By Joseph Esposito
Mason Chess Club members Erool Palipane, Victor Guzman-Duran, Ako Heidari and Jonathan Bode captured the amateur section championship of the D.C. Chess League for the October 2013 to May 2014 season. Photo courtesy of the Chess Club.
Building on its recent first-ever tournament victories, the George Mason University Chess Club is poised to reach higher levels this academic year.
The team captured the amateur section championship of the D.C. Chess League for the October 2013 to May 2014 season, while the team’s two top officials tied for first place in individual competition.
The club leaders, president Ako Heidari and coach Victor Guzman-Duran, are using these successes as a springboard for new tournaments, including the first U.S. Chess Federation (USCF)-rated competition to be held at George Mason in February 2015. More 100 people are expected to participate.
They also are preparing for a new season of the D.C. Chess League, a metropolitan area group that began in 1953, and for participation in the Virginia state tournament to be held in March 2015.
Both students say they are particularly interested in expanding their membership from the current base of about 100 students, and also working with members to improve their games through practice, coaching and even the use of chess databases and software.
“It has been proven scientifically that those who play chess have better grades at mathematics and physics. And generally they are better decision makers in life,” says Heidari, a second-year doctoral student in Earth Systems and Geoinformation Sciences and a native of Iran. “Our great aim is to promote chess at Mason and let people appreciate the beauty of it.”
Guzman-Duran stresses the goal of seeing more students engaged and advancing in the legendary sport. A junior majoring in civil engineering, the Argentine native agreed with the beneficial aspects of chess: “Chess is more than a game. It teaches logical thinking and judgment, but it also teaches you more about yourself and what kind of person you are.”
Both are long-time chess competitors ranked among the 100 top players in Virginia. The rankings are determined by the USCF, which is the premier American chess organization.
Other students who joined Heidari and Guzman-Duran on the D.C. League championship team are Erool Palipane, Jonathan Bode, Scott Daniels and George Stone.
Mason mathematics professor Walter D. Morris is the club’s advisor. Proficient in chess, he is identified as an International Master by the World Chess Federation (FIDE), the key international chess association.
Morris said of the club: “I have found that they are a welcoming bunch of students with interesting and diverse backgrounds. Some of the players are quite strong. There was a graduate student in Electrical Engineering from India a couple of years ago who was an International Grandmaster.”
The Mason Chess Club meets for casual, blitz (timed) play and instruction every Tuesday at 5 p.m. in SUB I.