Warner organizes USCF-rated events and weekly chess clubs

By Bianca Gonzalez
(Image above: Tom Warner at the 2024 World Blitz Chess Championship, with Grand Master and five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand)

While the internet has made chess accessible at any time, in-person tournaments remain a longstanding tradition, bringing players together to play longer games and analyze them afterward. 

“I think there are a lot more people playing now because of the internet, but they’re all sitting at home playing online. I’d like to see more people playing over the board. To me, the experience of playing in a tournament is a lot more fun,” says Tom Warner, a tournament director who has been running tournaments for over 30 years in Western New York. 

Warner hosts a monthly blitz tournament with short time controls at the Buffalo Chess Association (BCA) in East Amherst. He also hosts a monthly tournament with the BCA that has longer time controls and is one of the few tournaments in Western New York to offer a cash prize. 

“I wanted to try and get some of the better players out to play chess again,” Warner said.

Barry Davis, a local National Master, was at the inaugural tournament held in August. The National Master title is one of the highest honors granted to chess players, and is awarded to a player once they achieve a rating of over 2200 by the United States Chess Federation (USCF).

Just as Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit saw a rise in chess players in 2020, in the 1970s many were inspired to take up the game during the height of Bobby Fischer’s career. Warner was one of those players swept up in the “Fischer Boom.”

In particular, Warner took an interest after Fischer defeated Boris Spassky in 1972 to become the world chess champion.

“I was in the Navy, and everybody was following Fischer at the time. So a couple of guys showed me how to play, and I got hooked right away,” said Warner.

In the 1980s, Warner attended a Buffalo-based chess club frequented by several National Masters. However, that club would fizzle out in the ’90s, and Warner saw there weren’t any regular tournaments. 

Around 1992, Warner officially became a club tournament director, giving him the license to hold tournaments of up to 50 players.

“Nobody else was doing it, so I thought I’d give it a try, and it turned out I enjoyed doing them,” he said. 

During the 2000s, some of Warner’s largest tournaments were the Western New York Open and the Niagara Falls Open (not to be confused with Continental Chess’s ongoing chess open by the same name). Both had over 40 players.

His events inspired other tournament directors, such as Michael A. “Coach” McDuffie, who runs Archangel 8 Chess Academy, and Antonio Cirillo, who runs QueensKnight Scholastic Chess Club.

Warner continued to attend other chess events as well, securing first place in the Mayor’s Cup.

Starting in 2006, Warner hosted a chess club at Pioneer High School in Yorkshire, where his grandsons attended at the time. The club joined the Buffalo Chess League, which is no longer active but was run by the Rochester Chess Center. His team was highly competitive, winning seven out of 10 years as a public school playing against private schools. They also won three state championships.

“The last time we went to the playoffs was in 2019, which was probably the funnest one,” said Warner. 

When two chess teams compete, the strongest player from each team faces off on the first chess board in the tournament, known as first board, while the second strongest players play on second board, and so on.

His team made the playoffs that year with a fifth grader playing on first board.

“We won. We beat Canisius and Bishop Timon. And it was the most fun I’ve had,” he said.

Warner suffered a heart attack in 2019, and then COVID-19 hit, leaving him unable to continue his chess club at Pioneer High School.

Warner still hosts a number of clubs and events throughout Western New York. He runs the North Collins Chess Club at the North Collins Library every Wednesday from 2 to 6 p.m. He also hosts the Southtowns Chess Club on Mondays from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at McDonald’s in Arcade. 

Warner’s USCF-rated event with the BCA will take place at its central location in East Amherst on Saturday, Oct. 18. Registration closes at 9:45 a.m. and play begins at 10 a.m. There will be four rounds with a time control of 45 minutes and a 5-second delay. Registration by Oct. 17 is $20, and registration on the day of the event is $25. There will be cash prizes based on the number of entries with a guaranteed $200 for first place.

Warner’s USCF-rated blitz tournament with the BCA took place on Oct. 2. Registration for upcoming events can be found on the BCA’s website.

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Bianca Gonzalez writes a monthly chess feature for The Buffalo Hive.