18 year old International Master (IM) Dmitry Schneider of New City, NY won clear first place at the 2003 Pan-American Junior Chess Championship held May 26 to June 1 at the Gin�sio de Esportes Municipal in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The field was divided into two groups. Schneider was the winner of group one with a score of 5 � out of 7 (five wins, one draw, and one loss), and Marco Pacheco of Peru finished second in group one with a score of 5 points. IM Pablo Lafuente of Argentina won group two with a score of 5 out of 7, and FIDE Master (FM) Christian Esplana of Peru finished second in group two with a score of 4 �. In the finals, Schneider drew his game with Lafuente and defeated Esplana to win the gold medal with a total score of 7 out of 9. Lafuente finished second, Pacheco finished third, and Esplana finished fourth.

Schneider is very modest about his victory, giving much of the credit to coach FM Aviv Friedman of Teaneck, NJ. Schneider said, �Aviv was great�he is a big reason of why I won this Championship.� With this victory, Schneider earns a personal right to participate in the World Junior Chess Championship scheduled to be held June 21 to July 4, 2003 in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan. This victory also gives him his first Grandmaster norm. He needs two more norms to earn the International Grandmaster title.

In this second round game, Dmitry squeezes Brazil�s Ernani Francisco Choma like a constrictor snake.

White: IM Dmitry Schneider (2424)
Black: Ernani Francisco Choma (2269)
Pan-American Junior Chess Championship, round 2
May 28, 2003

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. g3 d5 7. exd5 Nxd5 8.Bg2 Nxc3 9. bxc3 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 Be7 11. O-O O-O 12. Qxd8 Rxd8 13. Rb1 Bc5 14.Bf4 Kf8 15. Rfe1 Rd7 16. a4 a6 17. a5 Ke7 18. c4 f6 19. Bd5 e5 20. Be3 Bxe3 21.Rxe3 Kd6 22. f4 exf4 23. gxf4 Rb8 24. Kf2 Rd8 25. Rb6+ Kc7 26. Re7+ Rd7 27. Re8 Rd8 28. Re7+ Rd7 29. Re8 Rd8 30. Rxd8 Kxd8 31. Ke3 Kc7 32. Kd4 Bd7 33. Kc5 Ba4 34. c3 Bd7 35. Be4 h6 36. f5 Ba4 37. Rb4 Bd7 38. Rb2 Ba4 39. Rg2 Bd7 40. Rxg7 Re8 41. Bxb7 Re5+ 42. Kb4 Kxb7 43. Rxd7+ Kc6 44. Ra7 Rxf5 45. Rxa6+ Kc7 46. Re6 Rf2 47. h4 Rf4 48. Kb5 Kd7 49. Rb6 Rf1 50. c5 h5 51. a6 Rb1+ 52. Kc4 1-0

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