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While competition in the Litchfield Open Chess Tournament proceeded in the small gym, Keith Nelson offered playing tips to his 7-year-old son Philip before his next match. Keith said he began teaching Philip the basics a chess when his son was just 4 years old, and when this year’s tournament came up, “he wanted to give it a try.”
Judge Matt Tidwell offers pointers to third-graders Jakob Evenson and Evelyn Tidwell during that match Saturday in the Litchfield Open Chess Tournament at Lake Ripley Elementary School.
While competition in the Litchfield Open Chess Tournament proceeded in the small gym, Keith Nelson offered playing tips to his 7-year-old son Philip before his next match. Keith said he began teaching Philip the basics a chess when his son was just 4 years old, and when this year’s tournament came up, “he wanted to give it a try.”
Litchfield High School seniors Garrison Jackman and Abby Woelfel study the chess board as they ponder their next moves.
One might expect a bright, sunshiny — albeit windy — Saturday morning in early April to entice most kids to enjoy the outdoors.
Instead, several dozen young people, ranging from kindergarten to high school seniors, spent this past Saturday huddled over tables in the gym at Lake Ripley Elementary School.
Keeping their minds in check? The annual Litchfield Open Chess Tournament.
The tournament drew 53 registrations, according to Monica Wedin, the event’s organizer, who offered a smile of appreciation for the competitors’ interest in the game.
“This is really great to see,” Wedin said of the turnout.
Wedin, a Title I teacher at Lake Ripley Elementary School, has led an after-school chess club for third- and fourth-graders for about the past seven years. She took over the adviser role when the club’s founder, Tom Springer, retired from teaching at Lake Ripley.
Along with starting the club, Springer founded the Litchfield Open Chess Tournament, which this year was marking its 28th year.
Wedin’s interest in chess comes from her father, Curt Brasket, who was a state champion and 16-time U.S. Junior Champion chess player. Brasket notched wins over chess grandmasters while competing in international tournaments during the 1970s. He played well into his 80s, before his death in 2014.
With that lineage, Wedin can’t help but want to see others learn the game, which prompted her to step up to lead the club.
Learning to play chess offers plenty of benefits for anyone, but especially for young people, Wedin said, touting its “lifelong skills” of strategy and critical thinking.
Among tournament players Saturday were a few Litchfield High School seniors, including TJ Christensen and Garrison Jackman, who learned the game while participating in the Lake Ripley chess club when Springer was still its leader.
The club’s longevity is owed, at least in part, to the support of the Litchfield School District, Wedin said, which provides a meeting space for the twice-weekly club meetings during the school year and supports the annual tournament.
