They first played in 1906 and gather in Cambridge or New Haven on alternate years, but competitors in the annual Harvard-Yale chess match don't need helmets or pads.

The match has been played every year for the last 14 years, since Harvard Chess Club member Christopher N. Avery '88 and former Yale Chess Club President Andrew Metick arranged the 1986 competition. Harvard brought a seven-year winning streak into this weekend's match.

And even though only a handful of spectators watched while the Harvard Chess Club lost 6-2 to Yale on Saturday, there was still a lot at stake.

"Even when we didn't have a club, it was the game of the year that we played," Yale first-year Charles C. Wolrich said. "For the players it is also a tradition, even though it doesn't receive the same media attention as the football game."

Jacob Chudnovsky '01, Shearwood "Woody" McClelland '00, Charles R. Riordan '01 and Tun-Kai Yang '00 of Harvard faced off against Yale's team, which included senior Michael A. Mulyar, Wolrich, first-year Ilya Meyzin and graduate student Barry H. J. Braeken in the Hall of Graduate Studies in New Haven.

Each competitor played two hour-long games against the player of the same rank on the opposing team. Riordan was the only Harvard player to notch a win, while Chudnovsky and Yang each had one draw.

The teams received a point for each win and a half-point for each draw.

Two of Harvard's top four players were unable to attend the match, which players said contributed to their loss.