Texas Tech Chess Program Recognized by New York Times

Texas Tech's efforts to promote the game of chess have been nationally recognized in an article in the New York Times on Dec. 27.

"Good Opening Can Be a Scholarship," written by Dylan Loeb McClain, describes the new trend, started in part by Texas Tech's chess club, of giving out academic scholarships to potential applicants as a reward for their interest in chess and gaming skill.

Previous News about Chess at Texas Tech:

Texas Tech Attracts International Slate of Chess Stars

Three internationally known female chess players and a fourth student recruited from Texas have received chess scholarships from Texas Tech University.

The students received a $1,000 scholarship for their first year. Funds for the scholarships were provided by the Office of the President and the W. H. Freeman Publishing Company. One of the scholarship winners will be designated as the university’s W. H. Freeman Chess Scholar. [read more]

Check ‘em Tech!

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. [read more]