Chess Club Begins International Match on Virtual Gameboard

The Pennsylvania College of Technology Chess Club has gone international, beginning an online competitionwith a team from Dubai Women's College .

"We created a group on chess.com for our chess club, so we could meet and play games online against each other," explained Jim Cunningham, the college's vice president for information technology and the club co-adviser. "The Dubai Women's College Chess Club adviser found our group and sent us a friendly challenge!"

Matches are played email-style through the website's chess servers, with each player having up to 48 hours to submit his or her move.

"With that type of time control, the matches will last six to eight weeks," Cunningham said. A win scores one point and a draw scores a half point for each player. The first team to score 4.5 points wins the matches, though all games will be played to conclusion.

Each team has eight players, five students and three staff. Cunningham is joined on the Penn College team by faculty/staff colleagues Solomon Francis, assistant professor of mathematics; and Raymond J. Fischer, manager of document services.

Student members are Matthew D. Jeffrey, Warren, information technology: web and applications development technology concentration; and Robert A. Schlenker, Muncy, information technology: web and applications technology emphasis; Brendan E. Sobers, North Plainfield, N.J., automotive technology management; Steven E. Dannenhower, Coopersburg, manufacturing engineering technology; and Matthew S. Burkholder, Ephrata, renewable energy technologies.