Without a coach, university sponsorship or even much of a reputation, Northwestern’s chess club, 64 Squares, arrived at the Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship Dec. 27 with the odds against them.

So it was a surprise when the four-person team not only placed 11th out of 24 university teams but took home a trophy, too.

They won the “Under-2000” trophy, awarded to the best-performing team with an average team ranking of under 2000.

In chess, the maximum rank is often set at 2700, said 64 Squares Organizational Vice President Sameera Kumar. 64 Squares’ team average was 1890, while many of the top teams had players with ranks at 2600, the Weinberg junior said.

It was 64 Squares’ first time at the Pan-American Championships, a three-day tournament of six rounds and more than 30 hours at the chessboards. The tournament, held in Washington, D.C., offered prizes up to $1,500. Twenty-four teams and more than 120 college chess players from across the continent competed.

“It’s ‘the’ competition,” said 64 Squares’ President Steve Gorodetskiy, a Weinberg junior. “We were the underdogs. But we played really well, and I don’t think I could have hoped for a better result.”

In the world of chess tournaments, the higher-ranked team typically wins, Gorodetskiy said. These teams generally receive more funding and attention. For example, the University of Texas at Dallas had four coaches present, he said.

Gorodetskiy said that despite having less funding than other teams in the competition, his team made the best of what they had.

“Some teams even had uniforms, so we tried to wear purple one day, ” Gorodetskiy said, laughing. “It worked out. No one else was wearing purple.”

Being the underdog made victory all the more enjoyable.

“It felt great to win (the U-2000),” said Jim Smallwood, 64 Squares vice president and a McCormick sophomore. “It just kind of shows we were underrated going into the event and established a more serious reputation than what people thought we would be like.”

– Jennifer Chen