WNY Chess: Tournaments coming up in Grand Island, Buffalo

By Bianca Gonzalez
(Photos by Bianca Gonzalez; above-Unrated players compete at Buffalo State)

The Buffalo State University (BSU) Chess Club recently held its first-ever BSU Homecoming Chess Tournament in partnership with the BSU Chess Club and QueensKnight Scholastic Chess Club. The tournament had 20 players in the unrated section and 17 players in the rated section, which counts toward a player’s United States Chess Federation (USCF) rating.

For much of the BSU Chess Club, this was their first tournament.

“There has been so much love and care building up to this tournament, to the point where it’s so worth it just to be able to see everybody and hear everybody’s stories about why they love chess, how long they’ve played chess,” said Jamie Ervolina, the reigning president of the BSU Chess Club.

While she lost most of her games, she feels more motivated than ever to continue.  “It’s been such a fun experience, and it’s definitely made me love the game even more. It makes me want to sit down and study methods, play more and sign up for tournament after tournament just to improve,” she said.

“I’ve met a lot of very kind people and been able to play a lot of really interesting games, and I feel like I am going to walk away with a lot more knowledge than I came up with,” said Anna Borrelli, who is on the executive board for the club. She ended the tournament with three wins and two losses. She shared how different it feels to play in person instead of online.

“I definitely say playing in person can be a lot more challenging for me. I find that I tend to get way more distracted than if I’m in my bedroom, where it’s quiet,” said Borello, adding that “I also really like the human connection aspect of it, where you’re able to chat with people before and afterwards.”

Jorge Gomez, another board member who played in the rated section, found the experience “very humbling, but it was very fun to get to experience playing in a tournament.” 

Ervolina hopes to pass on the torch to other members of the executive board when she graduates this year. She credits the success of the event to her board members. “I’m extremely thankful for them, because this would not have happened without the work and effort they both put into it,” said Ervolina.

In the rated section, Roy Hamann secured a clear first place, achieving three wins and a draw across four games. Dylan Xav O’Brien, Tom Warner and BCA co-founder Mark Johnson all tied for second place with three wins each.

In the unrated section, Artur Verbov placed first, winning all five games. Sushanth Jothiram Mohan placed second, with four out of five wins. Jami Satya Vaishnavi placed third with three out of five wins.

The chess club’s faculty adviser, Daniel Blum, initially reached out to Antonio Cirillo, who runs the QueensKnight Scholastic Chess Club, to be the USCF-certified tournament director for this event.

QueensKnight will host a scholastic chess tournament for K-12 students on Oct 25 at Grand Island High School with three sections: unrated, under 1300 and open sections. The admission cost is $12 and includes lunch. Medals will be given out for the open section. For questions, contact Susan Szczublewski at susanszczublewski@gicsd.org.

Archangel 8 Chess Academy will run a two-day USCF-rated tournament on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 11 and 12, to celebrate National Chess Month and honor the late Glenn Conlin, who regularly attended the Academy’s tournaments and was a lifetime member of USCF. He died at the end of June.

The two-day event will take place at the Merriweather Library. It will consist of five rounds with a time control of 55 minutes with a 5-second delay. There will be an open section and an under-1400 section, with the top three winners in each section.

National Master Robert Nasiff, who was featured in Searching for Bobby Fischer, will attend. For more information and to sign up, email knightsof64@yahoo.com.