University Chess Invitational comes to Nankai China

Elites Fight for Universities Championship

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Nankai University of China, the university will hold the “Centennial Naikai” 2019 World Prestigious University Chess Invitational Championship, which is jointly organized by the Board and Card Games Administrative Centre of General Administration of Sports of China, the Chinese Chess association, and the Tianjin Sports Federation from November 25th to 30th, 2019. The invitational aims to enhance the friendly cooperation between Chinese university students and the world, to promote the chess culture in universities, and to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Nankai University.

Universities from seven different countries will fight in this invitational

The participants are listed here in the order of registration:

• The united team of Japan Universities
• Moscow State University
• University of Missouri
• University of New South Wales
• University College London
• Harvard University
• Princeton University
• University of Toronto
• Saint Louis University (two teams)
• University of Oxford
• Nankai University of China (Host team)

Nankai University of China is famous for its long tradition of chess culture. The teams have gained many outstanding results in domestic and international competitions since the establishment in 2001. Among many of the great achievements, we should mention that the university won the World University Team Championships three times, and the players won the individual open and women’s champion respectively four times in the World University Chess Championships.

In 2016, the team won the national first-category league chess championship. It is also worth noting the university has won several team champions in the National Board and Card Games Competitions.

The tournament will use the Berg's counter-attack system, and will be ranked after eleven rounds in five days. Each team shall comprise three players (two men and one woman), one captain, and one coach. The time control is 25 minutes plus 15 seconds per move.

The photos below are logos in Chinese character for celebrating this 100^th anniversary in Shanghai, Sanya, New York, and Changsha, saying "I love Nankai" or "Centennial Nankai".

"I love Nankai " on a waterfront building in Shanghai

"I love Nankai" on a building in New York

"Centennial Nankai" and "We love you" in Changsha

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that Wang Hao participated on the Chinese National Team as they won the 2014 Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway. In fact that was Wang Yue.