A Peter Piper Pizza on University Drive was transformed into a chess-playing haven on Sept. 12 as the UTRGV’s Chess Club fundraiser and tournament took place.
For every purchase made that mentioned the chess club, Peter Piper Pizza donated 15% toward the organization’s funds.
The chess club hosted a free, unrated tournament during the fundraiser in the hope of attracting more patrons to the pizza chain.
The competition played two types of chess, blitz and bughouse.
Six trophies were awarded at the competition solely for the public of any age, “top two for blitz, and then top two teams for bughouse.”
“You’d be surprised in chess,” said Rogelio Garza, chess club vice president and a civil engineering junior. “You can find some kids that are 9 to 13 years old playing against adults, maybe 40s to their 50s. It’s always interesting, you never know who’s going to win.”
Blitz is a type of chess in which players can only spend 10 minutes or less for every move they make, according to Jaime Castillo, chess club president and a biology senior.
Garza said bughouse is a two-versus-two-player game where you take your opponent’s pieces and have the option to give them to your partner for their use on their own board.
“We do this every year,” Castillo said. “We’ve been doing this the past four to five years, and we also do a tournament [during Hispanic Engineering, Science and Technology Week]. This one is very small compared to the one in HESTEC. Usually [it] has about 100 to 200 people. This one only has like less than 30. So, it wasn’t that big.”
He said the low attendance may have been due to the rain discouraging parents from attending.
The chess club will also host a rated tournament during National Chess Day on Oct. 12 for individuals who play competitively.
“Rated is what we call tournaments where we actually use your skill level because everyone’s assigned a level,” Castillo said. “The higher number you are, the better you are. So, a grand master would be somewhere around 2,700 [while] a beginner would be somewhere around 300 to 400.”
He said at rated tournaments, players can win or lose a number of points depending on who they are playing against.
Castillo said the club is raising funds to, hopefully, attend the 2019 Pan-American Intercollegiate Champions, which will be hosted Dec. 27 to 30 in North Carolina.
Asked about the cost of the trip, he responded, “I haven’t done a rough estimate but … probably [three to four] grand that we have to fundraise from now until December.”
Castillo said the money they raise from these types of fundraisers varies depending on how many people attend.
“Last year, we got about $190 from Peter Piper Pizza,” he said. “From Chipotle, we got a little over $200 because they were being nice and everyone who came in, they were putting them in as chess. Other places that didn’t do that. We got very little …about [$40 to $50].”
The next Chess Club fundraiser will take place at 4 p.m. this Wednesday at the Chipotle on North 10th Street and Trenton Road, where 33% of every purchase is donated to the club as long as they mention the organization.
Anselo Bueno Jr., a biology junior participating in the tournament, said chess is one of his biggest hobbies due to the ability to be creative and the challenge the game brings.
Asked about his favorite part of the fundraiser, Bueno Jr. replied, “Getting to see all these kids playing, it’s really uplifting seeing a bunch of the new generation still into this old game.”
