The Central Jersey Chess Tournament began in August 2010 with the idea of bringing young chess players together to play, learn and compete monthly in a U.S. Chess Federation sanctioned tournament. CJ Chess forms friendship and camaraderie between local and tri-state area players using chess as the common language. 

Grant Oen, a high school sophomore at the time, had always wanted to run a chess tournament that would incorporate the things he learned from playing in over 95 nationally-rated tournaments. Chief among them are making the tournament fun, efficient, and comfortable.

Grant approached his long-time chess mentor and friend, Jairo Moreira with the idea. After several months of planning and set-up, the tournament began at the Hyatt Place Princeton with a large turn-out.  

On its one-year anniversary, the tournament has increased steadily and moved to its current location at All Saints' Church in Princeton.
 

Tournament Directors



Jairo Moreira is an International FIDE Master who has been an active chess player for over 20 years. He has competed internationally, including in two Chess Olympiads. In 1994, he won the South American Chess Championship in Uruguay.

He currently runs seven different chess programs in NJ and NY schools and directs numerous local tournaments. 

Jairo enjoys the interaction with children and taking them to the next level of the game.

Grant Oen is currently a senior at the Peddie School and has been playing chess since he was 8. Although his dad taught him the game, he was able to beat his dad blindfolded since he was 11, which prompted his dad to vow to never play against him again.  

He has won several championships in his age group including the 2009 10th Grade NJ State Championship. He is currently the 2011 12th Grade NJ State Co-Champion in the top 1 national junior percentile overall. 

In addition to running the Central Jersey Chess Tournament, Grant has been actively teaching the game to over 200 children at both the Boys & Girls Club of America in Trenton and the West Windsor Library.  

Running CJ Chess and teaching chess help fulfill his long-time dreams to spread the game of chess to kids with various backgrounds and to have a monthly venue where they can learn, share and test out what they have learned.