Newtown High School (NHS) Chess Club hosted, and won, a chess meet for Danbury Area Scholastic Chess League on Saturday, January 24.

Students from Newtown and neighboring towns gathered in the school’s Library Media Center for the event, which marked the second meet of Danbury Area Scholastic Chess League’s 2025-26 season.

The league, which features teams from NHS, Danbury High School, and Westover School, hosts three to four meets from December to February. It is the oldest continuously operating Scholastic Chess League in Connecticut, having existed since 1969, according to tournament director Glenn Budzinski.

Wooster School recently joined the league, but did not compete since they only joined this year,

Danbury Area Scholastic Chess League gives high school students a chance to compete against others their age who they might not otherwise play against, due to being from different towns or cities.

As part of the league, competing schools takes turns hosting a meet. The league also has an individual league championship, where students from all teams compete against each other.

Saturday afternoon was Newtown’s turn, and as the hosting team, NHS Chess Club brought a wide array of snacks for the special occasion. A table in the library was lined with cookies, pretzels, chips, fruit, brownies, granola bars, and water bottles for students, advisors, or parents to eat as they pleased.

NHS teacher Alison Flannery, who is also the school’s chess club advisor, said it is in the league’s rules that the host team has to bring snacks. NHS Chess Club also provided chess sets and a few timers for the meet; the Danbury team brought the other timers since Newtown did not have enough.

Even as people finished setting up chess boards and timers, competing students started practicing against each other.

After some final preparations and after Budzinski went over the league rules, it was finally time for the meet to begin.

Kids were seated by rank, with each school’s top players facing off against the other schools’ top players. There were a total of three matches in the meet: Newtown versus Westover, then Newtown versus Danbury, and ending with Danbury versus Westover. Whoever won the most matches would win the meet.

Whichever team wins the most meets wins the Danbury Area Scholastic Chess League. For the individual tournament, the top-ranking students get medals.

NHS Chess Club was more determined than ever to win the recent meet, as the Danbury High team has been the reigning league champion for years, according to Flannery. The Newtown team came into the January 24 meet up by one point.

“We’re trying, but it’s always been Danbury,” Flannery said. “This is the first time we’re ahead by one meet, so that’s why every game counts.”

She said this is also why students get incredibly quiet during the matches. A serious game of chess between two of the better players in the world, Budzinski said, can last between four to five hours. Even top ranking local players can spend hours in matches, trying their hardest to outwit their opponent.

“Thinking takes time, especially if you think so deep enough you consider your every move,” Budzinski said.

However, each match in Danbury Area Scholastic Chess League only lasts for 30 minutes. With a set time limit, the pressure was on for NHS Chess Club.

“This is why the kids get so quiet during their matches,” Flannery said. “It’s funny. I can’t get them to be quiet in my class, but chess ... they just get so into it. It brings out a different side of them.”

Flannery and Budzinski called chess a mental sport; it takes hours of focus where people put their endurance, concentration, and strategic skills to the test.

“Sometimes you’ll even see them sweating, so it really is intense because they’re thinking so hard,” Flannery explained.

NHS Chess Club meets every Thursday after school for the whole school year. Students will play against each other and do what they can to help each other out.

With the meets in December through February, the students especially do what they can to strengthen their skills in time for their league matches.

Flannery said the January 24 meet comes right off the tail of midterms at NHS.

“So yesterday, everybody else was so excited to be done with midterms and getting ready for the snow this weekend, but these kids were getting ready for the meet. And here they are, using their brains again,” Flannery added. “It’s so impressive. They’ve worked really hard for this.”

Flannery could not be more excited to see her students try so hard to win. She used to play chess when she was a kid, and even coached chess in Stamford at the elementary level.

So when NHS teacher Dr Steve Mallory retired around 2018, she was happy to take over the school’s chess club.

However, the club’s students had no interest in competing. Flannery said she asked her students every year if they wanted to compete, but the answer was always no.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. After the lockdown, when schools gradually got back into routine, a new set of kids came into Newtown High.

“We got a new set of kids and they showed interest [in the league], so we started competing again,” Flannery said. “Ever since 2021 or so, we’ve been doing it since and we’ve been going strong. We’re building back up the league again.”

While Danbury Area Scholastic Chess League only has four members right now, Budzinski said this is not entirely uncommon.

“We’ve gone up and we’ve gone down [in our membership], and this just so happens to be one of our down periods,” Budzinski said. “You know, it’s just the nature of chess sometimes.”

Budzinski, a Newtown resident for almost 30 years, is no stranger to chess himself; he used to run Newtown Chess Club at C.H. Booth Library from 2007 to 2020. When the COVID-19 pandemic came and shut down the club, he never started it up again.

Budzinski is also the president of Connecticut Kids Play Chess, Inc, western Connecticut’s largest provider of scholastic chess programs.

As kids played at the January 24 meet, Budzinski, along with the other chess club advisors, walked around the room and intently watched each match.

Even as other students finished their matches, they surrounded the games still going on. Other than the occasional cough or whisper, the library was completely silent.

Students would talk to their team members after each match and congratulate them on a good game. Even outside of meets, Flannery said they help each other get better, and learn from each other’s strategies.

“They’re good for each other,” she added.

Flannery said chess club is a good spot for those kids who maybe do not fit in other places.

“It’s a good fit for kids who maybe don’t fit in other places. Everybody needs something. For some people, this is their something, and I’m glad we can have this for them,” Flannery said.

Any coach from another school who is interested in Danbury Area Scholastic Chess League should contact Dane Reese at reesed@danbury.k12.ct.us or Glenn Budzinski at ctkidsplaychess@gmail.com.

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.