New Britain Chess Club, founded 1901
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Welcome to the New Britain Chess Club's History Website

by NBCC Historian Robert Cyr

The NBCC's Historic Journey

Thank you for visiting the New Britain Chess Club's history website.

Founded on January 26, 1901, the NBCC is Connecticut's most historic chess organization. From 1951 until 2004, Arkadijs Strazdins - our club's greatest contributor, longtime president, and first NBCC historian - compiled and preserved our history. After the passing of Mr. Strazdins in 2007, Andris Strazdins, longtime treasurer, kept the club records at his house until his passing in 2015. After the passing of Andris in 2015, the club records were given to Robert Cyr. Each year, the club hosts the Strazdins Cup/Stein to remember these gentlemen for their many decades of passionate and loyal service to our club.

Since 2005, Robert has pursued additional projects, such as publishing annual newsletters and researching club records using the Connecticut State Library database, to make our club's history as complete as possible. Unfortunately, most detailed records on club events prior to 1951 were destroyed in a fire.

Robert built and designed this website as part of his massive project to preserve and promote the extensive history of our rich and diverse organization. The history published on this website (as shown on the menu on the left) is also kept in three binders below at Bob's home.

"NBCC - Highlights and History: 1900-2004" (520+ pages)
NBCC story, newspaper articles, various reports, selected tournament results, photos, games, and much more.

"NBCC - Annual Newsletters: 2005-2024" (570+ pages)
Highlights, membership achievements, trivia, photos, games, and much more.

"NBCC - The Archives: 1930s-Present" (40+ pages)
Listing of most tournament place winners, officers, venues, and record holders. Also included is a hall of fame for members who have earned historic achievements in the NBCC. In regard to event winners who are published on this website, please note that if trophies were awarded or if a playoff was used to break the tie for first place, the first person listed in the tie was declared the champion. Otherwise, the players involved in the tie were declared co-champions. To view the Excel file of the club archives, please click here.

Copyright Permission

The NBCC has been granted copyright permission from the following state and local newspapers to republish the hundreds of articles that have been written about our organization. The publishers and authors are the sole owners of these articles, and they must receive full credit for them. These articles are being republished on this website for the sole purpose of promoting the club and chess throughout our community. Republication of these articles by our club for commercial use or for any other purpose than the aforementioned will be considered a violation of copyright law.

The New Britain Herald
The Hartford Courant
The Republican-American (based in Waterbury)
The Southington Observer
The Record-Journal (based in Meriden)
The Newtown Bee
The New Haven Register