On April 1, the UCCS Mountain Lions took the victory against the University of College Mascots in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Chess (RMAC) tournament final. The intense gameplay left the two people in the crowd on the edge of their seats. 

Junior logic major Heth Barmon started the game with King’s pawn to E4, paving the path for her signature opening, the Australian Wallop. 

University of College’s Pless Chayer responded with Knight to E4, a move that surprised Barmon and threw her off her rhythm. 

After 73 minutes of exciting play, during which some pieces were moved to various spots on the board, Barmon brought her queen into the game, moving it to E4 and giving it central control of the board to take back the advantage. 

But Chayer wouldn’t go down without a fight. He castled to E4, and Barmon was left faltering without a queen. 

At this point in the game, it was looking irredeemable for Barmon, but after a riveting 48 minutes of staring at the board, she found her out, an en passant to E4 to place her opponent in check. 

“When I saw that en passant, I knew the tide had shifted in my favor. I can’t believe he left me open for such a powerful move,” Barmon said. 

Chayer tried to weasel his way out, but mate was 4 moves away as Barmon moved piece after piece to E4, knocking down Chayer’s king, ending the game with a tournament record speed of 6.5 hours. 

Barmon said she celebrated the win with a wild night of partying. She drank a half-caf green tea 7 hours before her bedtime. “I went kind of crazy,” Barmon said, “but it felt well-deserved.” 

After this historic win, Barmon will advance to the National Chess Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament where she will play first against last year’s tournament winner, Agnus Fartlson. 

Editor’s Note: Scribble is the satirical section of the Scribe. 

Photo by Randy Fath on Unsplash.