Staring with intense concentration at the board, chess club member Jeffrey Scott squared off against one of his teammates, Johnny Ng, on Thursday.
The weekly games bring chess enthusiasts from the U together for five-hour matches.
Four members of the chess team are taking their excitement over the game to Dallas in December for the Pan American Intercollegiate Chess Tournament.
Robert Williams, chess club adviser, said he thinks the team should go to Texas for the tournament because it will give the members experience competing against players across the nation.
“I think it is very important for our University of Utah students, along with other college students, to have enjoyable experiences in college, meet other students from many different backgrounds and play on a team such as ours,” Williams said.
Although students are excited for the tournament, the team is running into financial difficulties.
“Money is tight right now, but we’re working on getting donations tax deductible,” Williams said. Students are contributing some money, and the Associated Students of the University of Utah has donated additional funds to help further the club’s goal of going to Texas.
The president of the U’s chess club, Daniel Torba, along with Scott, Razvan Ungureanu and Katie Kormanik, will travel to Texas to play chess with other college students from across the nation.
The U’s chess club meets Thursday nights in the Union Den. Williams revived the organization when he came to the U in 2003.
Besides U students, David Evans, a senior at Highland High School, and Eric Hung, a fourth-grade student from Hawthorne Elementary School, enjoy playing chess each week at the U because they learn about chess strategies and get to play with a group. The team allows Hung to play because his mother, Man Hung, is a graduate student in engineering at the U.
Even though the team is struggling to raise money, Williams said it is not discouraged and is trying to recruit new members interested in traveling to the tournament. He said the team will volunteer to help officiate the Utah State High School Chess Championship in February.
Williams said the team has received some outside help, including 20 engraved trophies from Fletcher Tufts, former head of the chess club in Denver who wanted to encourage chess club players from the U and Brigham Young University.
Whether they go to Texas or not, team members said just being on the team is a benefit itself.
Katie Kormanick, a junior in math and economics, said she’s been playing since she was four. She said her dad taught her how to play the game and it’s been ingrained in her life ever since.
“Chess teaches a lot of things,” Kormanick said. “Chess teaches you patience (and) analytical skills. It’s kind of like life. You make choices (and) you have to decide what the best move is because it affects the rest of the game.”
Thien SokJonah Petit, a sophomore in mechanical engineering, plays a game of chess Thursday night in the Union den. Petit is an alternate on the chess team; the team is trying to raise money for a trip to Dallas to compete against other colleges.