The UTRGV Chess Team has gone from five-hour in-person matches to 10-minute quick plays online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite services that allow players to keep practicing their skills online, playing virtual chess is not the same.
UTRGV Chess Program Manager Alex Mista said the transition has been hard for the team.
“The situation is very difficult for everybody,” Mista said. “So, for now, they are here in the [Rio Grande] Valley and they are playing chess online.”
He also described the challenges members face playing chess online.
“It’s very common for chess players to play online, but it is also tough,” Mista said. “The time controls are completely different. In classical chess the game can last up to five or six hours and in online chess they play very fast games about five to 10 minutes only.”
According to the U.S. Chess Federation, all international events have been suspended.
Despite the annulment, Chess Coach Bartek Macieja mentioned the possibility to participate in a worldwide competition online.
“There will be one big event happening on the 19th of April,” Macieja said. “It will be a competition … set worldwide and UTRGV will be participating and, hopefully, we’ll be successful.”
He also said the greatest difficulty is competing online.
“Right now, it’s more difficult, but I assume it’s the same for every university,” Macieja said. “All students and staff have to get used to the new online regime.”
However, he said he has a bigger challenge for the fall.
“Our real challenge is recruitment for the next semester because nobody can predict what’s going to happen,” Macieja said, referring to the pandemic. “It’s very difficult for people to commit to UTRGV, especially for students from other countries.”
Students may watch the worldwide competition matches on livestream via the official U.S. Chess Federation Twitter channel.
For more information, visit the UTRGV Chess Team page on Facebook.
