Catz continues to lead chess at Cambridge

St Catharine’s is delighted to report that our student chess players have triumphed in recent competitions and led the development of both the St Catharine’s College Chess Club and the Cambridge University Chess Club (CUCC). As a result, St Catharine’s has now earned a reputation as the strongest Cambridge College for chess as well as a community that provides a supportive environment for individual chess improvement.

CUCC’s Success Story

Koby Kalavannan, a third-year Medical Sciences undergraduate at St Catharine’s, has been President and Varsity Captain for CUCC in 2023–24. This makes him the third successive CUCC President and Varsity Captain from St Catharine’s.

With a renewed vision and an invigorated committee, CUCC has been one of the fastest growing clubs across Cambridge: 448 students signed up at the 2023 Freshers’ Fair and membership almost tripled from 68 students to 175 students. One factor in this growth was a series of engaging and exciting events, including an inaugural team puzzle battle named ‘University Chess Challenge’, regular beginner coaching from Grandmasters, College League matches between 20 teams in Lent term, a fundraising evening that brought in £300 for Cambridge SolidariTee, and the 2023 CUCC Club Chess Championships which alone attracted over 100 entries. In addition, the club’s commitment to being welcoming of women and non-binary students has led to a 275% uptick in engagement this year and is only the start of CUCC's vision of being more diverse, representative and accessible for the university community. 

As well as achieving internal growth, CUCC has furthered its outreach to a local, national and international scale. Locally, CUCC continued their annual match tradition of playing the Oxford and Cambridge Club (resulting in a 9.5-0.5 victory over alumni players on 24 April) and the Town v Gown (another victory – this time  22.5-17.5 on 8 May). Nationally, Cambridge was the most successful university overall at the British Universities’ Chess Association’s competition, which returned to its in-person format on 24–25 February 2024. Four teams, consisting of 17 players, represented the University. The first team finished joint first, second on tiebreaks, in Division 1. The second and third teams were both allocated to Division 2 and finished first and fourth respectively. The fourth team achieved a second-place finish in Division 3.

First held in 1873, the Varsity Chess Match is the longest-standing chess fixture in the world. The 142^nd Varsity Chess Match was held on 2 March 2024 and, despite a close (5-3) team loss as heavy underdogs this year, Cambridge are still leading in terms of overall wins (60-59). CUCC made the most of the opportunity to onboard an elite training team: GM Lubomir Ftacnik (training coach), Dr Benjamin Portheault (performance coach), and GM Daniel Fernandez (one of only 24 players to have scored 3/3 at the Varsity Chess Match). This strength and continued support from St Catharine’s students bode well for next year.

Internationally, eight CUCC players led by Koby were the sole representatives from England at an international tournament held at the University of Bologna on 14–16 June 2024. The first and second teams started out ranked seventh and twelfth out of 18 teams and secured sixth-place and seventh-place finishes respectively. The first team (including Koby) beat Yale University in the first round and were incredibly close to a second-place finish if they managed a draw in their final match but it sadly ended as a 2.5-1.5 loss. Koby returned as the top scorer on Board 1 at the event, scoring an unbeated 4.5/5 against strong opposition.

Individual Chess Successes

Koby, an International Chess Federation or FIDE Master (FM) and previous nine-time British Junior Chess Champion, added a tenth domestic title by winning the British University Championship Blitz on 24 February 2024, against a field of 134 entrants.

The CUCC Individual Chess Championship, the oldest and most prestigious intra-club chess championship dating back to its conception in 1880, was held earlier in the year on 27 November 2023. Fueled by a record number of entrants from St Catharine’s, Koby won the championship for the second year running and is the first person in 13 years to win the title in consecutive years.

College League Win

Eager to bounce back from a ninth-place finish in the College League last year, our players were determined to affirm St Catharine’s position as the best chess college. Despite being a smaller squad, St Catharine’s emerged victorious and is the first college to win the College League title twice. Special thanks goes to the players who repeatedly showed up and performed, finishing on an unbeaten 6.5/7 match score and securing St Catharine’s a top seed spot ahead of the 2024–25 season. 

St Catharine's Chess Squad

• Board 1: Koby Kalavannan, a third year Medical Sciences undergraduate (Captain) - 7/7
• Board 2: Omeet Atara, a third year Human, Social, and Political Sciences undergraduate  - 2.5/4
• Board 3: Shivang Golchha, a Master’s of Finance student - 2/7
• Board 4: Gaël Alix, a French Lecteur - 5.5/7
• Super Sub: Max Cole, a first-year Law undergraduate - 2/3 

Koby commented, “It has been amazing to see our ambitious goals for chess at Cambridge come to fruition this year. To have Catz not only lead the charge with a College League victory, but to do so with such infectious energy has led to a doubling of members from Catz, which brings me great joy. We’re always looking to recruit and are happy to coach beginners, so don't hesitate to contact me to join. We are confident that this is only the beginning and can’t wait to see Catz affirm itself as ‘the chess college’ amongst its many other sporting successes!”