Inter-Ivy Chess Championship
From left to right: Nimrod, Kimia, Sanjana, Arturo, Timo, Karen, Chris, Nikhil. Karen got a special chess.com beanie prize for scoring over 3.5/4 points (undefeated)!
Cornell had the honor of competing in the Inter-Ivy Chess Championship last weekend, which was hosted at Yale College. Schools such as Columbia, UPenn, Dartmouth, and Brown also made the journey to Yale in order to duke it out for the coveted title of “Best Ivy School Chess Team”! Each university had their highest rated team compete in the Championship Section (rated), while all other teams battled it out in the Open Section (unrated).
This was a lot of members’ first time competing in this type of Inter-Ivy team tournament, so the opportunity to meet other schools was refreshing. The Cornell teams were amazing per usual and had great camaraderie: playing bughouse, getting dinner together, and wishing each other luck for every game.
Pictured in the front row: Cornell Team A playing against Yale Team A (avg. 2395) on DGT boards, which were broadcasted live on the Yale twitch stream and on chess.com.
CORNELL TEAM A (avg. 2060): Nimrod Hajaj (2224), Sanjana Vittal (2167), Arturo Ruiz-Mautino (2029), Nikhil Kalyanraman (2003) [special shoutout to Nikhil who recently joined the 2000 club!]
CORNELL TEAM B (avg. 1127): Karen Petrosyan (1534), Chris Price (1469), Timo Babenko (804), Kimia Kazemian (713)
Due to some round delays, some teams did have to forfeit the last round and leave early in order to return to campus on time. However, the Cornell teams stuck around until the very end to finish strong! Cornell Team A finished in 3rd place in the Championship section with 2/4 points, and Team B finished in 5th place in the Open section with 2.5/4 points!
Let’s hear about the tournament experience from some of our members!
“We were able to make connections with other chess players, which is one of the best parts about playing these events. I really loved hanging out with our team as well as members of other teams…even though Cornell was the furthest from Yale compared to the other schools, I’m glad that we were able to participate. .I hope to play in this event again in the future!”
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“This tournament was a great experience. It was super cool to meet fellow college students who share a passion for chess, and I loved the team format. My favorite memory was probably the intense post tournament bughouse” - Nikhil
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“I think the highlight was Chris’ love for bughouse. He united 3 different schools over bug before and after the matches” - Timo
Our team celebrates their hard-earned plaque! Sanjana is in this photo, in spirit :p (she was talking with a TD at this moment). Chris expressed interest in an Inter-Ivy bughouse tournament in the future - perhaps Cornell can host next time??
Nimrod played a tough game against GM Nico Checa, who is rated 2600.
Huge thank you to Nikhil and Nimrod for being our esteemed drivers! Cornell did plan on sending a third team, but the logistics did not work out. Thank you to Sukruth for volunteering to drive as well!
Overall, this would not have been possible without the enthusiasm of the Cornell players and the dedication of the Yale tournament organizers. Special thanks to Rabbi Tilsen for providing a space for us to stay and hang out - our trip to Yale would not have been possible without your generosity as well!