1995-96 Highlights of the UMBC Chess Club

• June 24-28. Twenty-eight students attend UMBC's first Summer Chess Camp, lead by Grandmaster Ilya J. Smirin. Instructors include Managing Director Steve Shutt (from Philadelphia), Senior Master William Morrison, and other members of the UMBC Chess Team.

• June 21-22. Grandmaster Ilya J. Smirin defeats Senior Master William ``the exterminator'' Morrison in UMBC's first exhibition chess match held in Lecture Halls V and II. The match features computer projection from an autosensory board, live sports commentary by Masters Craig Jones and Igor Epshteyn, and video closeups of the players. Games.

• March 16-17. The second UMBC Open is held, again concurrently with the playoffs for the Maryland Scholastic Championship. Edic's brother Mikhal Tsibulevsky wins the playoffs and a full four-year in-state tuition scholarship to UMBC.

• February 17, 1996. Grandmaster Smirin simultaneously plays 23 people in the UMBC Library. Smirin loses one game (to Weerakoon), draws one, and wins 21. Story.

• December. UMBC wins the bid to host the 1996 Pan-Am in Baltimore. Sherman also secures sponsorship from Uptronics, Inc., and later from Southwest Airlines.

• December 26-39. UMBC places fourth at the 1995 Pan-American Intercollegiate Chess Championship, in New York City; Smirin wins the prize for Board 1 prize. Story.

• November 11. UMBC beats MIT 5-1 in a six-board intercollegiate match in Cambridge, MA. Story.

• October 7-8. Ishan Weerakoon regains his title as UMBC Chess Champion by defeating Bella Belegradek (Smirin and Morrison do not enter the Championship). Story.

• September 16. Sixty-five students from Baltimore City Public Schools spend a day at UMBC learning chess.

• Alan Sherman orchestrates Master Preparation, a noncredit Continuing Education Course in Chess by Grandmaster Smirin. Videotapes of lectures are broadcast throughout the world on the internet using the Mbone multicast system. Course materials are made available on the world wide web, and Smirin holds weekly office hours on the Internet Chess Club. Twenty-two students attend the lectures in person at UMBC.

• August 1995. International Grandmaster Ilya J. Smirin (FIDE 2630) and Senior Master William Morrison (USCF 2535) matriculate at UMBC, significantly raising the level of competitive chess on campus. Chess Expert Derrick Longo also arrives.