3/16
Joe Bihlmeyer wins the 2019 Greater Hartford Open in Coventry; crosstable.

3/10
Following a tie for first in the CT State Senior Open a week earlier, on Sunday March 10, Mikhail Koganov and Derek Meredith were hosted by the Chess Club of Fairfield County in Norwalk for a G/75 playoff to decide the winner and state representative to the 2019 National Senior Tournament of Champions August 1-6 in Orlando, FL. After both players each won one game, Derek could not continue the playoff with blitz games due to personal reasons. It was decided that Mikhail and Derek are the 2019 CT State Senior Open Co-Champions and that Mikhail will be the representative to the Nationals and Derek will be the alternate.

3/2
On Saturday March 2, the New Britain Chess Club hosted the 1st CT Senior Open Championship. The 3-SS G/75;d5 tournament was open to players age 50 and older. Thirteen players plus a house player competed for the title. Derek Meredith and Mikhail Koganov tied for 1st with 3 points each. They will have at least a 2-game (G/75;d5) playoff next weekend to determine the champion. Norman Burtness won the U2000 prize. The complete crosstable of results can be found here, USCF Crosstable - 2019 CT Senior Open. The tournament was directed by NBCC President and CSCA director Norman Burtness.

3/2
160 players compete at State K-12 Scholastic Championships
The CSCA and Manchester High School were the hosts of the 2019 CT State High, Middle, Elementary and Primary School Championships. Due to the early morning snow storm the tournament was delayed by two hours. The High School section was won with a perfect 5-0 by Zachary Tanenbaum from Greenwich High School. This was Zachary's third H.S. state title and with his victory he qualified for the National Nominations Candidates' Tournament Denker section on March 30 in East Hartford. Simsbury High School won their third state title.
The Middle School section was won with a perfect 5-0 by Nakul Ramaswamy from Henry James Middle School in Simsbury. Henry James also won the state title, their fifth! With his win Nakul qualified for the NNCT Barber.

Simsbury High & Henry James with Nakul Ramaswamy in the center

Erik Nebylovich of Westover Magnet Elementary School in Stamford, 2018 Primary State Champion, edged out Jack Clayton on tiebreaks to clinch the Elementary title. Westwoods Upper Elementary from Farmington won the state title. Erik also qualified to the NNCT Barber on March 30.
The Primary section was with a perfect 5-0 by Ethan Shemo, leading his team Roaring Brook from Avon to the state title.

Shawn Parker vs Zachary Tanenbaum	Play took place in the MHS gym

Final standings: High School, Middle School, Elementary School and Primary -- US Chess Rating Report -- Article in the Greenwich Time.

3/1
15-year-old Hans Niemann of Weston made it into the March 2019 Top 100 Juniors of the World. Hans is ranked #88 with a FIDE rating of 2477; this makes him the 9th ranked Junior player (born in 1999 or later) in the country.

2/24
Results of the Weston DIG Scholastic Tournament held at the Weston Public Library.

Team winners Our Lady of Fatima School (Wilton) with DIG organizers

2/24
Results of the CCFC K-12 Scholastic Championships held in Norwalk.

2/24
Results of the Greenwich Country Day Scholastic.

2/23
UConn student Roman Rychkov and Yelfry Torres of Enfield win the 2019 Eastern Connecticut Open in Coventry; crosstable.

2/18
The 75th Annual US Amateur Team East took place with 1,346 players in Parsippany, NJ over President's Day Weekend. As usual many teams and players from Connecticut participated. Top Connecticut Team was "Conneticuts Finest" with Arslan Otchiyev, Ian Harris, Joe Bihlmeyer and William Torres (see picture). In the last round they played for first place on the top board, but lost to eventual tournament winners Princeton Orange (featuring Connecticut's Kapil Chandran on board 1). Hopkins School Grey won the U1000 and Hopkins School Maroon was the Top High School Team. NBCC's "Prawn Sacrifice" won the prize for Top Gimmick. Rating report.

Top Gimmick: "Prawn Sacrifice"	"Princeton Orange" with Kapil Chandran (grey shirt)"

2/14
Manchester High School beat Simsbury High School 6-5 in a home game (more information here).

2/10
Roman Rychkov of New Jersey and Benjamin Amar of Maine, both students at UConn, tie for first at the Hartmayer Memorial. Daniel Zhou of EO Smith in Mansfield wins Leg 2 of the National Nominations Grand Prix and Jordan Lefkowitz, also from Mansfield, wins the K-12 U1000. Final results of the Open, K-12 Open and K-12 U1000; rating report and NNGP standings after Leg 2.

U1000 winners Mansfield Middle	U1000 2nd place King Philip Middle

2/2
Results of the 46th NECA scholastic held in Stamford.

1/27
Results of the Nutmeg DIG Scholastic Tournament held at the Weston Public Library.

1/27
Results of the Greenwich City Scholastic Championship.

1/26
Beatrice Low of Greenwich Academy has won the 4th annual 2019 State Girls' Championships. This was the second time Beatrice won the title after claiming victory in the 1st annual Championships in 2016 and with her win Beatrice is the first qualifier to the 2019 National Nominations Candidates' Tournament to be held on March 30th. Jithu Saveejan of Bristol Central High School won leg 1 of the National Nominations Grand Prix. Both events took place at the Raymond Library in East Hartford and were organized by Connecticut Chess Organization. For more information see: results and rating report of the CT Girls', results and rating report of NNGP leg 1 and standings NNGP after Leg 1.

Beatrice Low (center) playing Serena Evans	Girls & NNGP leg 1

1/19
Landau Vincent Day (K), Nathan Mezheritskiy (1st), Anthony Low (2nd), Henry Buczkiewicz (3rd), Sahil Vora (4th), Max Ingargiola (5th), Carter Clayton (6th), Evan Dokko Stein (7th), Ethan Striff-Cave (8th), Daniel Zhou (9th), Dhanush Kalangi (10th), Jithu Saveejan (11th) and Benjamin Foxman (12th) are the 2019 Connecticut Grade Champions. For more information see: Full results, US Chess rating report and many more photos.
A record breaking 145 players found their way to Hopkins School in New Haven for the 2nd annual State Grade Championship. After the conclusion of the event Chess Haven brothers and tournament organizers George and Jake Wang each gave a simul.

Playing hall	Simul by George and Jake Wang

1/13
Report and photos of the CCFC K-12 Scholastic Championship can be found at the CCFC website.

1/12
Derek Meredith, Joe Bihlmeyer and Daniel Smith win the 2019 Coventry Open. Look for the 887 rating points upset by Gabe Watson.

1/6
Connecticut players placed in four out of six sections at the 2019 Boston Chess Congress. Maximillian Lu tied for first in the Premier, Sharvil Trifale tied for second in the Under 2100, Peter Josiah Wolfe took clear first in the Under 1500 and Shawn Parker tied for first in the Under 1250.

Shawn Parker in his last round game	Dan Starbuck Pelletier, David Brown, Derek Meredith, Gabriel Watson and Shawn Parker

1/4
In the January 2019 issue of US Chess Life Magazine there is a portrait of Glenn Budzinski from Newtown. Glenn is the founder of the non-profit Connecticut Kids Play Chess, Inc. whose mission it is to provide high quality after-school chess lessons to elementary and secondary school students in Connecticut. Used with permission of US Chess.

1/2
The Connecticut State Blitz Championship was won by Ted McHugh III from Simsbury with a score of 8-0. This is the 10th time Ted has won this event. Suhas Kodali finished in 2nd place on tie-breaks over Nelson Castaneda. Evan Patchen won the U2000 Trophy on tiebreaks ahead of Michael Smith. The event was held at the New Britain Chess Club.

Ted McHugh III (blue hat) vs Rick Bauer in the background, Joe Mansigian vs Immad Sadiq in front.