Chess Club preparing for State, USCF tournaments

Chess Club members are preparing for the State tournament that will take place on March 24 and the U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) tournament, which will occur sometime in April

Two teams consisting of club members  will participate in the team State championship. The participants on the first team are seniors Youkow Homma and Brian McDonald and sophomores Andrew Kluttz and Sameer Manchanda. The members of the second team are seniors Connor Dunn and senior Albert Liu, sophomore Saiuth Malpeddi and freshman Matthew McDonald.

According to McDonald, a club officer, club members prepare by practicing as usual.

“(We are) treating (the State tournament) like any other tournament,” McDonald said.

According to McDonald, there have not been many new developments about the USCF tournament which will consist of around five rounds of chess. The members have not yet finalized the date or other specific details of the tournament.

“Our preparations currently involve trying to set up a date on which our club sponsor and tournament director are both available and also which doesn’t conflict with any large chess tournaments,” McDonald said.

Gene Qian, club member and freshman, said he will not be participating in either of the events.

“I don’t really like competitive chess,” Qian said. “I just come to (Chess Club) to play for fun.”