He also serves as township’s deputy mayor
Jon Edwards of Hopewell Township has won first place in the North American Invitational Correspondence Chess Tournament with a score of 11½ out of a possible 14.
Dr. Edwards’ victory gives him the title of International Master (IM) and places him into the semi-final round of the World Correspondence Chess Championship.
Dr. Edwards also has been invited to join the United States Correspondence Chess Olympic Team. Play in the preliminary round is expected to last three and a half years, when qualifiers for the final round will be determined. Distribution of medals for the event will occur in 2006 making correspondence chess the slowest sport in the Olympic movement.
The U.S. Correspondence Chess team consists of the six highest-rated correspondence chess players in the country. Dr. Edwards’ international rating of 2,550 ranks him as one of the top 150 players in the world. In this preliminary round, he will be playing simultaneously against competitors from Russia, Hungary, France, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Iceland, Malta, Scotland, and Uruguay. Three years ago, Dr. Edwards won the United States Correspondence Chess Championship.
Dr. Edwards has been teaching chess since the mid-1970s and coaches many children in the Mercer County area. His most famous student, Michael Wilder formerly of Princeton, became the U.S. Chess Champion in 1990. One of his present students, Ian Prevost of Princeton, is the two-time New Jersey Scholastic Chess Champion, Another student, Scott Weingart of Hopewell Township, is rated in the top 50 for U.S. players under 14.
Dr. Edwards is the author of six chess books. His latest book, the Chess Analyst, features his games from the U.S. championship.
Dr. Edwards has an bachelor’s degree in history and economics from Princeton University and a master’s degree and doctorate in economic history from Michigan State University. He currently is deputy mayor of Hopewell Township, where he resides with his wife Cheryl and their two sons, Aaron and Neil.