Harvard–Yale chess match
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The Harvard–Yale chess match is held annually around the time of the Harvard–Yale football game in November on the campus of the university hosting the football game. The tradition dates as far back as 1900.[1] It is a relatively informal match and the schools do not typically submit the games to the United States Chess Federation for rating. Nevertheless, it is one of the highlights of the year for each school's chess club. The match typically consists of four or five games, pitting the top current Harvard and Yale students (undergraduate or graduate). The team with the most game points is declared the winner of the match, with a win worth 1 point, a draw worth half a point, and a loss worth 0 points. In the case of a tie, either the match is declared a tie, or a tie-breaking procedure is applied. Tie-breaking procedures applied in the past included using the result of the strongest non-drawing board as the result of the match, or using results achieved by non-A-teams in the Open section. Match details vary each year depending on the preferences of current members of each school's chess club.
Those who play in the match are typically strong tournament players. The ratings usually range from around 800 to 2600 USCF. Players occasionally are FIDE International Masters or grandmasters.
As of 2025, Yale is the champion, holding an overall record of 11-4-9 against Harvard.
Results
| Year | Site | Match format | Tie-break | Winner | Score | Average USCF ratings | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harvard | Yale | |||||||
| 2025 | Yale | 6 boards, G15+10 | Additional boards | Yale | 4-2 | 2083 | 2375 | |
| 2024 | Harvard | 4 boards, G25/D5 | Additional boards | Yale | 1F-0F | 2415 | 2496 | |
| 2023 | Yale | 4 boards, G25/D5 | Additional boards | Yale | 1F-0F | 2415 | 2351 | |
| 2022 | Harvard | 4 boards, G25/D5 | Additional boards | Yale | 2½–1½ | 2407 | 2396 | |
| 2021 | Yale | 4 boards, 2x | None | Yale | 6–2 | 2257 | 2384 | |
| 2020 | Harvard | Canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic | ||||||
| 2019 | Yale | 3 boards, 2x G/30 | None | Yale | 5½–½ | |||
| 2018 | Harvard | 5 boards, G/30 | None | Harvard | 4–1 | |||
| 2017 | Yale | 5 boards, G/30 | None | Tie | 2½–2½ | |||
| 2016 | Harvard | 5 boards, G/30 | None | Harvard | 5–0 | 2328 | ||
| 2015 | Yale | 5 boards, G/45 | None | Harvard | 4–1 | |||
| 2014 | Harvard | 5 boards, G/45 | 6th board | Harvard | 3–2 | 2162 | 2031 | |
| 2013 | Yale | 5 boards, G/60 | Yale | 3–2 | 2069 | 2200 | ||
| 2012 | Harvard | 5 boards, G/60 | Additional boards | Tie | 2½–2½ | 2211 | ||
| 2011[2] | Yale | 5 boards, G/60 | Additional boards | Yale | 3–2 | 2119 | 2258 | |
| 2010 | Harvard | 5 boards, G/60 | Harvard | 3–2 | ||||
| 2009 | Yale | 5 boards, G/60 | Harvard | 3–2 | ||||
| 2008 [3] | Harvard | 5 boards, G/45 | None | Harvard | 4–1 | 2186 | 2079 | |
| 2007 | Yale | Tie | ||||||
| 2006 | Harvard | Harvard | 3–2 | |||||
| 2005 [4] | Yale | 5 boards, G/60 | Non-draw result on strongest board | Yale | 3–2 | 2083 | 2092 | |
| 2004 [5] | Harvard | 4 boards, G/60 | None | Tie | 2–2 | 2118 | 2225 | |
| 2003 | ||||||||
| 2002 | ||||||||
| 2001[6] | Yale | |||||||
| 2000[7] | Harvard | 2066 | ||||||
| 1999 | Yale | |||||||
Lineups
2011 [2]
- Harvard: Jake Miller, Bram Louis, Josh Bakker, Naor Brown, Tony Blum
- Yale: Robert Hess, Bogdan Vioreanu, Patrick O’Keefe, Adam Weser, Gordon Moseley
2008 [3]
- Yale: Bogdan Vioreanu, Kurt Schneider, Pasha Kamyshev, Gordon Moseley, Rahil Esmail
2005 [4]
- Yale: David Wang, Matthew Traldi, Pavel Kamyshev, Scott Caplan, David Lyons
- Harvard: Arin Madenci, Dan Thomas, Danny Goodman, Albert Yeh, Annie Weiss
2004 [5]
- Harvard: Geoffrey Gelman, Daniel H. Thomas, Arin Madenci, Annie Weiss
- Yale: Akira Watanabe, Matthew Traldi, Haoyuan Wang, Scott Caplan
2001 [6]
- Harvard: Daniel H. Thomas, Marc R. Esserman, Victor M. Lee, Yue Wu, Lu Yin, Jason Rihel, Noam Elkies
2000 [7]
- Harvard: Yakov Chudnovsky, Jonathan A. Wolff, Charles R. Riordan, Lu Yin
Notable players who have competed in the match
FIDE Grandmasters
- Nicolas Checa (Yale, 2021, 2022)
- Darwin Yang (Harvard: 2016)
- Robert Hess (Yale: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014)
- Patrick Wolff (Yale, Harvard, GM title earned in 1990)
- Joel Benjamin (Yale, GM title earned in 1986)
FIDE International Masters
- Richard Wang (Harvard: 2016)
- Matthew Larson (Yale: 2015, IM title earned in 2018)
- Bogdan Vioreanu (Yale: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011)
- Marc Esserman (Harvard: 2001, IM title earned in 2009)
- Teddy Coleman (Harvard: 2008, 2009, 2010, IM title earned in 2012)
Other
- Kurt Hugo Schneider (Yale: 2006, 2008, 2009)