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About - Facts about Hamden Chess Club:

Hamden Chess Club is an official affiliate of US Chess. The club has a permanent home at Play More Chess Academy and meets twice weekly for casual play. Tournaments and special events for kids and adults are held each month. In addition to scheduled events, HCC members can meet up with friends and play chess during open hours.

The Hamden Chess Club has 151 club members, with an average of 60-70 players participating in adult casual play, USCF tournaments and weekly online tournaments several times each month. Players can participate in USCF tournaments and casual play evenings without being a club member. (Club members can play casually for free and receive discounted entry fees at our USCF tournaments).

• Hamden Chess Club members range in age from Scholastic, pre-teen members to Senior members in their 80's
• Members were born in many countries around the world - a mini United Nations of chess
• Skill levels range from beginner to titled players

As of October 2024 Hamden Chess Club Members, students and parents include:

• Rod Groff, PMCA Founder, Lead Instructor
• Yassamin Ehsani, Woman FIDE Master & National Master, PMCA Coach (online only)
  
• Jordan Groff, National Master, PMCA Coach (online or in-person)
  
  
• Kushagra Bhargava, #25 USCF Regular Top age 11
• Adam Bourgoin, Assistant Professor-Nursing, Central Connecticut State University
• Brian Dai, #12 USCF Regular Top age 7 and under
  
• John Freeman, 2024 PMCA Scholarship Winner-attending Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
• Corin Gartenlaub, #17 USCF Regular Top age 11
  
• Alex Emmons, Yale Law, 2024 Juris Doctor Candidate
• Rick Hardin, Founder & Leadership Advisor, Rick Hardin & Associates
  
• Will Johnson, PhD student in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Yale University
• Amit Khandelwal, Dong-Soo Hahn Professor of Global Affairs and Economics,
  Yale University
  
• Roland Lemar, State Representative, CT House of Representatives
• David Lewis, Certified Math Teacher, math and standarized test tutor
  
• Andrew Metrick, Economist, Janet L. Yellen Professor of Finance and Management at Yale School of Management
• Matthew Polly, Best-selling Martial Arts Writer and Author of Bruce Lee: A Life
  
• Brayden Sabol, 2024 PMCA Scholarship Winner-attending University of New Haven
• Anika Singh Lemar, Clinical Professor of Law, Yale Law School
• Renu Umashankar, Doctor of Internal Medicine, Endoscopy Center of Connecticut, LLC
• Rasikh Tuktamyshov, Assistant Clinical Professor, Yale School of Medicine
  
• Arjun Venkatesh, Professor of Emergency Medicine, Chair of Department of Emergency Medicine, Yale University
• Lacey Wang, #1 USCF Top Girls age 10
• Nicholas Watrous, Certified Teacher, Wallingford Public Schools
• students from elementary, middle school, high school and college
• doctors, teachers, computer technicians, general contractors, real estate investors, lawyers, grad students, a stunt man, an actor, an art appraiser, engineers, professors, a retired archivist, a math and standarized test tutor, and a variety of other occupations
  

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