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NORWALK, Conn. Nearly 40 area children missed the chance to sleep late Monday, a school holiday. They instead chose to get up early and battle it out with kings and queens at a Norwalk chess club.
The annual Presidents Day Scholastic Chess Tournament at the state's largest chess facility, the Chess Club of Fairfield County, paired 38 young students against their peers for "four rounds of stern competition," according to club member Jeff Peterson.
"It was a fantastic turnout," Dan Lowinger, the club's scholastic director, said in a statement. "Considering all of the choices these kids had TV, the computer, video games it says something that so many wanted to take the day to sit down at the chessboard and just play."
Brandon Mingye Wang stormed to the lead in the K-2 division with a perfect score of four wins and no losses. Henry Stratakis-Allen took top honors in the Grade 3-5 section after his victory in a must-win, final-round game. The Grade 6-8 middle school section had the stiffest competition, packed with tournament veterans, Peterson said. Julian Wang and Neev Suryawanshi, who each took three points out of a possible four, shared first place.
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