Members of the Rock Rooks Chess Club gather each day in the library and enjoy the art and fellowship of playing chess. Although we formally meet at noon, friendly games of chess can be played throughout the day. Competitions, tournaments, and events are organized on campus throughout the year. With more than 73 members, Rock Rooks Chess Club shares a wide variety of skill levels ranging from beginner to advanced. All are welcome to join as the club is not just available to students, faculty, and staff, but it is open to the public as well.
Business meetings are Thursdays at 12:15 PM.
Last year the club received funds from Student Government to purchase:
1) 4 tournament triple-weighted chess sets
2) 10-volume DVD series: “CHESS THE EASY WAY” with Grandmaster Susan Polgar (available for checkout from the library).
3) First 2 volumes in the DVD series: “MASTERING CHESS” with Grandmaster Roman Dzindzichashvili (Available for checkout from the library).
4) Digital Grand Master Chess Board by Excalibur Electronics. Test your skill against this computerized chess board with 100 play levels topping at the FIDE rating of 2400 (Grandmaster level).
James Halderson, a student and member of Rock Rooks, donated a Jumbo Chess Set (King’s height of 7.5 inches), and Chaos Chess (a 4-person chess variant game).
Ten beautifully hand-crafted wooden chess boards were donated by Ken Hayward, father of Tera Hayward, President of the Health Sciences Club.
This year we purchased a DGT electronic chess set. This full-sized wood chess set records and stores 500 moves (about 10 games) that are downloaded to a computer, analyzed, an uploaded to this website. Live games and demonstrations can be shown on the computer monitor, over the internet, or on a projection screen. Games can are stored and cataloged in a database and retrieved for future reference. Click the links below to view games of the top few players.
The club hopes to purchase a Masterpiece Square Game Table Set this year (see http://www.chesssets.com/chess-tables/chess-checkers-tables/masterpiecesquaregametableset.cfm#navbar=a for more information). This set consists of a multi-game table and two upholstered chairs. The table has a two-sided game top for Checkers/Chess as well as an inlayed Backgammon board. The club also hopes to host an instructional lecture series by local Chess Master (Life Master) Peter Webster.
Instructors of chess are available with daily instructional sessions. Tracking of games and wins/losses is featured on the chess tables for our serious chess players; results are posted in the library every couple of days. It is hoped that we will be able to organize tournaments with other UW Schools this year.
On Friday, November 23, 2007. the club hosted it’s first informal Turkey Tournament in the library. This tournament was double-elimination style with the following results:
Dave Givhan (1st place) *
Dave Lancour (2nd place) *
John Kjell (3rd place)
Josiah Stone (4th place)
Dan Austin (5th place) *
Jake Steadman (6th place)
Paul Bordner (7th Place)
Nathan Neimeyer (8th Place)
Mykel Fredricks (9th Place)
Mark Fuller (10th Place)
Jake Van Hees (11th Place)
Trenton LaBrie (12th Place) *
* in indicates non UW-Rock County Student
We hope to host another informal tournament sometime during spring break in our new library.
On March 22, 2007, the UW-Rock County Library hosted our 2007 Spring Break Chess Tournament. The following people participated (also below are the top 5-rated players). The pictures below were taken during the Spring Break tournament.
Aaron Mousseau (1st place)
Paul Bordner (2nd place)
Dan Austin (3rd place)
Kevin Carter (4th place)
Shae Long (5th place)
John Kjell
Dave Carlson
Nick Douglass
Lindsey McCool
Check this page often for announcements about upcoming tournaments and events.
The Rock Rooks Executive Committee (September – August, 2007-2008)
Paul Bordner (President)
Josiah Stone (Vice President)
Nathan Niemeyer (Secretary)
Mykel Fredricks (Treasurer)
Brian Beecher (Advisor)
For more information, please contact…
Brian Beecher, Library Director and Chess Club Advisor brian.beecher@uwc.edu
Chess Club Photos
Click Here to download the free chess viewer (ChessTheatre V1.12 from DGT Projects). Click here for Easy Chess. By James Burton. 100% Freeware.
