(Originally written Apr. 9 2023)
The Lamar University Chess Association is planning a virtual chess tournament on Monday, April 24. The tournament will be open to all LU students and staff.
The LUCA has been holding chess tournaments since its inception in 2021, whether it involves just students on campus or in collaboration with the Beaumont Chess Club. Both clubs are made up of players of varying levels of chess experience, and in fact, according to the official LUCA Facebook page, these tournaments are open to everyone.
“Join us for our first tournament of the semester! Everyone is welcomed and highly encouraged to join!” The LUCA Facebook account posted about the semester’s previous tournament on February 5.
Lizbeth Trujillo, founder of the LUCA, says that the next tournament later this month will also be open to players of all skill levels, much like the previous tournament. She also hopes to recruit more players, and eventually form an official collegiate chess team and compete against other schools.
“We tried to last year, but it didn’t work, because a lot of our members were international and didn’t have cars,” Trujillo, a senior from Beaumont, said. “We did sign up for a collegiate chess competition on chess.com, though, and that went well.”
Chess.com is a website that allow users to play virtual chess against other online players or AI. According to Trujillo and Alfredo Meza, a member of the LUCA who helped organize an online chess tournament in 2022, the next tournament will likely be held privately on the website.
“By hosting online, we can have more people join in,” Meza, a senior from Houston, said. “We also plan to give away some prizes for the winners.”
For more information, the LUCA is on Facebook as “Lamar University Chess Association.” Additionally, a link to the LUCA’s official Discord server is available via QR Code in the Setzer Student Center.
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