade, and Eric Lubas 8th grade defeats Nick Czerwinski 7th grade. Undefeated players with a 2-0 record are as follows: Samantha Rodriguez, Andrew Lester and Eric Lubas. Excused players were: Benjamin Havey, Beatrice Havey, Evan Hayes and Alex Segelhurst. Total Point Leaders as of Week 2 (12/20/2007) 1.Samantha Rodriguez (932) 2.Andrew Lester (931) 2.Eric Lubas(931) 4.Katie Czerwinski(916) 4.Benjamin Havey(916) 6.Trevor Cohn (900) 7.Frankie Rodriguez (869) 8.Nick Czerwinski (867) 9.Beatrice Havey(884) 9.Evan Hayes (884) 9.Jessica Lester (884) 9.Alex Segelhurst (884) Week 3 starts on Thursday, December 27, 2006. Doors open at 6pm, lessons start at 6:30pm and matches follow the lessons. If you would like to participate, or start a Chess Club at your school contact the Chess Ambassador at arcangel8chess@yahoo.com. The ARCHANGEL 8 CHESS ACADEMY wishes everyone a Happy, Wonderful and safe holiday. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Scenes from SCIO

One of the 12 happy students from Scio

The winners of the K-6 section Justin Wedge, Mason Windus, and Z Wang Advanced Winner Holden Bernstein with Tournament Director Garry Reynolds Cody Hennard, 2nd place Advanced with "the old woodpusher" Third Place Advanced Nico Alvarado

Fourth in Advanced

Dillon Smith

I just was sent some pictures from the unrated scholastic tournament that was held in the Southern Tier on Saturday, December 1st. So it's time to do the report of the Scio Unrated Chess Tournament.

I can attest that it was a very well attended and run event- It was well worth the drive. Mr. Garry Reynolds "the old woodpusher" has been putting on these events twice a year. This event also was aided by Ms. Karen Insley the director of the Scio Central Chess Club. Both did a marvelous job.

A total of 44 students from Western New York and Pennslyvania participated. They ranged from 1st to 12th grade.

The winners in the K-6 section were: 1st Justin Wedge a sixth grader from Bradford, PA, 2nd Mason Windus a 6th grader from Scio, NY, 3rd "Z" Wang a 6th grader from Olean, NY.

The winner of the Advanced section (7-12) was Holden Bernstein an 11th grader from Olean who had a perfect 5-0 score. There was a 4 way tie for 2nd between Cody Hennard (4th grader from Bradford, PA), Nico Alvarado (7th grader from Bradford, PA), Dillon Smith (7th grader from Scio, NY), and Rory Burke (11th grader from Canisteo-Greenwood, NY). On tiebreaks as determined by performance score, 2nd went to Hennard, third to Alvarado, and 4th to Smith.

The buzz of the tournament, however, may have been the play of Felix Ling, a first grader from Amherst who played in the Advanced section and had a +2-3 score as he beat first an eleventh grader then a 12 th grader in rounds 1 and 2. His loss in round 3 was to another 11th grader- the tournament winner, and had had a winning position but missed going up a whole rook and instead traded queens. In round 4 he lost a hard fought game to another 11th grader. Such play earned him the nickname "The Little Asian Tiger." Perhaps if he continues to apply himself, he just might become a Tiger Woods-like prodigy on the chess board.

KLCC BUFFALO OPEN GRAND PRIX RESULTS

Private David Evans, Jr.

Died May 23, 2003

During Iraqi Operation Freedom

Here are the results from the Kellogg Leadership for Community Change Buffalo Open Grand Prix Tournament. Total attendance was 39 players, a new high for the year. The Kellogg LCC Tournament was dedicated to one of Buffalo's soldiers who died in Iraq, a Kensington HS graduate David Evans, Jr. For more information about the local hero can be found at http://www.militarycity.com/valor/256662.html

New York State Senator Antoine M. Thompson stopped by and took photos with some of the winners and the players. Senator Thompson is currently working with the family members to raise money for the David Evans, Jr. Scholarship Fund as well as to increase awareness of the benefits of chess.

Contributions for this worthy cause were accepted by his father, David Evans, Sr. Each person who donated to the fund were given a Blockbuster raffle ticket. The WINNING TICKET was #740217. The winner should contact me for their prize. Results from the David Evans, Jr. Memorial Section were as follows: 1st Place and undefeated (5-0), for his 3rd tournament this year - Aaron Mc Duffie; 2nd Place went to Kingman Bassett III, and 3rd Place & Top Female was Bethany Cates. Top upsets were Bridget Smith defeating Julius Spencer (529) for a total of 214 points in Round 3 and Victoria Stauffiger also defeating Julius Spencer for a total of 159 Points in Round 5. In the Mayor Byron W. Brown Section (Grades K-3), 1st Place and Undefeated for his second tournament this year (4-0-1) - Trevor Cohn; 2nd Frankie Rodriguez, and 3rd Shannon Smith. Top upset was Samantha Rodriguez defeating brother Frankie in a disparity of 537 points! This occurred after she got mad when he captured her queen. The message is: "Don't Mess With Samantha's Queen!"

The Kellogg Grand Prix Section had a tie for 1st Place between NM Lionel L. Davis and Rev. Marijan Procyk. 3rd Place was also a tie this time between three players- David "Pawn Master" Mc Duffie (Baltimore, MD), Luka Glinsky (Erie, Pa) and Mark Clark (Bemus Point, NY). Thomas Warner captured the most upset points (294) in Round 3, when he defeated 13 year old Aquino Inigo (2041), a new Canadian visitor. It was in that same round where Marijan Procyk drew with National Master Lionel L Davis (rating difference of 143), Vince Woodard drew Mark Clark (difference of 201). While in Round 2, David "Pawn Master" Mc Duffie defeated Mark Clark with a differential of 211 points. I also would want to welcome the other Canadian and first time visitor Michael Prysiazyny (1772). The Senator Antoine M Thompson Section was once again won by Evan Ashton with an undefeated 4-0 score. Evan hasn't been defeated since winning the Mayors Cup back in June 2007. Evan had his picture taken with Senator Thompson. A four way tie for 2nd Place took place with a new player Jerome Barton, along with John Campbell, David Biddle and William Rich. Adam Schunk had the largest upset point when he defeated Steven Baer who was rated 440 higher than him. Other noteable surprise results were William Rich defeating Dr. James Paul (192 point difference) and then also over Chess Gear Vendor Sophia L Lewis (237 difference), Phillip Laugeman besting David Biddle (403 point seperation), and Lee Smith had an upset win over Sophia L Lewis (a 234 point disparity). Sophia, however, was the Top Female for the November Grand Prix. New chess players were Michael Gerow and Jerome Barton. The next tournament will be THE BLIZZARD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS! 5 Rounds, Game 45 & 60, SWISS, Saturday, December 29th, 2007. Sections are Open, U1600, U1400 and U1200. All sections have the same CASH AWARDS based upon 20 entries of 1ST PLACE $150, 2ND PLACE $90 AND 3RD PLACE $60. Advanced entry fees are the same $25 (USD) before December 22nd, or CASH $35 (USD) AT 135 Wilbur Avenue, Kenmore Community Center, Kenmore NY. Registration closes at 9:15am, First Round starts at 10am. All checks and registration must be mailed to ARCHANGEL 8 CHESS ACADEMY, 60F Guilford Lane, Buffalo, NY 14221. Include full name, current id number, current rating and section. Can also email me at arcangel8chess@yahoo.com. ALL LATE ARRIVALS MUST TAKE 1/2 POINT BYE.

Main Place Mall December Tournament

On this past Saturday, December 8, there was a tournament in Main Place Mall in Buffalo organized by Michael Mc Duffie "the Chess Ambassador".

Master Lionel Davis and yours truly shared 1-2 place. Here are some positions from my games:

1. 1:0. M.P.-Michael Prysiazyny Black played in this position 17. …Nd3. How good or bad was that move? Game finished in 11 more moves. 2. 0:1. Aquini Inigo-M.P. Black is pawn up but he is to lose the a-pawn in next move. What should black play? 3. draw. M.P.-Lionel Davis After 26.Nd3 Qf6 Black offered draw. He was low on time. Was I justified to accept it? 4. 0:1. Tom Warner-M.P. After 19...Nd5 20.Bd2 what move would you play? Evan Ashton won all four of his games in the Under 1600 Section. Congratulations!

A full report likely will be provided by Mr. Mc Duffie in the near future.

Chess.com

Did you have chance to look at this web page? http://www.chess.com/ You could play games there, but there are many things just to look around.