In addition to their competition schedule, members of the Chess Club dedicated themselves to promoting chess on campus, sponsoring intramural tournaments, educational opportunities, and lectures and demonstrations by visiting Grand Masters. The team captured the Pan-American Intercollegiate Chess Championship title a record seven times, winning in 1945, 1956, 1958, 1968, 1972, 1973, and 1986. Records, , Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library Historical NoteThe University of Chicago Chess Club ranks as one of the most successful chess teams in intercollegiate history. These records contain membership lists, correspondence, match summaries, and newspaper clippings relating to the team which were compiled between 19 by former Chess Club president, Harold Winston.This collection, the preferred citation is: University of Chicago Chess Club. RecordsHanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research CenterFrom 1945 through 1986, the University of Chicago Chess Club ranked among the nationвЂ™s finest intercollegiate teams, winning the national championship a record seven times.

Also documented is significant information on the founding of the Chicago Intercollegiate Chess League, a citywide conference comprised of teams from the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Loyola University, Roosevelt University, the University of Illinois-Chicago, Southwestern City College, and Loop City College. Additionally, the collection includes numerous newspaper clippings relating to the chess clubвЂ™s back-to-back Pan-American Intercollegiate Chess Championships in 19. Members of the club were also active in promoting chess on campus, and many broadsides announcing intramural tournaments and chess-related lectures are collected here. Among the documents contained here are membership lists, official rankings of chess club members, match summaries and results, and financial records. These materials were collected and compiled by Harold Winston, a former president of the chess club, historian of the Intercollegiate Chess Association, and Chairman/CEO of the World Chess Hall of Fame.

Chicago Chess Clubs