Stars: they’re just like us—including chess heroes Arthur and Jonathan.

We have learned from past seasons that athletically, Columbia is pretty hit or miss—we can determine the results of football games and fencing tournaments without even attending the competitions. However, there is now a new team contributing to our exceptionally divergent record: the chess team. Bwogger Amara Banks sat down with them to inquire more about their national victory from winter break.

Whether you were getting ready to kiss your dog or break your resolution, not everyone was making regrettable decisions on the day before 2016. The Pan-American Intercollegiate Chess Championship (Pan Am) took place in Cleveland, and luckily for us, Arthur Shen CC ’19, Kyron Griffith CC ’17, Aaron Jacobson GS ’19, Alex Fabbri CC ’17, Jonathan Pagan SEAS ’17, Theodore Coyne CC ’18, Xiuwen Sun (Grad Student), and Anthony Panat SEAS ’19 were representing us. The team entered the tournament seeded 11th out of 42 teams and ended up tying for first! Although this is incredible within itself, there are a few extra factors that strengthen the importance of this accomplishment.

Chess is a sport you may not have predicted to seek out recruits, but it turns out that the top 9 colleges at Pan Am actually recruit players and offer them scholarships. According to Kyron, “Webster is the number one team. Actually, one of their team members is ranked #40 in the world, and another one of their team members is in the top 100. But all four of them are in the United States top 10—their chess team would beat most countries national teams.” This makes our chess team’s achievement extra remarkable—Columbia does not recruit chess players. In fact, Columbia doesn’t even have a chess coach. “Preparing for the tournament was tough because we didn’t have a coach,” said Kyron.

In order to prepare for the tournament, most team members actually crammed after finals week. “The practices are really relaxed,” said Jonathan. “We come together on Wednesdays and play a couple of rounds. Its very chill.” Aaron agreed, saying that most of his studying was done independently, other than a few puzzles with Arthur on the way to the tournament. “I wasn’t too nervous in the beginning because I didn’t have high expectations, but when we won our last matches we got nervous because they were pretty close. The games are long and can be nerve racking, so you have to be mentally and physically prepared,” Alex added.

My favorite part of the interviews was the responses to my question about chess stereotypes. When I asked what people associate with chess, and if it is consistent with their team, Kyron said, “a lot of chess teams are all male, which is true in our case. We love when girls play with us, because of the additional diversity in thought and strategy. But they usually just join us for a round and never come back.” Another stereotype, according to Arthur, is that people who play chess “are lonely and sad. But we have each other.” Jonathan doesn’t think that the team fits the “introverted or secluded personality” stereotype. “We’re pretty outgoing and work better together than individually.”

The team will proceed to the final four competition in early April, where the official national champion will be determined. The other three teams “consist of mostly foreign grandmasters recruited by the colleges.” Good luck!

These heroes might not have brawn but they’ve sure got brains via Amara Banks