Chess is fun, and it can be played anywhere

Texas Tech’s Knight Raiders to Compete Inside Carlsbad Caverns

Members of Texas Tech’s Knight Raiders chess team will venture into the world of stalagmites and stalactites Oct. 17 when they participate in a tournament inside Carlsbad Caverns.

Written by Jessica Benham

Grab your hard hat and chess set; the Knight Raiders are going spelunking.

Members of Texas Tech’s Knight Raiders chess team will venture into the world of stalagmites and stalactites Oct. 17 when they participate in a tournament inside Carlsbad Caverns.

The officially rated blitz chess tournament, which is sponsored by Texas Tech’s Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE), will take place in the cavern’s lunchroom, which sits more than 750 feet underground in the Big Room.

Paul Truong, director of marketing for SPICE, said he is not aware of another chess tournament that has ever been organized in a cavern before.

“The message we want to give is very simple,” Truong said. “Chess is fun, and it can be played anywhere. We want to change the social stigma that chess is a boring game for old guys.”

Truong said the tournament will give Texas Tech, SPICE and the Knight Raiders lots of publicity.

“We want potential SPICE recruits to know that when they come to Texas Tech, not only will they receive a wonderful education while improving their chess skills through a world-class training system by Susan Polgar, but they also will get to experience fun and unique activities that other universities don’t offer,” Truong said.

Carlsbad Caverns is a United States National Park in the Guadalupe Mountains in southeastern New Mexico.

Find Texas Tech news, experts and story ideas at http://www.media.ttu.edu/.

CONTACT: Paul Truong, director of marketing, SPICE, Texas Tech University, (806) 742-7742, or paul.truong@ttu.edu.