Gallery
No pix, never happened.
2020 Valentine's Day (actually, SAT FEB 29) on Grand Island
HUGE tournament (incredible turnout from the GI'ers in the Unrated [non-USCF] section)! Thank you host and director!
Congratulations to LEV SCHNEIDERMAN (5B) for collecting the third-place trophy in the U1200 section. Lev went 4-1-0 on the day. (The ultimate winner? 4-0-1. Lev was in it to win it, all the way!)
And led by that performance, the EVCS team of Lev, LOGAN MARZAHN (3B) and LUKE BINISKIEWICZ (6B) took the third-place team award. Logan's 3-2-0 was good for ninth place.
Special props to Luke for his first win in USCF competition. Fifth round (by which time many players have left it all on the board), against a player who finished ahead of him in the tournament. He stayed in there. Unfortunately for Luke, the coaches will expect him to pull rabbits out of hats all the time now! No good deed goes unpunished, Luke; life lesson.
2020 School Choice Week Tournament
At our second annual celebration of National School Choice Week on JAN 25, EVCS'ers made the most of the home field.
WOLF SCHNEIDERMAN (2A, seventh from left) won first-place and classmate ZACCHAEUS (KY) MOSHER (2A, leftmost) second in the Primary K-3 section; KY did this in his second-ever tournament. PAVEL SCHNEIDERMAN (3B, fourth from right) won second-place and LOGAN MARZAHN (3B, seventh from right) third in the Under 1000 section. LEV SCHNEIDERMAN (5B, eighth from right) won second-place in the 1000+ section.
2020 Blizzard Bowl
Tough sledding for EVCS at the ninth annual Sonwil Distribution-sponsored event, the largest of the year in Buffalo-Niagara. Keeping the good guys from being plowed under completely, LOGAN MARZAHN (3B) turned in the best result in the K-12 section by a player rated under 400 for a trophy. As they say with the Bills (and Sabres): Wait till next year!
2-2-2 in Yorkshire (that's in Cattaraugus County, y'all)
LEV SCHNEIDERMAN (5B) will be responsible for hauling in another team award for EVCS after SAT DEC 7's big scholastic event in the countryside: A second-place finish to go along with his personal second-place trophy in the K-12 section with an undefeated record (4-0-0). Lev just missed out on gold on tie-breakers (to former EVCS'er Felix Hatton). In so doing, Lev also knocked off the highest-rated player in his section. (Let's just ponder for a moment that an EVCS'er and a former EVCS'er, in the fifth and seventh grades respectively, mopped the floor with every high school player in the tournament.) The third "2" on the day came from Tournament Group Head Coach KURT SCHNEIDERMAN, whose 2-1-0 was good for the silver. Kurt's only loss on the day was to a player rated 594 points higher--no shame there, especially when one of his two wins was against a +539 player!
Steel City Yields to EVCS Mettle
All hail LEV SCHNEIDERMAN (5B), who won first-place in the Lackawanna Youth Board Fall (formerly the Father Baker) Chess Tournament K-5 section on SAT NOV 23! Lev was 5-0-0 on the day. Close on his heels were younger brother PAVEL SCHNEIDERMAN (3B) and ALIEU JALLOW (also 3B) finishing fourth- and fifth-place, respectively.
In the K-6 section, congrats to second-place winner OMAR JALLOW (6A)! Omar’s 4-1-0 pushed him past EVCS alumnus Felix Hatton, whose 3-1-1 matched ABU JALLOW’s (8A) record, but Abu settled for fourth-place on a tie-breaker.
EVCS’ers finished 1-4-5-7-8 in the K-5; 2-4-8 in the K-6. Of 10 trophies in these two sections, they won half.
BACK ROW (from left): Lev Schneiderman, Abu Jallow, Omar Jallow, Luke Biniskiewicz (6B). FRONT ROW: Logan Marzahn (3B), Wolf Schneiderman (2A), Alieu Jallow, Pavel Schneiderman.
NOV 16 (Johnetta Cole No. 3)
WOLF SCHNEIDERMAN (2A) with his third-place K-3 trophy.
LEV SCHNEIDERMAN (5B) with his first-place K-5 trophy
(Great chess day; bad hair day. Can't win 'em all.)
NOT SHOWN: Head Coach KURT SCHNEIDERMAN.
This shall evermore be remembered as EVCS's "Tournament of Firsts:" EZEKIEL MOSHER (4B) and younger brother ZACCHAEUS MOSHER (2A) played in their first non-EVCS tournaments. It was WOLF SCHNEIDERMAN's (2A) first non-EVCS outing too (and he won his first-ever competition trophy!). LEV SCHNEIDERMAN (5B) took first place in his section and quad-winner KURT had his first first-place and his first undefeated outing.
Count ‘em: That’s SEVEN firsts.
NOV 9 Around Town
Johnetta Cole No. 2
The scary confines of the nearly-abandoned Main Place Mall didn't faze LOGAN MARZAHN (3B): He powered through to win first-place in the K-3 section. 'Nuff said!
2019 Fall Classic
Once again, we congratulate Tournament Group Head Coach KURT SCHNEIDERMAN (eyeglasses)! Kurt went 3-1-0 on Grand Island to win second-place in the Open section! Kurt’s only loss on the day was to first-place winner Joshua Deskovic.
2019 Halloween at BASCS Middle School
A new and frightening sight: One of our coaches on the winners' stand! Yes, that is Tournament Group Head Coach KURT SCHNEIDERMAN (far left). KURT went 2-2-0 in the Open section to snag a third-place trophy, the first ever won by an adult associated with EVCS Chess!
For the record, to his right are Joey Orozco (1st) and Jason Garofalo (2nd).
2019 Johnetta Cole Tournament No. 1
It wouldn't be an awards ceremony without an EVCS player on the winners' stand! LOGAN MARZAHN (3B) upheld the tradition at this year's running of the Cole Scholastic. 2-3-0 on the day, Logan finished second in the K-4 section.
Here he is (fourth from right) with fellow K-4 and K-8 winners on SAT SEP 28.
2019 Hispanic Heritage Month Tournament
EVCS for the win! Powered by LEV SCHNEIDERMAN's (5B) undefeated afternoon (4-0-0!), which of course won him U1200 gold decisively, we took home yet another team award to fill more of the school's new trophies and medals display case (for which we thank Kelly Norlen and her husband Neil Williams and the good people at IKEA). LEV also reached an EVCS all-time high chess rating of 1155, putting him squarely in the top sixth of U.S. junior players.
Juneteenth 2019 Scholastic Tournament
The post- (or nearly-so) apocalyptic setting of the Main Place What's-Left-of-the-Mall didn't hinder EVCS players.
In the K-2 section, LOGAN MARZAHN (2A) wields his 1st place trophy. The girl two to his left is JAKAYLA SEAY from the Hertel campus (2A there too!) with her 2nd place bling.
In the K-4 section, a familiar (on this page) face, ALIEU JALLOW (3B), with the 2nd place trophy, and a new face: AUGUST WILLIAMS (3A), with his 3rd place prize.
We didn't have any players in the K-12 section but we're pretty sure if we had, they would've won something too.
And in a surprise curtain call, Tournament Director Michael McDuffie recognized the EVCS players for their dominance at the event and Club Director CHRISTOPHER BIEDA for the work EVCS has done to promote area youth chess since 2015. No one has done more for youth chess in WNY than Coach McDuffie, so this was high praise indeed for our young program!
2019 Scholastic Year-End Tournament
The best EVCS showing ever at the Buffalo Academy of Science Charter School SAT JUN 8: First-place in ALL THREE scholastic sections went to our players. And in two of the three, third-place as well! CARLOS MARTINEZ (8A) was undefeated (4-0-0) in the U600 section.
Shout-outs to ANJA BIEDA (6A) for earning her USCF permanent rating at the tournament, the first girl in our club ever to do so, and to ALIEU JALLOW (3B) for playing his first matches as a USCF member.
An absolutely great way to end the most successful year in EVCS Chess history!
Unrated
OMAR JALLOW (5B) for the WIN!
U600
CARLOS MARTINEZ (8A) first-place & ALIEU JALLOW (3B) third-place.
U1200
FELIX HATTON (6B) first-place & LEV SCHNEIDERMAN (4A) third-place.
Sem Spring Festival 2019
On SAT APR 13, second-place in the U1200 section went to FELIX HATTON (6B).
Magna Charter Spring 2019
Biggest crowd of the year (47 players) assembled in Days Park on SUN APR 14 and when the dust settled, familiar faces were on the winners' platform. In the K-3 Juniors section, PAVEL SCHNEIDERMAN (2A, middle) finished second and ALIEU JALLOW (3B, right) third as they went 5-1-0 and 4-2-0 respectively. PAVEL's only loss came at the hands of the fellow at left, winner Oliver Santora (6-0-0) and ALIEU's only losses were to PAVEL and Oliver!
FELIX HATTON (6B, not pictured) won the Rated Grades 4-8 section, 5-1-0. FELIX's only loss was to a 9th-grader from Erie, PA!
Success in Sardinia!
Congratulations to LEV SCHNEIDERMAN (4A) for pulling off a two-fer at the April Southtowns Chess Club monthly tournament in Sardinia on APR 6! Not only did LEV become only the third EVCS player to ever win a cash prize at a chess tournament (third-place in the U1000 subsection of the Open section), and the first since 2016, but he went on to win first-place in the Scholastic Section!
And brother PAVEL SCHNEIDERMAN (2A) took his new USCF membership credentials to Sardinia for a first-ever stab at rated chess!
St. Patty's Day 2019 Tournament
The annual tradition continues! The Father David Reddy Chess Club at the Bishop Timon-St. Jude High School in South Buffalo brought out green (naturally) trophies on March 23.
PAVEL SCHNEIDERMAN (2A) won third-place in the Unrated section with a 4-1-0 record on the day. PAVEL also led the EVCS team effort in the section. Along with OMAR JALLOW (5B) and ABU JALLOW (7A), who both had 3-2-0 days, the three finished in second place, tying winner Veronica Connor Middle School in wins, but narrowly losing the tiebreaker. If you're keeping score, that's five consecutive tournament team awards for EVCS since DEC!
ALIEU JALLOW (3B) also had a 3-2-0 record.
All four left the event with winning records, and that is a very good day!
Scene from a Championship I
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y., March 2019. First-ever EVCS player in a New York State Scholastic Chess Championship, FELIX HATTON (6B) surveys the battlefield before the first shot is fired.
Scene from a Championship II
FELIX did us proud, going 4-2-0 in the K-6 Under 1000 section of the tournament. The section had 128 players; FELIX finished in 35th place. The tournament included over 1300 players.
IT WAS, HOW YOU SAY, "SO CLOSE!"
Talk about a nail-biter: The final results in the U1200 section of the Valentine’s Day 2019 tournament at Veronica Connor Middle School on Grand Island came down to the resolution of the very last match in the very last round.
U1200 Team EVCS, seen above and from left, LEV SCHNEIDERMAN (4A) ANJA BIEDA (6A), CARLOS MARTINEZ (8A) and FELIX HATTON (6B), leading through four, ended the suspense with a third-place finish.
EVCS has won a team award in four consecutive outings (but unlike the Buffalo Bills, one of those was a first-place finish).
When it was over, FELIX, seen above and perfect through the first four rounds, settled for individual runner-up.
The National School Choice Week tournament on JAN 26 2019 was a huge success, despite vigorous opposition by the weather. 45 players in four sections, the first-ever USCF Primary K-3 Tournament in WNY and loads of sponsored prizes. (Clockwise from upper left) The U1000 section players, the champion of the U1000's FELIX HATTON (6B) and the Unrated section players.
This is what a winning team looks like! At the 2019 WNY Scholastic Championships, a second-place finish by EVCS's (from left) ABU JALLOW (7A), PAVEL SCHNEIDERMAN (2A), OMAR JALLOW (5B) and ALIEU JALLOW (3B)--and yes, they're brothers.
This is also what a very proud Club Director looks like.
Twenty-six entered. Only ten left holding trophies. Recognize him from the picture at left? Yes, ALIEU's (3B) No. 10 finish in the Unrated section of the 2019 WNY Scholastic Championships led the Unrated team's performance!
Beginner's luck? No, beginner's skill and focus.
At the December 30, 2018 USS Miller Chess Tournament at the Audubon Public Library in Amherst, OMAR JALLOW (5B) led a group of first-time tournament competitors from EVCS with a second place trophy in the K-8 section.
OMAR, with Archangel 8 Chess Academy Director and the event's Tournament Director, Michael McDuffie.
2018 Holiday Season Tournament
The date: December 15, 2018. The place: The Buffalo Seminary.
The result? Team EVCS wins its first-ever first place team award in the U1200 section. This was also the first-ever first place award for any EVCS team sport. Yay, chess!
CHRISTOPHER BIEDA, Club Director, enjoys the worshipful gaze of FELIX HATTON (6B) as Williamsville Elementary’s Andrew Li tries to wrestle LEV SCHNEIDERMAN (4A) to the ground. Actually, PAVEL SCHNEIDERMAN (2A) has it right: Quiet pride. Not in picture: CARLOS MARTINEZ (8A) who along with FELIX and LEV, constituted the team.
2018 Pioneer Classic
Our first time going to Yorkshire, and we brought home the third-place team award in the K-8 section; from left, ANJA BIEDA (6A), CARLOS MARTINEZ (8A), NIGEL WILLIAMS (4A) and FELIX HATTON (6B). (NIGEL is photobombing--the other three were the team!)
(Clockwise from upper left) LEV SCHNEIDERMAN (4A, wearing medal) 3rd place U1200 at the 2018 Fall Festival; LEV again (far left) 3rd place again K-5 at the 20th Annual Father Baker; is that LEV (medal) with 3rd place U1000 at the 2018 Hispanic Heritage? Oh yes: When you're hot, you're hot!
When will YOUR picture grace the gallery? Learn. Play. COMPETE.