Chicago Business

Issue date: 5/14/09 Section: GSB News

Dimitris & Kevin battling in the semi-finals.

On a sunny Friday afternoon, Boothies congregated around the Winter Garden to eat, drink, and…play speed chess!!! That's right: May 8th marked the day of the Strategy Games Club's 1st Annual Speed Chess Tournament. Sitting at small tables lining the windows between the Summer and Winter Gardens, over 30 men and women gathered to test their wits in 5-minute blitz rounds of chess. Onlookers encircled the players, watching dreams get crushed single-elimination style while sipping on Amstel Light. After a grueling 90 minutes, Dimitris Batzilis emerged as the tournament winner, handily defeating David Blanchett, the Strategy Games Co-Chair. "I had never seen that opening before," David opined after his loss, "I knew it was over as soon as it began."

Speed chess (also known as fast or blitz chess) differs from normal tournament chess in that each player is given much less time to make their moves. In this case, each player was only given 5 minutes total for thinking (measured by a chess clock). Stopping the clock at the end of the turn starts the clock for the opponent. The regular rules of chess apply with losers being those who have their king captured or run out of time, whichever comes first.

The action started quickly as the tournament got underway. Crowds gathered and grew as eliminated players joined in analyzing the strategies of those still in the game. Moves sometimes happened so fast that they almost overlapped each other. In the time it would take a normal person to figure out where a knight could legally go, some tournament players had already exchanged three rounds of moves.

The final match was between Dimitris Batzilis, a soon-to-be Economics PhD student, and David Blanchett, a first year Boothie. Meanwhile Kevin Leong (after a close loss to Batzilis who almost ran out of time) defeated Rafi Carmelo to come in 3rd. Batzilis quickly emerged triumphant and $60 richer. I sat down with Batzilis (metaphorically) to discuss his win.

How did you hear about the tournament?

I saw your poster! There are so many chess-themed posters on our boards, but I figured out that this one was about the real thing (and not about business strategy)!

I hear you're a PhD student. What research are you doing right now?

I'm starting my PhD this fall at the University of Chicago. As a research assistant, I have done research on the economics of crime with Steve Levitt and Matt Gentzkow, and on development economics with Emily Oster.

Continued...

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