Checkmate: Chess team places first in tournament

Imagine writing a final exam, an exam that stretches on for six hours, with someone sitting across the table the entire time, watching every move and just waiting for a mistake.

This is a good approximation of eight University students' experience at the U.S. Amateur Team East chess tournament last weekend.

The tournament, held in Parsipanny, N.J., hosted more than 200 four-person teams from all over the east coast. A number of universities, including Dartmouth and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, sent teams to the competition. A wide range of ages was represented, from adult teams to a handful of elementary school entrants.

Princeton's chess team, which consists of about fifteen members, sent two teams to the event. The team of Brandon Ashe '04, Jonathan Heckman '04, Ian Prevost '05 and Chris Tyau '05 took first place in the under-1700 section. Brian Beck '05, Jeremy Fazli '05, Edmund Chiang '02 and Phillip Wei '05 also put in a strong team showing in their section.

Sections are determined by the average match records of the team members. The higher the section rating, the more skilled the team. Ratings can fall anywhere between 100 and 2700, but teams with a rating higher than 2200 were prohibited from competing in the amateur competition.

Each team member competes in six matches during the three-day tournament. Players are given two hours in which they must make 50 moves, the successful completion of which would result in another hour of playing time. Thus, each team member plays a maximum of 36 hours during a 72 hour period.

All four members of a team play their matches simultaneously. Although they are not permitted to advise one another on chess moves, they are aware of how the team is doing overall, making the competition a true team effort. "With all four players sitting side-by-side, you know if you need to go for a win or a draw," team vice president Heckman noted.

The University chess club has been around in one form or another since the 1930s, Ashe, its current president, said.

"This year, we were trying to re-start the tradition," Ashe said, adding that the team did not compete in the tournament last year.

In addition, team member Tyau was competing in his first college competition.

Tyau said he was nervous at the beginning of the competition but that it was fun to see face-to-face some top players that he previously had only heard about. "I just tried to stay focused the whole time," said Tyau.

His focus paid off, as Tyau won all his matches, going 6-0 for the tournament. "It was completely unexpected," said Tyau.

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In addition to his team award, Tyau received an award for perfect store and another for biggest upset in the last round, during which he defeated an opponent with a much stronger overall record than his own.

Ashe said he was surprised and pleased with the tournament results for both University teams, especially since Princeton faced opponents of higher skill levels.

"We played teams stronger than us, and so we weren't expected to win," said Ashe.

Heckman agreed. "Going in we thought our chances were slim to none, so it's quite a pleasant surprise to do so well."