While some students spent their spring break at the beach, the members of Shippensburg University’s chess club traveled to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where the members won the Pennsylvania Collegiate Championship.
The team of six, which is considered large, spent two days battling it out against five other colleges and universities at a hotel in Lancaster.
Juniors Anthony Ciarlante and Jacob Painter gained the most points for the team, winning 2.5 and four points, respectively. Competitors had the chance to win five points at the most, one for each match.
“You have to be able to zone everything out,” chess club President Ciarlante said. Each person gets 90 minutes to play, and some competitors think for five minutes before making a move. In many ways, it is a game of patience that forces people to think critically.
“There’s something real satisfying, mentally,” club adviser Dave Kennedy said. The state championship win was his second since he has been adviser to the club. SU’s last win was in 2012, with completely different players than the team has now, which made Kennedy especially proud.
SU first competed internationally this past January in Hungary, where students had the opportunity to meet and learn from a chess master, Tibor Károlyi. The club took lessons with Károlyi, which gave them an edge in the state competition.
“I think we all improved, thanks to the little bit of time we got to spend with him,” Ciarlante said of the chess master.
After their experience in Hungary, Károlyi and the chess club stayed in touch. He reached out to the students for help editing the English version of his latest book. As a thank-you, Károlyi gave students another lesson, for free, via Skype on Friday.
The skills SU students gained from their international experience helped propel them ahead of the competition in Lancaster, which included Duquesne University and University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
Competitors were matched based on their ranking in the U.S. Chess Federation. Students played against others in the same skill level, winning one point for each win, a half point for a draw and zero points for a loss. The combined scores of the Top 4 students from each team were added together to determine the winner. The tournament also hosted matches for players of all ages and skill levels, including elementary and high school students.
In addition to Ciarlante and Painter, the SU team members at the state competition included Dan Brown, Lula Eichenlaub, David George and Chris Owens.
To prepare for the competition, SU students studied various strategies in chess literature, and practiced at least once a week. Moving forward, Kennedy is looking at other opportunities for the chess club to compete this semester, possibly in Maryland or Massachusetts.
“Every tournament makes you stronger,” Kennedy said, who started playing chess competitively in his 40s and has been playing recreationally since childhood.
Anyone is welcome to join the chess club. Meetings are held every Friday in the Dauphin Humanities Center Fishbowl at 3:30 p.m.
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