When did UMBC become a national college chess powerhouse? —Valerie Kilgallon ’87, English

According to a number of sources, including The Weekly Retriever and UMBC’s yearbook, Skipjack, the university has had a varsity chess squad – and a good one – since its earliest days.

But the rise of chess as a symbol of UMBC’s aspirations as an honors university and the most prominent and public demonstration of the campus’ much-heralded blend of academic excellence and competitive spirit, coincided with the appointment of UMBC professor of computer science Alan Sherman as the faculty advisor of the UMBC chess club in 1991.

Read more at http://magazine.umbc.edu/umbc-magazine-fall-2015/histories-and-mysteries/chess/