Eindhoven Wins Alma Mater University Chess Tournament in Bologna

by ChessBase
6/20/2024 – The University of Bologna in Italy was founded in 1088 and is the oldest university in the world. It was at its foundation that the word "Universitas" was first coined. From 14 to 16 June, sixteen universities, including some of the most prestigious in the world (such as Yale, Cambridge and the Sorbonne), took part in the First Alma Mater University Chess Tournament for Teams, held in the most picturesque hall of the University Library in Bologna, the Aula Magna. Eindhoven won, Politecnico di Milano came second. Roberto Mesa reports.

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After five rounds of play (45 minutes per game with a 10-second increment), the Dutch Technical University of Eindhoven emerged victorious with 9 team points (out 10) and 14.5 individual points (out 25).

Politecnico di Milano secured the second place with 8 team points and 15.5 individual points. Third place was claimed by Lund University from Sweden with 7 team points and 13 individual points, followed by the universities of Turin and Padua, both with the same team score (7) and 12.5 individual points.

The level of the games was quite high, with almost all players above 1800 Elo rating, including one grandmaster, three international masters, three FIDE masters, and one woman FIDE master. Many teams featured players of various nationalities. For example, Yale University from the USA included Italian Melissa Maione and Indian Aditya Kumar, achieving the goal of fostering human and cultural connections among young people through chess and the university environment.

Among the teams that included a faculty member, the Dutch team from Maastricht won the special prize named after Ennio Morricone (who was an avid chess player). During the award ceremony, a video message from his son Giovanni, also a chess enthusiast, was shown as a tribute to Morricone.

Individually, only the Swedish player Isak Storme scored a perfect 5 out of 5.

The award ceremony was attended by the Rector of the Alma Mater University Giovanni Molari, the president of the Italian Chess Federation Luigi Maggi, Professor Paolo Ciancarini, a computer science professor at the University of Bologna and author of numerous articles and books on chess and computers since the 1980s, and Claudio Selleri from the Bolognese bookstore Le Due Torri. Ciancarini was the event's promoter, with Le Due Torri providing the materials and technical equipment.

The tournament was preceded by the exhibition “Arrocchi di carta" in the same venue, displaying ancient chess texts from the vast collection of the University of Bologna Library, in collaboration with the Italian chess historian Mario Leoncini and Le Due Torri.

Final standings

Rk N Squadra Fed S + = - Pts GP WBoard
1 6 Eindhoven University of Technology NED 5 4 1 0 9 14.5 34.50
2 8 Politecnico di Milano ITA 5 4 0 1 8 15.5 37.50
3 5 Lund University SWE 5 3 1 1 7 13 37.00
4 2 Università di Torino ITA 5 3 1 1 7 12.5 33.00
5 4 Università degli Studi di Padova ITA 5 2 3 0 7 12.5 25.00
6 7 University of Cambridge - Team 1 GBR 5 3 0 2 6 13 35.50
7 12 University of Cambridge - Team 2 GBR 5 3 0 2 6 8.5 24.50
8 3 Maastricht University NED 5 2 1 2 5 11 30.00
9 10 Alma Mater 2 - Università di Bologna ITA 5 2 1 2 5 8.5 21.00
10 13 Norwegian University of Science and Technology NOR 5 1 2 2 4 9.5 25.50
11 1 Alma Mater 1 - Università di Bologna ITA 5 2 0 3 4 9.5 21.00
12 18 Boğaziçi University TUR 5 2 0 3 4 9 19.50
13 9 Sapienza Università di Roma ITA 5 2 0 3 4 9 18.50
14 15 John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin POL 5 1 2 2 4 8 25.00
15 17 Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne FRA 5 1 2 2 4 8 19.50
16 11 University College Dublin IRL 5 2 0 3 4 7.5 17.50
17 16 Yale University USA 5 0 2 3 2 6 13.00
18 14 Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II ITA 5 0 0 5 0 4.5 11.50
Games

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