Club Macaulay is always bustling with posts about upcoming events and opportunities for involvement for the Macaulay community. A particularly exciting event that occurred on January 28th was an inter-collegiate chess tournament hosted at Macaulay Central by Macaulay’s very own Chess Club.
Headed by co-presidents Benjamin Botnik and Andrii Shypachov, Chess Club strives to bring the Macaulay community together through chess-related activities scattered throughout the semester. Many of their club meetings feature simple rounds of chess and lively discussion as members get to know one another. Their most popular event this past semester was an origami chess event in collaboration with Macaulay Art Tank, which included creating origami chess pieces designed by member Leonidas Kalpaxis.
The chess tournament has, of course, aroused the most excitement among chess players across the city. Rather than intense and nerve-wracking competition, the event was meant to be a more light-hearted event, with unrated blitz and rapid time control rounds of competition and complimentary snacks. Over 60 students from 12 different colleges attended for a day of friendly competition.
Shypachov explained his motivation for organizing such an event: “There were really no tournaments that college students could casually participate [in], nor ones that did not require significant expenses to enter.”
Botnik echoed these thoughts, explaining, “We are excited about creating a chess tournament where students from universities across New York City can come together and share their love for the timeless game.”
It seems that this inaugural chess tournament is the first of many to come. As Shypachov explained, “In order to make such tournaments more frequent, I, together with the presidents of chess clubs in other colleges and universities, founded the New York College Chess League. It is fairly unofficial, and we are still discussing the structure of the league in more detail, but it is a good start.”
After this, the Macaulay Chess Team will compete in the United States Amateur Team East Competition in Parsippany, New Jersey in February, one of the largest tournaments in the country, seizing the opportunity to put Macaulay on the map of collegiate chess. To stay updated on all upcoming events, follow @nycollegechessleague on Instagram.
