Students capture chess division championship

Four students traveling to South Padre Island, Texas, over winter break is nothing unusual. But instead of catching some sun, Haonan Zhou ’13, Atanas Petkov ’12, Jack Hutton ’13 and Daniel Minkin ’12 competed in the Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship.

The team finished ninth overall, winning the Under 2200 Division. They captured the Division II title with three wins, one draw and two losses. Members attributed their success at the tournament to a mentality of sacrificing individual ratings for the benefit of the team.

In their first tournament as a Princeton team, the Tigers competed against some of the best chess teams in the country. Texas Tech, for example, has a ranking of 2429, and three of its players are International Masters. Unlike Princeton, some schools recruit students specifically for chess and offer scholarships to world-class players.

“It’s like playing on a whole different level,” Hutton said of playing against Texas Tech.

Princeton’s team, however, had its first challenge before the tournament even started: getting to South Padre Island amid multiple flight delays and missed connections. Petkov and Minkin did not arrive in Texas until the day the tournament started.

“We had a hectic trip,” explained Hutton, who arrived the night before the tournament. “I was tired. They were tired. I really had no expectations.”

But Zhou and Petkov went into the tournament with visions of victory. Despite the tough competition, Zhou said the team’s performance was in line with its goal.

“I think we wanted to win our division and we did,” Zhou said. “Even if they had higher rankings than us.”

To improve their overall performance in future tournaments, members said they will practice more as a team and bring other high-ranking players that did not compete in Texas to the next tournament. Petkov is also recruiting former high school competitors to the team.

“It is one of the most sophisticated games that exist, and if you have developed strong affections toward chess, you should keep working in that area,” Petkov said.

When asked if they would like to participate as a team again at next year’s Pan-American tournament, to be held in Wisconsin, all four players responded with a resounding “Yes.”

One of the highlights of the trip was escaping the wintery weather in New Jersey and relaxing in the warm Texas climate.