Checkmates were shouted Thursday afternoon when students gathered in the J-Mac classroom for a chess tournament sponsored by the Voltaire Society. The intellectual challenge drew about 10 students who participated in a round-robin style tournament that lasted for hours.

Student organizers had been trying to plan a chess tournament for quite some time, with the idea occurring to Kyle Earlywine, Jeff Graves and David Cox nearly a year ago. The event was a draw for a number of reasons.

Graves hoped the tournament would “foster a richer and more well rounded academic experience at the University of Denver.”

Other students came to participate in hopes of just having a good time with friends.

According to one participant, chess draws a crowd that is looking for an intellectual game involving “fun, strategy and competition.”

The tournament began at 5 p.m. and lasted well into the evening. The round-robin style tournament commenced with a series of a few games that determined the seeding of the bracket. The bracket was then formed based on the number of wins and losses during the first qualifying games.

After hours of hushed “checks” and “checkmates” Spencer Wagner finally pulled out the win. The final round lasted long after the pizza and crowd of onlookers were gone.

Perhaps channeling the spirits of past chess greats, Wagner spent over an hour in the final round out strategizing the moves of Earlywine and was rewarded as the champion of the day.

From a distance the tournament may have appeared to be a casual gathering of friends, but a closer look revealed a true battle of the mind. To these competitors, “sweat is no myth.” The game of chess provided both fun and intensity for the group of competitors who hope to do it again in the future.

Earlywine hopes that in the future DU can, once again, be home to a chess club on campus. Overall, the tournament had a strong showing of support from campus chess enthusiasts.