Lehigh Valley Chess Scores at Donald Byrne Memorial

Lehigh Valley Chess Club and Lehigh University Chess Club made an excellent showing at Donald Byrne Memorial Chess tornament this past weekend

The Donald Byrne Memorial Chess Tournament held April 6-7,
2013 at Penn State University at State College, PA was a great event to play in
and many chess players from the Lehigh Valley went this weekend to play in the
2 day event. Represented were regular attendees at the Lehigh Valley Chess Club(Bethlehem,
Pa) Peter Minear(Reading area,Pa), Matthew O’Brien(Schnecksville,Pa), and
Michael Jansen(North Wales, Pa). Also, Lehigh University Chess Club threw
together a team of four players which included Aaron Nicely(Bethlehem,
PA),Denis Aslangil(Bethlehem, Pa), Alan Ng(Bethlehem, PA) and Ian
Miller(Bethlehem, PA) at the last minute in order to compete for College team
honors.

Lehigh University Chess Club(Bethlehem, Pa), runs weekly
chess club events on Wednesday nights from 7-9 pm throughout the year in the
University Center. Aaron, Denis, Alan and Ian have been regular players there
and the practice paid off on one of their first forays outside the Lehigh
University chess group at this event. This team from Lehigh University won Top
College Team Trophy for their excellent team performance at this event against
tough competition. Individual performances by these Lehigh University students
were as follows: Aaron Nicely: tied 3^rd; Denis Aslangil: 1^st
U1600, Alan Ng: 1^st U1200 and Ian Miller: tied for 3^rd
U1200.

Lehigh Valley Club players who have competed recently with
the club did well also with NM Peter Minear and Matthew O’Brien tied for 1^st
in the Open Section overall to win the tournament. In addition, Michael Jansen
also competed and tied for 8^th Place in the tough Open Section.

The Donald Byrne Memorial Chess Tournament is an event that
has a tradition that is steeped in history. NM Dan Heisman was on hand at the
tournament to share the history of Donald Byrne and it relationship to this
event. For additional online information about the 2002 Invitational see the
following links for more history. Penn State Donald Byrne Memorial tournament
history of prior event 2002 -  http://www.thechessdrum.net/newsbriefs/2002/NB_PennState2.html
and The Game of the Century  (chess) -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_of_the_Century_(chess)