The 1st Ever All-Ivy Chess Invitational!
The Columbia University Club of New York is partnering with the Columbia University Club of New Jersey to bring you the 1st Ever All-Ivy Chess Invitational!
Our tournament will be hosted by the dynamic and talented National Chess Master Evan Rabin & Chess Grandmaster Mark Paragua on Lichess.org, one of the world’s most popular chess websites. We are also honored to have, The Queen’s Gambit consultant Bruce Pandolfini join us for a 30 minute Q&A.
Join us for and evening of fun and connection for members at all skill levels. No Chess experience is required. Members can register to play or observe the tournament.
REGISTER HERE
Registration in required.
Tournament participants are required to setup a complimentary Lichess.org account before play begins. Accounts must be set up with your full name. More details will be emailed to you after you register.
The Details
- Play will include members from other Ivy League alumni clubs.
- In addition to the tournament itself, there will be entertaining live commentary, insightful interviews with chess masters.
- Members can receive instruction, feedback, and game analysis in our private Zoom breakout room.
- Prizes will be awarded to the top 8 players. The winner will receive a beautiful trophy, a custom chess set, and the All-Ivy Chess Champion title!
Agenda:
7 PM | Introductions / Rules / Rooms / Platform / Resources
7:20 PM | Tournament Begins (1 Hour of Play – 10 Minute Games)
8:20 PM | Top 8 players move on to the Championship Round (40 Minutes of Play – 5 Minute Games)
9 PM | Champion Crowned – Tournament Recap
Tournament Ticket: $50
This ticket includes Chess Tournament Play.
As a player you have a chance to win valuable prizes, a chance to win the championship trophy, and be crowned the 2020 All-Ivy Chess Invitational Champion.
Tournament participants are required to set up a complimentary Lichess.org account before play begins. Accounts must be set up with your full name. More details will be emailed to you after you register.
Non-Tournament Ticket: $25
Observers will be included in the entertaining live commentary, the chess grandmaster interview and the Q&A session. Observers will also be able to access chess education.
Lichess.org is a completely free, open-source chess platform – exclusively powered by volunteers and donations. In 2010, Thibault Duplessis began work on Lichess as a hobby project. Gradually, the site improved and the user base grew as an enthusiastic volunteer staff assembled over time to help Thibault build and maintain the site. Today, Lichess users play more than 3 million games every day. Lichess is one of the most popular chess websites in the world while remaining 100% free. With no investors demanding profits, and a commitment to never show advertisements or charge for features, Lichess staff can focus on improving the site as their only goal.
Biographies
Bruce Pandolfini is an American chess author, teacher, and coach. A USCF national master, he is generally considered to be America’s most experienced chess teacher.
In 1983, Pandolfini was the chess consultant to author Walter Tevis for the novel The Queen’s Gambit, for which Pandolfini had also suggested the title. Decades later, Pandolfini returned as consultant for the 2020 Netflix miniseries of the same name.
Mark Callano Paragua is a Filipino chess grandmaster. He was the youngest Filipino master ever, at nine years of age. He also became the youngest Filipino GM ever at 20 (until Wesley So surpassed it), beating out Eugenio Torre’s record by about two years. Paragua qualified for the 2004 World Championship in Tripoli, Libya, where he was eliminated by Viktor Bologan of Moldova in the first round 1-3. He also qualified for World Cup Chess 2005 (qualifying tournament for world championship). He upset Armenian GM Sergei Movsesian in the first round before narrowly losing in the tie breaker against Alexey Dreev of Russia in the second round. He played for the Philippines in the Chess Olympiads of 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2012. In his most recent tournament, the 42nd Annual World Open held at Hyatt Regency Crystal City at Arlington, Virginia, he placed 12th after tiebreaks with Gata Kamsky of the United States, Lazaro Bruzon of Cuba and Victor Laznicka of Czech Republic.
Evan Rabin is the CEO of Premier Chess. When he was 7, his brother and father taught him how to play. Two months later he was playing in school. Two months after that, he went to his first tournament. One month later he went to Nationals. He never looked back. After graduating from Brandeis University, Evan started teaching chess full-time, but eventually decided to set his sights on the corporate world. However, Evan became disillusioned with corporate life and founded Premier Chess in 2017. Evan started programs in 14 schools within 2 months. From there he started offering corporate classes. Now, partnering with vendors like the National Scholastic Chess Foundation, National Education Chess Association, and Top Level Chess, Premier Chess is expanding to Florida, Massachusetts, Washington, Colorado, while international efforts are continuing in Myanmar. One day, Evan hopes that any student anywhere in the world who wants to play chess will be able to.