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.
I agree, but I don’t think this proposed group HAS to consist of only extremely strong players. Several people with strong determination and good ideas could be successful even with lower ratings. I propose that this group also work with student chess representatives from currently active chess schools to help improve college chess as well as gather ideas.
Rallan
As a member of the USCF Chess College Committee and the advisor for the Knight Raiders chess club at Texas Tech I am painfully aware of these problems and just as frustrated as Alex with the situation. I have along with other on the committee attempted to bring improvement for years. However, I don’t agree with Alex that only “chess professionals” should be on this committee. In fact those so-called chess professionals might have no little or no knowlegde of the workings of a college or university. That could hinder rather than help. We need a healthy mix of both and yes there should be a student representative.
In order to take the pulse of the college students at the recent Pan-Ams and give them a voice I conducted a short post-tournament survey (hotel conditions, playing venue and conditions, tournament directing etc). No names were attached to the responses. Fifty-four students responded (out of 118) and four coaches/staff. Shortly I will be submitting the results of that survey to the Chess College Committee and the organizers of the tournament. Hopefully, soon thereafter the results of the survey will be revealed to the public.
Great job Alex!
Sincerely,
Dr. H. R. Karlsson
Faculty Advisor to the Knight Raiders
Member of the SPICE Group
Associate Professor of Geosciences
Texas Tech University
Er, excuse my ignorance, but is not making every effort to attract more college teams from the Americas by doing whatever it takes the job of the United States Chess Federation, with assistance as needed from volunteers and organizers all around North and South America? I do not understand why this is not being done.
Jan Newton
Goddesschess.com
United States Chess Federation promoting chess? That’s an oxymoron, isn’t it? Goichberg and his goonies aren’t interestedt in promoting chess. He’s only interested in milking money from chess players for himself. Isn’t it obvious?
I think we need the help of a chess superhero. Maybe we can dig up Bobby and put a hero suit on him. We can call him “ChessMan”(tm).
He will have the power to stop evil chess politicians with a single move (d4).
The most vile chess freaks will be amazed at his ability to end their reign of terror with a wave of his decayed hand.
Unfortunately, ChessMan cannot help College Chess. He doesn’t have a high school diploma.
I think there are a few reasons why few participate in collegiate chess. Here are the personal two reasons why I did not participate during my 4 college years:
1. Chess is still culturally not very popular. Our chess club met weekly at the basement of the campus movie theater. Finding funding and sponsorship from the school for such tournament is difficult – compounded with the time lost from studies makes it very difficult to participate in out-of-town tournaments.
2. Although UTD, UMBC, and Texas Tech are doing a spectacular job promoting college chess by providing chess scholarships, the result leads to remarkably strong teams from these schools. The result is a reduced incentive for players from other schools to participate in such national events where each player has to pay out-of-pocket, yet have no chance of placing in the event.
Where may I read the results of Dr. Karlsson’s research he mentions in his comment.