LV Chess Players Ready for World and US Amateur Team East Championships in Parsippany, NJ

By Bruce Davis

Tuesday, Feb 5^th, 2013

Lehigh Valley Chess Club had their weekly chess meet at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Bethlehem, Pa on February 2^nd, 2013. With 20 players, from 7 year olds to senior citizens, competing in 5 sections of which the range and depth of players was an interesting mix. Many players were local but numerous players came from as far away as Stewartsville, NJ to the east, Philadelphia from the south and near Harrisburg from the west.

Lehigh Valley Chess Club is expecting to send at least 2
teams of at least 4 players each to the US Amateur Team East (USATE) National event. Pocono Mountain East Chess Club will also be sending one or more teams. Last year during the 3 day chase for the USATE and World Team Title, always played on Saturday-Monday of President’s Day weekend, there were 249 four-player teams. The Lehigh Valley Chess Club captured its second consecutive “Top Team from PA” Award last February at the 2012 event. The Lehigh Valley Chess Club will be closed on Saturday, Feb 16, 2013 to allow players to send teams to compete again this year. For more stories, see last year’s 2012 USATE story at the US Chess Federation website.

In the 5 sections last Saturday, where players were separated and paired with other players of their playing strength, there werenumerous winners. Starting with Section 5 (Novice and Beginners), Daniel Lader (Bethlehem,
Pa) won 1^st  Place with 3-0 score; in Section 4, Ed Letscher (Nazareth, PA) and Jerry Law (Allentown, PA) Tied for 1^st with 2.5/3 points for 1^st; in Section 3, Jennifer Horan(Philadelphia, Pa) and Leland Hargrow (Macungie, PA)Tied for 1^st with 2/3 points; in Section 2, Ruiqi Wang (Bethlehem, Pa) 1^st Place with 2.5/3 and in the Top Rated, Section 1(Expert level), Kevin Santo (Breinigsville, Pa) 3-0 score for 1^st Place.