Harvard Beats Yale In Chess Competition

Yale may have won The Game on the gridiron, but Harvard was victorious where it counted: in The Game of chess.

The Elis proved their athletic superiority with a 26-17 victory over the Crimson Saturday at Soldiers Field, but the Harvard Chess Club demonstated superior mental acuity by fashioning a one-point victory over the Elis Saturday morning in the Science Center.

The Crimson held off a late Eli rally, outscoring Yale five-and-a-half to four-and-a-half points in a series of 10 games.

Harvard (1-0 Boston Metropolitan League) took an early lead, jumping out to a two-point lead after the first round of five games--three-and-a-half to one-and-a-half points.

"We had such an overwhelming victory in the first round, they could not catch us," said Danny Edelman '91, the Club's President.

Yale captured three of the matches in the second round, but it was unable to overtake Harvard.

The key victory for the Crimson came on board three in the second round. Girome Bono '89 clinched the match with his second win of the day.

"Girome Bono was the real powerhouse," Edelman said. "He clinched the win that won the match."

Harvard was able to nullify the presence of two former United States Junior Champions. Harvard's Vivek Rao '92, playing on board one, drew with Yale's Patrick Wolff at the end of round one to keep the Crimson ahead by two. Joe Litvinchuk is the other former U.S. Junior Champion.

"Wolff had to win to tie," Edelman said, "but Rao defended accurately and Harvard won the match."

Harvard's win avenged last year's loss to the Elis in New Haven.

"We had an excellent chance to win last year," Edelman said, "but Bono, our powerhouse, didn't make it to the match on time."

"I wasn't sure of our chances in the football game on Saturday," Edelman said, "but I was sure of one thing. Harvard would win at least one match, and that was the chess match."