USC chess team sweeps championships

On President’s Day weekend the USC Chess team took the Trojans to a perfect victory at the U.S. Amateur Team West Championships.

The tournament was held at the Warner Marriot and hosted teams from all over the country, including pre-tourney favorite Hot Tub Timoshenko from Arizona, who began with a 5-0 record.

USC dispatched all takers, including Hot Tub Timoshenko in the final round, and out of 24 games lost only once.

Although the chess team doesn’t garner as much attention as the baseball team, students on campus were quick to congratulate the champions.

“It’s great that they won,” said Halle Arbaugh, a freshman majoring in English, “I can’t play chess, but I’m proud that our teams seem to win every time they compete, in whatever they play.”

The USC team was led by local star and International Master Jack Peters, consisted of Danyul Lawrence, Blake Phillips, Nathan Heussenstamm. Sriram Balasubramanian was an alternate.