Lehigh Valley Chess Club hosted 1st $1000 Scholarship Scholastic

May 19, 2013 By Bruce Davis Sr. At Holy Trinity Lutheran Church located at 514 3rdAve, Bethlehem, Pa the Lehigh Valley Chess Club hosted its first Scholarship Scholastic on Saturday, May 18. One thousand dollars was up for grabs by the 28 competing players coming from as far away as Centre and Cumberland Counties to the West, Montgomery County to the South and Monroe County to the North. All ages and levels played not just for scholarships but also 11 trophy’s and free door prizes awarded to all the players for participating. This is an unusual circumstance where at many chess tournaments most players go home empty handed except for the good game or two that they enjoyed.

 The two top players Isaac Leon and Christopher Yang are ranked 39th and 40th in the state of Pennsylvania respectively this month. But Christopher would prove to be the better player Saturday when in the 4th round he found a way to create a decisive victory against Isaac with the White pieces. In round 5, Christopher went on to win decisively, against Parkland High’s 1st Board, Kevin Santo, ranked 73rd in Pennsylvania, with the Black pieces securing an undefeated and clear 1st place finish.

Pocono Mountain East HS, home of the PA State High School Champions, was well represented at this event. To see more on PMECPA go to www.pmechess.com for accomplishments and awards.

Complete May 18 LVCA Scholarship Scholastic Results -

Winners were :

1st Place overall - Christopher Yang + $400 Scholarship 2nd Place overall - Isaac Leon + $200 Scholarship 3rd Place overall - Nick Cardini + $100 Scholarship 4th Place overall - Alexa Nunamaker + 1st Place $100 LV Scholarship Jason Law - 2nd Place $100 LV Scholarship Kevin Santo – 3rd Place $100 LV Scholarship Top Under 1400 – Sean Crowley Top Under 1200 – Tanishq Iyer Top Under 1000 – David Jackson Top Under 1000 Medal – Fernando Del Castillo Tied but lost on tiebreaks Top Under 800 - Devin Thompson Top Under 800 Medal – Alex Schiffman Tied but lost on tiebreaks Top Under 600 – Leland Hargrow Top Under 400 – Jack Hickey Top Under 400 Medal – Aedryss Benkrid Tied but lost on tiebreaks Top Unrated – Jakob Gillow

All player’s who were present for the awards ceremony were awarded with participatory ribbons and a valuable door prize. An award was also presented to Dr. Ramesh Kadewari, MD and family, in grateful recognition of his generous contribution to chess and our community in 2013 at the tournament.

August 24th is the date slated for the next Scholarships Scholastic to be held with the same format and prizes for eligible chess players and college bound students at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. The Lehigh Valley Chess Club hosts weekly chess events as an affiliate of the US Chess Federation, a non-profit organization, providing a national rating system for ranking members who participate in sanctioned events. For locations and meeting times see the details at 

www.lehighvalleychessclub.org and https://www.facebook.com/lehighvalleychessclub for pictures from the May Scholarship Scholastic.