20 of Minnesota's top senior (age 50+) chess players gathered at the Castle Chess Club on the last weekend of October for the annual State Senior Championship. FM Leonard Johnson cruised to a perfect 4-0 score to win his first Senior Championship. Leonard became the 4th player in Minnesota chess history to have won both the Overall State Championship and the Senior State Championship. He joins fellow Hall of Famers Roger Rudolph, Victor Adler & Tim Radermacher in this accomplishment.
A strong performance was also turned in by Barry Lazarus who scored 3 points and went undefeated through the veteran senior circuit of Voje, Murray & Radermacher by scoring 2 draws and 1 big upset victory.
Newcomer Lon Newman (USCF 1464) also had a good tournament as he defeated two 1900-rated players in the first two rounds and saw his rating jump 81 points on the weekend.
Congratulations to Leonard Johnson who becomes the first member of the 2025 Minnesota Team which will travel to Madison, Wisconsin next July for the USCF's State National Events. 🇺🇸