November 2, 2006
Check ‘em Tech!
Texas Tech received the 2006 Chess College of the Year Award from the United States Chess Federation.
Written by Gretchen Pressley
The Knight Raiders chess club has more than 100 student members as well as members from the Lubbock community. The white marble king and queen survey the battlefield from behind their troops, watching their mounted knights and angular rooks mercilessly capture the opposing black warriors.
Yet the mastermind behind this battle is Texas Tech’s own king of chess, Chase Watters, biotechnology graduate student and president of the Knight Raiders, Texas Tech and Lubbock’s only chess club.
Thanks to the promotional actions of Watters, the Knight Raiders and their faculty adviser, Dr. Hal Karlsson, Texas Tech recently received the 2006 Chess College of the Year Award from the United States Chess Federation (USCF), the governing body for chess in the United States, and an organization dedicated to proliferating the role of chess in American society.
USCF bestowed the honor on Texas Tech as a result of the university’s efforts to fund college scholarships and its focus on women players. The Chess College of the Year Award is the highest honor given to colleges by the federation. Texas Tech shares the award with the University of Connecticut School of Engineering.
Looking at how successful the Knight Raiders have been at putting Texas Tech on the map in the chess world, it is hard to believe that just four years ago there was no chess club at Texas Tech.
On a sabbatical to Iceland in 2003, Karlsson, an associate professor of geosciences, saw how important chess is as a sport in other countries, which made him realize how much a chess club would be welcomed at Texas Tech.
“It sort of awakened something in me,” says Karlsson, in regard to viewing one of the many broadcasted tournaments with his son. “I always thought chess developed my thinking as a scientist, made me who I am.”
Aided by chess enthusiast Eduardo Cabrera, a former associate professor in the Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Karlsson immediately began recruiting for and promoting his new club. To publicize the newly formed Texas Tech club, they used members to teach extracurricular chess playing at elementary schools, and the response was overwhelming. At a local Lubbock elementary school, they had to close the club because they had too many children interested in playing.
Since then, the Knight Raiders’ efforts to promote the sport of chess have only accelerated. The club currently consists of more than 100 Texas Tech student members, and has also attracted more than 20 members from the Lubbock community. They continue their successful elementary school chess-mentoring programs, remaining one of the most popular extracurricular activities in several local schools. This past year, Watters traveled all over Texas, to New Orleans, and to the East Coast to teach people the rules and strategies of the game.
“I was like a chess missionary,” Watters says.
The Knight Raiders have been featured in Chess Life magazine, and hosted the Texas Tech Chess Association Region One, a tournament for which 72 Texas counties entered. Susan Polgar, an internationally known chess master and supporter of women in chess, attended this tournament to show her support for the attitude and passion of the Knight Raiders. Other accomplishments include winning four different student organization awards – Newcomer of the Year Award, Most Improved Student Organization Award, Best Student Organization in the special interest category, and Best Faculty Adviser Award.
An award cabinet displaying the plaque confirming Texas Tech as the 2006 Chess College of the Year, as well as other awards won by the Knight Raiders, is on display in the Student Union.
As the Knight Raiders’ slogan says, “Check ‘em Tech!”
For more information about the Knight Raiders, contact Dr. Hal Karlsson at chess@ttu.edu.
Story produced by the Office of Communications and Marketing, 806-742-2136.
Web layout by Lisa Low