Simul Hosted by Sumay and Kimmy
September 10, 2021
Thank you to all 15 eager participants who gave us a very tough time in our very first fall semester simul! Sumay and I (Kimmy) went 13-2 vs. tough opponents - special congrats to Doan-Viet for snatching a win off of us (that passed pawn endgame will give us perpetual nightmares…), and to Harley and Kenneth for graciously offering draws (phew). Although the room was very quiet, the games themselves were chaotic as chaos could be. We’re more than happy with the turnout and how strong our members are!
What is a “simul” or “simultaneous chess exhibition”?
A simul is a format where one or two players take on many others (traditionally, there is only one main person - in an effort to speed things along, we played with two). It is a mentally and physically exhausting endeavor for the main player(s) since they have to divide their attention between many different positions, often resulting in positional forgetfulness and tactical oversights. These risks are further enhanced with the addition of multiple players since there may be psychological miscommunication between ideas.
As Sumay and I discovered afterwards, we actually “undid” each others moves as we cycled through the boards - our excuse is just “it’s tough to keep track of everything!” Also, as a wise woman once said, “Our cumulative ratings are divided by the amount of people we play against…so 4000 / 15 = 266” :’) we’re more scared of you guys!
Shoutout to all the spectators who patiently watched from afar - next time, you’ll stop lurking and actually challenge us, right? :) or you can be hired as a professional photographer - either is fine with us!
Not pictured: the casual battles and banter that happened per our usual chess club meetings, but in Phillips Hall 307!
We hope to see most of you again next week ~
Player appreciation list: Zhenshu, Michael, Harley, Kenneth, Adam, Alden, Ari, Jeremy, Trevor, Phan, Seth, Doan-Viet, Ariana, Andrew, Ashley ~ this simul wouldn’t have been possible without you all! Special thanks to Adam and Alden Moore for bringing extra high quality sets. Credits to Kabel for high quality pictures :)