About Us

 

History

The Champaign-Urbana area has always been home to some enthusiastic chess players, but the only local clubs were affiliated with schools like the University of Illinois. CU64 was founded by Tobias Simpson in December 2006.

The club played a themed tournament every week, focusing on different specific openings, for the first eight months of its existence. We have since dispensed with the idea of themes, but we vary our time controls and formats in the interest of chess improvement.

Structure

CU64 has a fairly loose governance structure. Tobias Simpson is the organizing force behind the club and deserves much of the credit for its growth, but he works on the basis of feedback from club members to help chart the future of the club. As CU64 grows, we will transition to a system of democratically elected leadership in the future.

Meeting Format

As mentioned above, we try to vary our time controls and meeting formats so as to provide different types of experience for our members. Over a two month period, or over a span of eight meetings, we generally play the following events:

4 x 4 round Swiss (one night each event). Time control is G/15 + 5 second increment.
1 x 4 round Swiss (two nights for this event). Time control is G/30 + 5 second increment.
1 blitz tournament or blitz ladder (one night).
1 special event if possible � a lecture, simul, etc.

We enforce touch move, but there is no penalty for illegal moves.

Prize

We give out two prizes every week: one for best overall score and one for most upset points accumulated. The idea is that the less likely you are (objectively) to win the best score prize, the more likely you are to win the upset prize. Upset prizes are based on the difference between the club rating of the two players.

Club �Dues�

We all throw in a dollar every week to help defer the cost of the prizes. We ask that nobody contribute a dollar their first two visits. These visits should be to see if the club is a good fit for them. However, you are still eligible for prizes during that time. After that you still do not need to contribute if you don't feel comfortable doing so, however you will not be eligible to win a prize.

Sponsors

Horizon Hobby has generously donated chess boards to our club. Thank you!