Tolland Public Library Foundation Pairs Up with UConn Chess Club to Offer Youth Chess Lessons

By Kate Farrish

Thanks to grants from the Tolland Public Library Foundation and the UConn Chess Club, Tolland students in grades 3 and up will be able to learn how to play chess this summer and throughout the school year at the Tolland Public Library.

A total of 32 sessions of chess instruction by Tom Hartmayer, the UConn Chess Club coordinator, and qualified UConn students, will be held beginning July 14, using an $800 donation from the Chess Club and an $800 grant from the Foundation.

Students can sign up now for the free sessions, which will be held July 14, 21, and 28 and Aug. 11, 18, and 25. The sessions will be held from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the library at 21 Tolland Green.

The Chess Club made the donation after holding a fundraiser. Linda Byam, president of the Library Foundation, said the Foundation was pleased to take part in this unusual collaboration with UConn.

Ginny Brousseau, the Children’s and Young Adult Librarian, said the expanded lessons will build on an informal youth chess group that already exists at the library.

“We have a core group of interested students who have been playing at the library once a month,’’ she said. “I’m grateful to the UConn Chess Club and the Tolland Public Library Foundation for these grants, which will permit the library to hold more frequent chess group meetings and will enable the players to improve their play.”

During the school year, sessions will be held in September, October, and November of this year and in January, February, and March of 2016.

To register or for more information, call the library at 860-871-3620.