When Harvard hosted the Pan-Am Intercollegiate Chess Tournament in 1990 in Cambridge, UMBC’s chess team placed 26th out of 27 teams that entered the competition.

In April, the team took home its sixth title in the annual President’s Cup tournament, dubbed “the Final Four of College Chess.” UMBC Chess Director Alan Sherman says that the victory came “against the strongest field of chess teams ever assembled at any Final Four.”

UMBC’s chess players at all levels are not resting on their laurels, says Richard Selzler, president of UMBC’s Chess Club. He says the umbrella group for the university’s chess activities is seeking to increase its funding and its membership.

Chess scholarships for its best players are part of the recipe for UMBC’s success. But the club itself welcomes all players, and is actively seeking to replace members who have graduated. “Hopefully we can recruit new members of all levels,” Selzler concludes.

— Derek Roper ’11

Story original appears in UMBC Magazine : http://www.umbc.edu/magazine/summer10/atplay.html