GEORGETOWN — After having played most of its matches at Parkland College, the Uni chess team traveled to Vermilion County Thursday night to play against Georgetown-Ridge Farm in a two-round match.

Uni won both rounds, with the varsity team consisting of junior Gordon Ruan (1), senior Alex Zhai (2), senior Geoffrey Beck (3), junior Alan Liang (4), junior Greg Atherton (5), and sophomore Daniel Cheng (6).

Uni won Round 1 with no difficulty, 58-0. In fact, Zhai decided to experiment with a new opening called the French Defense. This turned out to be an excellent choice, as he defeated his opponent handily.

In Round 2, Uni was unable to secure another score of 58-0. Liang's opponent fought with great resistance against the junior's superior position, which eventually resulted in a draw. However, Uni was able to win easily on the other boards and finished with a score of 53.5-4.5.

In the East Central Illinois Chess League individual junior varsity matches, junior Jason He and freshman Youyang Gu won their two matches. Gu is currently ranked first and He second in the league's individual JV standings.

Uni is 5-0 in the ECIC and will play its next match Dec. 6 in Mahomet against Heyworth and Mahomet-Seymour.

Chris Merli is the team coach, and John Garvey is the faculty sponsor.