Chess

Chess at Päivölä

Chess has long been a popular hobby among School of Mathematics students. Many have taken it up again after giving it up, or started playing for the first time – often lured in by bughouse (tandem chess).

Many Päivölä students play for their home clubs, but there is also Päivölä’s own chess club, Pässi (Päivölän shakkisiirtelijät), founded by alumni. It usually fields two teams in divisions 2 and 3 of the Finnish team championship. We hosted the Finnish Youth Chess Championships at Päivölä in June 2016, and the Finnish School Team Chess Championships have been held here almost every year since 2021. Päivölä is also becoming a familiar venue for chess camps – not yet on a par with the famous camps in Salo, but catching up.

The best-known chess player among our alumni is grandmaster Tomi Nybäck, but many others have played in Nordic, European and World youth and school championships. Päivölä won the upper secondary division of the Finnish School Team Chess Championships five years in a row, from 2015 to 2019, and took silver in 2012, 2014 and 2024 and bronze in 2026.

Some students have taken their enthusiasm to work, too: Shakkikamera (“chess camera”), a PSIL project, is building a cheaper alternative to expensive electronic live-broadcast boards.