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Ella Papanek ’21 (left) and Alex Yu compete in the qualifier tournament.
Photography by Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer
“No two games of chess are alike,” Jason Yoo ’21 muses. “It’s always different. I like to see it as drawing or painting with a stranger that you just met.”
Yoo was one of dozens of chess lovers who bonded and competed over the 14 new tables lining the plaza of the redesigned Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Campus Center in a recent weekend tournament.
Community Chess Weekend, organized by Harvard University’s Common Spaces Program in partnership with the Harvard Chess Club, featured open play, exhibition matches against a grandmaster, and a qualifier tournament, all building up to the Collins Cup Invitational Blitz Championship from which Harvard Chess Club’s own Varun Krishnan ’19 emerged victorious.
“It brings together people of all ages,” says Holger Droessler, Ph.D. ’15, from Germany. “If you play football, you can’t do that when you’re 80. Chess you can still play when you’re older, and you can start when you’re very young. … It’s ageless.”
Nicholas Mastromarion (center) from Chelsea, shares his most memorable moment playing in Harvard Square. “My first win against a master. I remember that moment vividly. It was a very empowering feeling. Yeah, that was a good day.”
“Fierce” is how Matthew Casso ’19 describes the Harvard Square chess community. “You get into games where it’s very precarious. Just one wrong move and the entire house of cards crumbles on either side. It’s exciting to see a game go down to only a few pieces left, and it still being very close.” Martin van Dommelen and his 18-month-old daughter, Maud, of the Netherlands, watch a match. “Chess is universal,” van Dommelen says. “Go to parks and squares, the rules are the same everywhere. It’s a part of home. It’s familiar.”
Holger Droessler, Ph.D. ’15, makes his best move against grandmaster Larry Christiansen. “I should have studied his moves before playing. He’s an attacking player. That’s what one of the organizers told me before, and he showed that. It’s the grandmasters. They’re relentless.” Francisco Vetcher, 7, tries a wall of defense against the grandmaster.
“As Rodney Dangerfield would say, ‘We have a tough crowd here,’” Larry Christiansen says after two hours of play. “They did not make it easy.” Daniel Sutton responds to a move by the grandmaster.
Deliberations are intense during the championship. Gaven, 8, and his mother, Dabney Hailey, watch the Collins Cup contest. Varun Krishnan ’19, in the foreground, goes on to win.
After vanquishing his opponent, MIT student Alexander Katz (center) observes other games. Visitors line up to record the final matches of the championship.
