Inter Ivy Championship 2024!
Hosted at Columbia this year, the Inter Ivy Championships was definitely a sight to behold. The competition was incredibly tough as Yale, Penn, Brown, Princeton, and Columbia sent their strongest players to play for the title of “Best Ivy”! Cornell sent three teams over February break to compete in this one day tournament - we are so proud of all our members who took the time to put their skills to the test and also hang out around the city!
Congrats to Cornell Team B for tying for second place in the Reserve Section, and hats off to Yale for winning both the Championship and Reserve sections! Huge thanks to Columbia Chess Club for organizing this and bringing so many schools together, and for the incredible impromptu tour of the campus afterwards. We have so many fond memories with y’all!
While in NYC, we also met up with former Cornell Chess Club president Camden and went for a quick stroll around Washington Square Park - a place where all chess player gravitate towards and inevitably find themselves sitting on a bench playing against a hustler. Totally not speaking from personal experience. Of course, we had to make the most out of our time in the city by planning a lot of activities! We went to a hotpot team dinner, the Chess Forum, escape room, karaoke, board game cafe, arcade, comedy club, thrift shops, and so much more.
If you look carefully enough, you can clearly see that we are spelling out “CORNELLLL” :)
We also had the honor of celebrating an early birthday for David! He’s a leap year child so this special opportunity comes by quite rarely - I mean when else can one celebrate their birthday with a chess team on a trip to a tournament?!
Enough of me yapping, let’s hear about some other peoples’ experiences and favorite memories from this trip :)
“The Inter Ivy trip was such an amazing experience! It was so much fun exploring NYC, eating delicious food, and playing chess with the team. I sang karaoke and did an escape room for the first time! We also had an early celebration for my 20th birthday (5th leap year). I made so many amazing and unforgettable memories on this trip, and can’t wait to go on mote chess trips with the club!”
“My favorite experience at InterIvys was watching Black Mirror until 3 am, fully knowing we had an early bus to catch. 😵💫 I loved how packed and exciting our days were, and we still had free time to explore the city. It didn’t matter what restaurant we went to, we were always struggling to finish the food. 😭 Between finishing the escape room with 15 seconds left, and watching Peter sing opera pieces during karaoke, this trip will definitely be a core memory🥰 ”
“I had a great time at inter-ivies, especially when I miraculously got matched to compete against my best friend who goes to Columbia in the final round! Some of my personal highlights included Dave-n-Busters basketball, hot pot, and watching Black Mirror for the first time with the team.”
“This was the first time that I participated in an over-the-board tournament - I usually only play blitz games on Chess.com, so I thought I would have trouble managing my time in a longer time format (25 min + 5s delay). Although I did mess up a few times by playing too quickly, I think having more time generally helped me think through my moves and perform above my rating, and I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to win three out of four games (one of which my opponent forfeited).
The overall trip was also very compact and fun. It was the first time that I participated in an escape room and a karaoke, and I was delighted to have hot pot with my chess friends in Chinatown. Although I would normally prefer the serenity and seclusion of Ithaca, I was open to the idea of an occasional indulgence in a vibrant city like NYC, and I really enjoyed it.”