Montessori hosts chess tournament

OLD TOWN – The ninth Martin Luther King Jr. Chess Tournament, hosted by Stillwater Montessori School, was held Jan. 21 at Holy Family Parish with 48 participants in four sections, three of them United States Chess Federation-rated.

Fritz Eyerer and Aaron Spencer, each with three points, played in the championship round for the title. Eyerer came out on top to score a perfect 4-0 and Spencer tied for second with Charles Clark, each scoring 3-1.

Bangor High School student and Orono resident Henry Chai received the top K-12 trophy for playing in the open section for all ages.

In the K-12 section, Bangor High School’s Keji Xu topped the field with four straight wins, outpacing second-place finishers Avery Cole and Ryan Vienneau, both from Orono High, by a full 1.5 points.

The top eighth-grade and under trophy went to Paul Rudnicki of Bangor. Top trophy in the female section went to Haley DeLuca Lowell of Aurora.

The K-8 section finished with a five-way logjam at the top. Old Town’s Reid Horton, Orono’s Isaac McKillen Godfried and Jiawei Zou, Palermo’s George Spahn and Bangor’s Nathan Dee all scored 3 points to share first place.

Top under-fifth-grade honors went to Old Town’s John Kenneway. Deer Isle’s Bethany Humphrey took the top female trophy.

In the unrated rated K-6 section, Orono’s Jessica Chen blanked the field with 4.0 points. Chen was trailed by Garrett Field with 3.5 and Old Town’s Brendan Parlee and Conner Millard both with 3.0.

Top third-grade and under honors went to Veazie’s Stuart MacKay.

The tournament was organized by Stillwater Montessori School Director Joe Alex and directed by Dan DeLuca and Andy Bryan.