Miami University Ohio and Utah’s own University of Utah (Wholesale Chess is located in Utah) have been declared co-winners of the 2009 the Chess College of the Year award. This award is handed out by the College Chess Committee and is approved by the Executive Board of the USCF. The nomination for the awards, which will be officially announced at a later date as part of the 2009 Delegates Call report of the College Chess Committee, is worded as follows:

“The University of Utah is being nominated as co-winner of the 2008 Chess College of the Year award. In 2007 at the Pan-American Intercollegiate, they sent two student representatives just to attend the annual College Chess Committee meeting in Miami. No other college did this. They followed up by sending a Utah team to the 2008 Pan-American Intercollegiate in Dallas. In the 2008 Collegiate Chess League Team Tournament, their A-team finished 7th and their B-team finished 16th . The Utah chess club and team are working hard to move forward into the top ranks of college chess.”

“Miami University Ohio is being nominated as co-winner of the 2008 Chess College of the Year award. As evidenced by the December 2008 Chess Life Online article http://main.uschess.org/content/view/9007/500/ by sophomore Chris Dobbs, we see and hear what it takes to start a college chess club. This firsthand account by a Miami University Ohio student can also inspire other beginning college chess clubs across the U.S. This is the state of the vast majority of college chess clubs and teams.”