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OleChess camp brings in ranked players, masters

By Carole Leigh Engblom
June 20, 2005

St. Olaf College is hosting OleChess, a weeklong camp filled with intensive study with instruction by some of the premier players and teachers in the world, including national master Victor Sherman. The camp, designed for chess players of all strengths and levels of experience ages 11 to adult, includes an optional intensive study option for higher-rated players.

Camp organizer Kevin Bachler, himself a FIDE master and camp instructor, decided to move the camp from Wisconsin to St. Olaf after moving his son, Robert Riddle (St. Olaf Class of 2008), to campus last fall. "We saw the beautiful campus and wonderful facilities at St. Olaf and felt that -- with the significant chess playing population in Minnesota -- we would try offering a camp there," he says. According to Bachler, his former camp, WisChess, was the largest chess camp in the country, often drawing more than 200 players who were instructed by six grandmasters and 10 internationally titled instructors.

Contact Carole Engblom at 507-646-3271 or leigh@stolaf.edu.