Students battle at chess tourney

By Phil Witte
Daily Forty-Niner

Pawns and rooks fell by the wayside during the frenetic action at the Battle of the Minds Chess Tournament Thursday sponsored by the Cal State Long Beach Chess Club at the University Student Union.

Though the winner had not been determined by press time, David Smith was in first place, said Solomon Moore, senior business major and treasurer of the chess club.

The tournament, which was scheduled from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., was unorganized. Besides ending after 6 p.m., contestants were also able to register for the tournament up until 2 p.m.

Moore and graduate student Hasan Hasan created the current incarnation of the CSULB Chess Club last February. Hasan said only 10 students showed up at the first meeting, but membership has grown.

"I like to think we have a fluctuating membership of 30,000 people," Moore said.

Regular meetings for the club are held every Monday at 1 p.m. in the University Student Union, and Thursday's tournament was the first for the club this year. The top two finishers won win an all-expense paid trip to the Associated College Unions International chess tournament in San Jose in February. Students must be continuing in school and have a minimum GPA of 2.5 to qualify.

"Our faculty sponsor Lisa De La Loza was instrumental in getting the funding and invitations to the tournament," Moore said.

Some players who are not club members just came to play for fun and were amazed by the quality of the prizes.

"I saw the signs up for the tournament around campus and I just came to play chess and have fun," said Jaime Martinez, senior chemical engineering major. "I like playing chess and I never have anyone to play against so this was fun today, but those prizes put too much stress on me."

Funding for the trips and the other prizes are provided by the club's many sponsors, which include campus organizations and local businesses. Despite the club's small size, the prizes are impressive compared to most tournaments, said David Smith, a graduate student in mathematics.

"I've entered tournaments in San Francisco and most charge entry fees and offer modest cash prizes," Smith said.

The recent defeat of reigning world chess champion Garry Kasparov by former student Vladimir Kramnik was also a topic of conversation during the event.

"It was a bit of a shocker;" Smith said. "Kasparov was supposed to be the strongest in the world. There is a real lack of confidence in chess' international governing bodies so it's fragmented and no one recognizes each other champions."

Michael Watanabe contributed to this story.

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