Greater Peoria Chess Foundation

The Greater Peoria Chess Foundation is a 501(c)3 non profit organization dedicated to encouraging chess in our community and school systems. Chess helps students to develop many life skills that will help them as they navigate with challenges that lay ahead.


Kingsmen Chess Club

Meeting Details

The Kingsmen Monday night adult chess club meets at the Life Together Center (formerly the Great Central Insurance Bldg) at Sheridan & War Memorial 7 to 11pm. The Chess entrance is on the side of the building near the front.

(Click here to see location on a map.)
2020 Peoria Championship
2020 Monday Night Schedule
Club Ladder History


USCF Activities / Utilities



Garrett Wins 2019 Peoria Championship

Daniel Garrett won his 2nd Peoria Championship when a momentary lapse dropped a Queen in a tied match, allowing Daniel a comeback victory after an early first round loss.

The Peoria Championship finals match started with an upset as Alex Beecher picked off an early victory. As it often does, it came down to a missed threat in a messy complicated position. So Alex was up 1-0 in games and Daniel needed to win or draw the next game to keep his hopes alive. The match goes to the first one to score 2 points or more with a lead.


Daniel started strong in the second game and kept the initiative throughout. Alex finally buckeled in a difficult Rook and pawn endgame after fighting back against a prepared opening. The game tied the match at one game apiece. A winner in the third game would have the title.


The third game was a Kings Indian Defense with Daniel playing the Be2 line which he has played often recently. The game reached a complicated middle game which Fritz & Stockfish evaluated as 0.00 (that is completely even) at the point of the bluder. There were two ways forward for Alex (Black), including the tricky Nfd5, but instead missed the threatened King Queen fork.


All in all it was a good hard fought match by both players. The final score was 2-1 with no draws.


2019 Qualifiers - 2019 Standings - 2019 Games



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Chess Underground
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Aphorisms
Play what you Know, Know what you Play.

- Murrel's Mottoes

Every move should have a purpose.

- Bruce Pandolfini

When you see a good move, look again, there may be a better one.

- Emanuel Lasker

A Knight on the Rim is Dim.

- Chess Proverb

Chess is everything: art, science and sport.

- Anatoly Karpov

Every move should have a Touch of Poison.

- Murrel's Mottoes

3 ways out of check: move, capture & block.

- Chess Fact

[Chess] Computers are useless unless they can give you the answer.

- Pablo Picasso

First, Study the Endgame.

- Jose Capablanca

To Succeed, you must brave the Risk of Failure.

- Garry Kasparov

Every Chess Master was once a Beginner.

- Irving Chernev

Without Error there can be no Brilliancy

- Emanuel Lasker

Strategy requires Thought, Tactics requires Observation.

- Max Euwe

The Way to Refute a Sacrifice is to Accept It.

- Wilhelm Steinitz

The Two Questions: 1 - Is it Safe? 2 - What can My Opponent Do?
Questions that scale from Beginner to Master.

- Murrel's Mottoes

When Behind, Exchange Pawns. When Ahead, Exchange Pieces.

- Chess Proverb

In the Opening, Don't move the Same Piece Twice.

- Chess Proverb

In the Opening, you must Control the Center, Develop you Small pieces & Castle for King Safety

- Chess Proverb

Rooks belong Behind Passed Pawns.

- Chess Proverb

The Pin is Mightier than the Sword.

- Fred Reinfeld

people place too much stock in Ratings.

- Boris Gelfand

Once the Game is Over, the King and the pawn go back in the Same Box.

- Chess Proverb

I don’t believe in Psychology. I believe in Good Moves.

- Bobby Fischer

Chess is the gymnasium of the mind.

- Blaise Pascal

The Game of Chess is not merely an Idle Amusement.

- Benjamin Franklin

Chess, like Love, like Music, has the Power to Make Men Happy.

- Siegbert Tarrasch

Play the Opening like a Book, the Middlegame like a Magician, and the Endgame like a Machine.

- Rudolph Spielmann

Even a poor plan is better than no plan at all.

- Mikhail Chigorin (also often credited to Frank Marshall)

Tactics is knowing what to do when there is something to do;
Strategy is knowing what to do when there is nothing to do.

- Savielly Tartakower

You may learn much more from a game you lose than from a game you win.

- Jose Raul Capablanca

You will have to lose hundreds of games before becoming a good player.

- Jose Raul Capablanca

The Passed Pawn is a Criminal, who should be kept under Lock and Key.

- Aron Nimzowitsch

Modern Chess is too much concerned with things like Pawn Structure.
Forget it, Checkmate ends the Game.

- Nigel Short

Nobody ever won a Chess game by Resigning.

- Savielly Tartakower

To play for a draw is a crime against chess.

- Mikhail Tal

It’s always better to sacrifice your opponent’s men.

- Savielly Tartakower

If your opponent offers you a draw,
try to work out why he thinks he’s worse off.

- Nigel Short

A Pawn may be Weak, but he Never Backs Down.

- Murrel's Mottoes

All I want to do, ever, is just play Chess.

- Bobby Fischer

Even the laziest King flees wildly in the face of a double check!

- Aron Nimzowitsch

Loose Pieces Drop Off.

- John Nunn

Every Check, Every Capture, Every Time.

- Murrel's Mottoes

You must beat me three times: in the opening, the middlegame and the endgame.

- Alexander Alekhine

Chess of the Mad Queen began in the 15th century between 1475 & 1500
The Queen previously, called the Counselor, moved 1 square like our King.

- Chess History

I believe there should be no reason why women cannot play as well as men.

- Grandmaster Susan Polgar

The Pawn's Weakness is its Strength.

- Murrel's Mottoes

To Take is a Mistake.

- Igor Smirnov

You can't Play what You don't See.

- Murrel's Mottoes

Number of possible ways of playing the first four moves for both sides is 318,979,564,000

- Chess Fact

Good players know all the rules. Great players know when to break them.

- Chess Proverb

There are two types of sacrifices: correct ones and mine

- Mikhail Tal

There are exceptions to every chess axiom, including this one.

- Murrel's Mottoes

The New Pawn Move, advancing two squares on its first move, was introduced in Spain in 1280.

- Chess History

The Triangle of Learning includes Study, Play, Feedback.

- Dan Heisman

The Queen's Strength is her Weakness.
(She must flee exchanges with smaller pieces)

- Murrel's Mottoes

One bad move nullifies forty good ones.

- Bernhard Horwitz

Always play with Confidence, Aggression, and Respect for Your Opponent's Moves and Ideas.

- Dan Heisman

Respect Your Opponent, remember he Qualified to play on the Same Board as You.
(He probably has the Same Tournament Score as you do!)

- Murrel's Mottoes

Capture with the Least Valuable Piece
(but there ARE exceptions!)

- Chess Proverb

Win with Grace, Lose with Dignity!

- Susan Polgar

Always play with confidence, aggression, and respect for your opponent's moves and ideas.

- Dan Heisman

"Learn from Your Mistakes & Keep on Improving"

- Susan Polgar

"You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5 and the path leading out is only wide enough for one."

- Mikhail Tal

Castle early, castle often.

- Chess Proverb

The Blunders are all there on the Board, Waiting to be Made.

- Savielly Tartakower

On the Chessboard, Lies and Hypocrisy do not Survive Long.

- Emanuel Lasker

Chess is like Life.

- Boris Spassky

I don't think there is a thing like Overconfidence in Chess.
It's always better to be too Confident than too Reluctant.

- Magnus Carlsen

Believe in Yourself Regardless of what Everyone else Says.

- Hikaru Nakamura

How Come the Little Things bother you when you are in a Bad Position
They don't bother you in Good Positions.

- Yasser Seirawan

It is not enough to be a good player... you must also play well.

- Siegbert Tarrasch

Lack of patience is probably the most common reason for losing a game, or drawing games that should have been won.

- Bent Larsen

The pawns are the soul of chess

- François André Philidor

In Chess, as it is played by masters, chance is practically eliminated.

- Emanuel Lasker

Life is a kind of Chess, with struggle, competition, good and ill events.

- Benjamin Franklin

One pawn is never enough if the other King is standing in front of the pawn.

- Ainis Giri

Chess is everything: art, science and sport

- Anatoly Karpov

Chess is the art which expresses the science of logic.

- Mikhail Botvinnik

He who plays to win a drawn game loses it.

- Chess Player’s Magazine, August 1867

The sign of a great Master is his ability to win a won game quickly and painlessly.

- Irving Chernev

Chess is the gymnasium of the mind.

- Adolf Anderssen

Strategy is the tiebreak of equally safe moves.

- Dan Heisman

Hope Chess is when you don't analyze your opponent's checks, captures or threats
and when he makes one, you hope you can meet it.

- Dan Heisman

When it comes to rules, never listen to your opponent.

- Dan Heisman

When they suggest "Knights before Bishops" do they mean "NNBB" or "NBNB"?
Generally it means "NBNB" so you can castle more quickly.

- Dan Heisman

Never make a good move too soon.

- James Mason

Never interrupt your opponent when he is making a mistake.

- Napoleon Bonaparte

Every move creates a weakness.

- Siegbert Tarrasch

You need not play well - just help your opponent to play badly.

- Genrikh Chepukaitis

Avoidance of mistakes is the beginning, as it is the end, of mastery in chess.

- Eugene Znosko-Borovsky

Picking a coach because they were a good player is like picking a chef because he's a good eater

- Paul Reddick

The highest art of the chessplayer lies in not allowing your opponent to show you what he can do. - Garry Kasparov

- Garry Kasparov

Some part of a mistake is always correct.

- Savielly Tartakower

Try to maintain at least one pawn in the center.

- Chess Proverb

The placing of the center pawns determines the 'topography' of a game of chess.

- Alexander Kotov

If a ruler does not understand Chess, how can he rule over a kingdom?

- Persian King Khusrow II (AD 580-628)

Fischer almost never has any bad pieces. He exchanges them, and the bad pieces remain with his opponents.

– Yuri Balashov

It is not possible to become a great player without having learned how to analyze deeply and accurately.

– Mark Dvoretsky

Combinations with a queen sacrifice are among the most striking and memorable.

- Anatoly Karpov

Not all artists are Chess players, but all Chess players are artists.

- Marcel Duchamp

Openings teach you openings. Endgames teach you chess!

- Stephan Gerzadowicz

They call it blitz. Each guy gets five minutes so you’re always under the clock and it’s kind of an adrenaline rush.

- Woody Harrelson (Actor)

To play for a draw, at any rate with White, is to some degree a crime against chess.

- Mikhail Tal

Even in the heat of a middlegame battle the master still has to bear in mind the outlines of a possible future ending.

- David Bronstein

To avoid losing a piece, many a person has lost the game.

- Savielly Tartakover

Chess is life and every game is like a new life.

- Eduard Gufeld

Chess is a matter of delicate judgement, knowing when to punch and how to duck.

- Bobby Fischer

A man that will take back a move at Chess will pick a pocket.

- Richard Fenton

If your opponent offers you a draw, try to work out why he thinks he's worse off.

- Nigel Short

All Combinations are Based on a Double Attack.

- Murrel's Mottoes

Pinned Pieces don't Capture (mostly true)

- Murrel's Mottoes

I have found that after 1.d4 there are more opportunities for richer play.

- Garry Kasparov

Get the Knights into Action before Both Bishops are Developed.

- Emanuel Lasker

Chess is the touchstone of intellect.

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.

- Emo Philips

Chess is a cure for headaches.

- John Maynard Keynes

A good player is always lucky.

- Jose Raul Capablanca

Chess is 99% tactics.

- Rudolph Teichmann

The essential disadvantage of the isolated pawn ...
lies not in the pawn itself,
but in the square in front of the pawn.

- Richard Reti

Think First. Move Second.

- Murrel's Mottoes

Try to play after your opponent has eaten or drunk freely.

- Luis Ramírez de Lucena (c. 1465 – c.1530)

A Gambit never becomes sheer routine as long as you fear you may lose the King and P ending!

- Bent Larsen

Good positions don’t win games, good moves do.

- Gerald Abrahams

Only sissies Castle.

- Rob Sillars

The first principle of attack - don't let the enemy develop!

- Rueben Fine

The first principle of attack - don't let the enemy develop!

- Rueben Fine

Play the move that forces the win in the simplest way.
Leave the brilliancies to Alekhine, Keres and Tal.

- Irving Chernev

Weak points or holes in the opponent's position must be occupied by pieces, not pawns.q>

- Siegbert Tarrasch

It is said that an ounce of common sense can outweigh a ton of 'variations'.

- Savielly Tartakower

Good players develop a tactical instinct, a sense of what is possible or likely and what is not worth calculating.

- Samuel Reshevsky

The path from a1 to a8 is the same length as the path from a1 to h8.

- Chess Facts

In the Ruy Lopez, one must be patient, wait and carry on a lengthy and wearisome struggle.

- Boris Spassky

The scheme of a game is played on positional lines; the decision of it, as a rule, is effected by combinations.

- Richard Reti

A pawn, when separated from his fellows, will seldom or never make a fortune.

- Francois-Andre Danican Philidor

I have always disliked the fierce competitive spirit embodied in that highly intellectual game.

- Albert Einstein

When you defend, try not to worry or become upset.
Keep your cool and trust your position - it's all you've got.

- Pal Benko

A player surprised is half beaten.

- Chess Proverb

"Chess beauty" is in the geometry of the game, and the struggle of plans.

- Levon Aronian

A win by an unsound combination, however showy, fills me with artistic horror.

- Wilhelm Steinitz

A Queen's sacrifice, even when fairly obvious, always rejoices the heart of the chess-lover.

- Savielly Tartakower

Excellence at Chess is one mark of a scheming mind.

- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

There's not the mystery in ten murders that there is in one game of chess.

- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

He who analyses blitz is stupid.

- Rashid Nezhmetdinov

Don't be afraid of losing, be afraid of playing a game and not learning something.

- Dan Heisman

Every Exchange has a Winner and Loser.

- Murrel's Mottoes

Chess is eminently and emphatically the philospher's game.

- Paul Morphy

Life's too short for Chess.

- Henry James Byron

Pawn endings are to chess what putting is to golf.

- Cecil Purdy

Daring ideas are like Chess men moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

A strong memory, concentration, imagination, and a strong will is required to become a great chess player.

- Bobby Fischer

If you're too busy to play chess... you're too busy!

- Chess Fact

Discovered check is the dive bomber of the chess board.

- Rueben Fine

Drawn games are sometimes more scintillating than any conclusive contest.

- Savielly Tartakower

A draw can be obtained not only by repeating moves, but also by one weak move.

- Savielly Tartakower

Chess is a test of wills.

- Paul Keres

Youth has triumphed! (upon defeating 86-year-old Dirk van Foreest)

- 84-year-old Jacques Mieses

My style is somewhere between that of Tal and Petrosian.

- Samuel Reshevsky

Haste is never more dangerous than when you feel that victory is in your grasp.

- Eugene Znosko-Borovsky

Fischer is an American Chess tragedy on par with Morphy and Pillsbury.

- Mig Greengard

Pay particular attention to the f2-and f7-squares.

- Novice Warning

Attack! Attack! Always Attack!

- Adolf Anderssen

Blitz Chess rots the brain just as surely as alcohol.

- Nigel Short

Only the player with the initiative has the right to attack.

- Wilhelm Steinitz

I often play a move I know how to refute.

- Bent Larsen

Chess is war over the board. The object is to crush the opponents mind.

- Bobby Fischer

I like the moment when I break a man's ego.

- Bobby Fischer

Many have become chess masters, but no one has become the master of chess.

- Siegbert Tarrasch

As a rule, pawn endings have a forced character, and they can be worked out conclusively.

- Mark Dvoretsky

Tactics flow from a superior position.

- Bobby Fischer

Chess is so inspiring that I do not believe a good player is capable of haviong an evil thought during the game.

- Wilhelm Steinitz

One day you give your opponent a lesson, the next day he gives you one.

- Bobby Fischer

To win without pawns, you must be a rook or two minor pieces ahead.

- Chess Proverb

The best defense is a counterattack.

- Chess Proverb

If you don't win, it's not a great tragedy - the worst that happens is that you lose a game.

- Bobby Fischer

Let the perfectionist play postal.

- Yasser Seirawan

The sign of a great Master is his ability to win a won game quickly and painlessly.

- Irving Chernev

A bad day of Chess is better than any good day at work.

- Anonymous

During a game I cease to think about the result as I become so enthralled by what’s happening on the board.

- Magnus Carlsen

Sit your opponent with the sun in his eyes.

- Ruy Lopez (1561)

The most important role in pawn endings is played by the king.

- Siegbert Tarrasch

We cannot resist the fascination of sacrifice, since a passion for sacrifices is part of a Chessplayer’s nature.

- Rudolf Spielmann

You can permit yourself any liberty in the opening except the luxury of a passive position.

- Grigory Sanakoev

When chess masters err, ordinary wood pushers tend to derive a measure of satisfaction, if not actual glee.

- I.A. Horowitz

In the ending the King is a powerful piece for assisting his own pawns, or stopping the adverse pawns.

- Wilhelm Steinitz

Can you imagine the relief it gives a mother when her child amuses herself quietly for hours on end?

- Klara Polgar

Every pawn is a potential queen.

- James Mason

GM Naiditsch reckoned that me playing the King's Indian against Anand was something akin to a samurai running at a machine gun with a sword.

- Hikaru Nakamura

One of the objectives of opening play is to try to surprise your opponent.

- Edmar Mednis

If you Sacrifice, Know exactly What you Expect to Get in Return.

- Murrel's Mottoes

Centralize your pieces to make them powerful.

- Chess Proverb

Chess is a struggle against error.

- Johannes Zukertort

A rook on the seventh rank is sufficient compensation for a pawn.

- Chess Proverb

I prefer to lose a really good game than to win a bad one.

- David Levy

Help your Pieces so they can Help You.

- Paul Morphy

Never Waste a Check!

- Murrel's Mottoes

In the endgame, activate your King.

- Chess Proverb

Imagine 20 extra minutes 3 days/week for 16 weeks = 16 hours! No chance you don't get better doing that.

- David Klein

A strong memory, concentration, imagination, and a strong will is required to become a great chess player.

- Bobby Fischer

A strength over extended becomes a weakness.

- Paul Reddick

Chess is thirty to forty percent psychology. You don't have this when you play a computer. I can't confuse it.

- Judit Polgar

In the ending the King is a powerful piece for assisting his own pawns, or stopping the adverse pawns.

- Wilhelm Steinitz

A player who has a strong center has nothing to fear from any attack elsewhere on the board.

- Wilhelm Steinitz

One doesn't have to play well, it's enough to play better than your opponent.

- Siegbert Tarrasch

The essence of chess is thinking about what chess is.

- David Bronstein

The endgame is an arena in which miraculous escapes are not uncommon.

- Leonid Shamkovich

Never a mate with a knight on f8.

- Chess Proverb

Try to play after your opponent has eaten or drunk freely.

- Luis Ramírez de Lucena (c. 1465 – c.1530)

I know that with perfect play, God versus God, Fritz versus Fritz, chess is a draw ...

- Nigel Short

No matter how much theory progresses, how radically styles change, chess play is inconceivable without tactics.

- Samuel Reshevsky

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

- Aristotle

Amateurs practice until they can get it right,
Masters practice until they can't get it wrong.

- Murrel's Mottoes

Neither knowing nothing about openings nor trying to memorize entire books/databases can be the right approach.
Learn your main tabiyas;
After each game, try to find the one opening move you would improve next time.

- Dan Heisman

Take pride in your ugly wins - you didn't give up!

- Murrel's Mottoes

Good offense and good defense both begin with good development.

- Bruce A. Moon

Leave the pawns alone,except for center pawns and passed pawns.

- Chess Proverb

When ahead in Material, Exchange Pieces, specially Queens.

- Chess Proverb

Masters learn Structures, Club Players learn Moves.

- Damian Lemos

The goal of doing easy problems is not to solve them, but to recognize them quickly & accurately.

- Dan Heisman

In blitz, the knight is stronger than the bishop.

- Vlastmil Hort

Chess is a game which reflects most honor on human wit.

- Voltaire

No Pawn Exchanges, No File-opening, No Attack.

- Aaron Nimzowitsch

An ounce of common sense can outweigh a ton of 'variations'.

- Savielly Tartakower

Apart from direct mistakes, there is nothing more ruinous than routine play, the aim of which is mechanical development.

- GM Alexei Suetin

Mistrust is the most necessary characteristic of the chess player.

- Siegbert Tarrasch

These young guys are playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess.

- Kobe Bryant

Chess holds its master in its own bonds, shaking the mind and brain so that the inner freedom of the very strongest must suffer.

- Albert Einstein

The king is a strong piece - use it !

- Rueben Fine

Concentrate on material gains. Whatever your opponent gives you take, unless you see a good reason not to.

- Bobby Fischer

The defensive power of a pinned piece is only imaginary.

- Aaron Nimzovich

… a lively imagination can exercise itself most fully and creatively in conjuring up magnificent combinations.

- Siegbert Tarrasch

If you play the Caro-Kann when you’re young, what are you going to play when you’re older?

– Bent Larsen

The Future belongs to he who has the Bishops.

- Siegbert Tarrasch

If you are too busy to play chess... you are too busy.

- Chess Proverb

In order to truly improve you must analyze & evaluate better

- Dan Heisman

Every move is an opportunity to interfere with your opponent's plans

- Chess Proverb

Avoid piece exchanges when you control more squares.

- Chess Proverb

A draw can be obtained not only by repeating moves, but also by one weak move.

- Savielly Tartakower

Doubled, Isolated, and Backward Pawns are Ugly Pawns. You don't want Ugly Pawns.

- Murrel's Mottoes

The quickest way to increase your rating is by improving your weakest skill.

- Damian Lemos

Improving your chess requires daily practice.

- John Bartholomew

Think First, Move Second.

- Murrel's Mottoes

A target is any unprotected piece or a piece that is inadequately protected.

- Murrel's Mottoes

The Queen must use her Bishop powers to attack a Rook and her Rook powers to attack a Bishop.

- Murrel's Mottoes

If not a composer, I would have wanted to be a chess player

- Ennio Morricone


Meetings Canceled **New 5/30/20 **

The church has informed us that due to the Coronavirus and the governor's extension of the lockdown, all regular Monday night meetings have been canceled for the month of June. We will return in July. Please watch for possible changes in schedule.
Kingsmen Online Play

The Kingsmen Chess Club will meet online every Monday night at 7pm on Zoom with a 7:30pm tournament on chess.com. You can join us by using these links:

Monday July 13th:

6:30 pm: Zoom Meeting 868 7578 4848

7:00 pm: Peoria Kingsmen @chess.com tournament 1311009

You don't have to wait until Monday to join the tournament. You can join anytime, but the games won't start until 7:30pm on Monday. See you online soon!


Hult Online Play

The Hult Youth Chess Club (K-12) will meet online every Friday night at 6:30 on Zoom with a 7pm tournament on chess.com. You can join us by using these links:

Friday July 17th:

6:30 pm: Zoom Meeting 147 555 122

7:00 pm: Hult Chess Club @chess.com tournament 1313127

You don't have to wait until Friday to join the tournament. You can join anytime, but the games won't start until 7pm on Friday. See you online soon!

2020 Ladder

Ladder ratings are intended to reflect a combination of chess skills and participation in the Kingsmen Chess Club. Ladder ratings start fresh at the beginning of each calendar year. Players enter the Ladder with a rating of 1600. Ladder games are weighted so that games with time controls up to Game 20 are rated normally. Between Game 20 and up to 40 are double weighted. Between Game 40 and 60 are triple weighted. All time controls over game 60 will be 4 times the regular weight. There will be no double or nothing play. Players who participate in the majority of the evenings scheduled event or at least the equivalent of 4 speed games shall receive a bonus 15 points added to their Ladder rating after that event has been calculated.


Current Ladder Standings through April 17, 2020
Online not included
Player NameClub Rating
Bendoraitis, Kurt1772
Li, Michael1761
Leali, Mike1755
Garrett, Daniel1751
McConaghie, Pete1712
Mungee, Kushal1695
Beecher, Alex1690
Fang, Elbert1679
Davis, Kelly1679
Alkhafaji, Laith1679
Rhodes, Murrel1666
Adamson, Clayton1657
Zhang, Owen1618
Calhoun, Caleb1601
Suarez, Ron1565
Mykytiuk, Nathan1554
Ringel, Orion1551
Wei, Roy1551
Ford, Adam1551
Lagouros, Evan1502
Wiegman, Grant1466