Chess Tournament At Booth Library A Success

Twenty amateur and champion chess players gathered at the C.H. Booth Library, Saturday, November 29, to take part in a tournament organized by Glenn Budzinski, a Candidate Master, host of the Newtown Chess Club, and certified US Chess Federation tournament director.

 Haotian Zheng, a senior at Newtown High School, tied for first with two others, Joe Hricko of Southington and Byron Chen, presently a college student living in Illinois, home visiting his family in Hartford. All three players finished the tournament with three wins and no losses. Zheng is a Candidate Master and the highest rated of the three by the US Chess Federation, the official chess organization of the US that sanctioned this tournament.

Kai Hedin, a 12-year-old student at Newtown Middle School, Ruben Wind of Brookfield, and Bob Hemond of Trumbull finished tied at two wins and one loss each for first and second “Under 1800 rating and Unrated” category prizes. These three players, as well as Haotian Zheng, are regular members of the Newtown Chess Club, which meets Saturday afternoons at the Booth Library.

Life Master Hanon Russell of Milford, the current United States Amateur Chess Champion and former Newtown Bee chess columnist, was the highest rated player in the tournament.

The Saturday afternoon Chess Club schedule is listed in the calendar of the library website, chboothlibrary.org. For more information contact Mr Budzinski at 206-9956.