The problem with College Chess

The Charm & Anguish of the Pan-Ams: An Organizer’s Summary
By FM Alex Betaneli
January 3, 2011

The 2010 Pan American Intercollegiate Championships were co-organized by the United States Chess Federation and the Wisconsin Chess Academy this year. The tournament took place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on December 27-30th. The Crowne Plaza Hotel was an excellent host, providing top-level services all around. Twenty-eight teams attended the event.

Running such a famous, prestigious event was certainly exhilarating. Having organized national events for over a decade, I realized that this would be something special. However, having two NTD’s and a senior TD who has run tournaments for 40 years provided a sense of confidence that any unusual difficulties would be resolved successfully. I would like to believe that the event was a huge success and judging from the overwhelmingly positive response of the players, this was one of the most enjoyable Pan Ams in recent years.

Before I muse on the state of college chess, I would like to thank the tournament directors who gave up holidays to contribute towards the tournament: Glenn Panner, Mike Selig, Kaileigh Selig, Mike Nietman, and Sisira Amarasinghe.

Also thanks to Ashish Vaja who has encouraged me to bring this tournament to Milwaukee. A special thanks to monroi.com for enabling us with live game transmission (Sisira Amarasinghe did an admirable job bypassing all problems he was presented with). Finally, many thanks to the players and all adults that accompanied them to the tournament!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

It is important to conclude this report with an invitation for brain-storming. After the Olympiad, IM Donaldson published a report in which he expressed legitimate worries about the future of our National team. In particular, he pointed out that most talented young players quit chess at some point and never become strong Grandmasters. Perhaps the contrast between junior chess (immensely successful) and the low numbers of strong professionals is connected to difficulties at college level. All universities that offer scholarships to chess players are most definitely to be applauded and other schools should be encouraged to follow in their footsteps.

One of the ways to make a case for chess scholarships is by creating publicity for this annual event. Here we have a major difficulty, however. On the one hand, it is wonderful to have 28 teams participating, but on the other hand we have to wonder if this number should be much higher. One team could not make it because some airports on the East coast were closed. Another team fell apart because some players from the UW-Madison chose to accompany their football team to the Rose Bowl instead of playing chess.

Overall, only about 20 distinct schools were represented this year (some schools brought more than one team, resulting in 28 total) and this is how it has been for the past decade. Clearly, the number is not one to be proud of and, more importantly, is not much of a promotion point. Given the number of colleges in the United States alone, merely twenty schools playing chess is alarming.

There are several possible reasons for such low attendance and most are valid. Perhaps schools do not have enough money to send their players. Maybe the timing of the event is truly inconvenient. As an independent organizer, I am merely puzzled by the situation, but as a professional player and instructor I am truly astonished.

There needs to be a group people whose mission is to address the needs of college chess. The group should have some professionals on board as otherwise it would be equivalent to B-class players running an International Chess Academy. Until such group exists and functions effectively, it is rather doubtful that the state of college chess will change. As long as we have such a situation, IM Donaldson’s sentiments are destined to become a prophecy.