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UTB/TSC Chess Team Accomplishments
Team Results
2008 Susan Polgar International Open 1st place
2007 Pan-American Intercollegiate Team 6th place
2007 National K-12 Collegiate Championships 2nd place
2007 Texas Collegiate Championships 2nd place
2007 Southwest Collegiate Championships 2nd place
2007 Texas Region VIII Championships 1st place
2006 National K-12/Collegiate Championships 2nd place
2006 Texas Collegiate Championships 1st place
2006 Pan-American Intercollegiate Team 8th place
2006 Southwest Collegiate Championships 2nd place
2005 National K-12/Collegiate Championships 1st place
2005 Texas Collegiate Championships 1st place
2005 Southwest Collegiate Championships 1st place
2005 Texas Region VIII Championships 1st place
2004 Southwest Collegiate Championships 2nd place
2003 Texas Region VIII Championships 1st place
2002 Texas Collegiate Championships 3rd place
2002 Texas Region VIII Championships 1st place
Individual Results
2007 Pan-American Intercollegiate Top 1st Board
2007 Carlos Torre 1st and 3rd places
2007 Ken Smith Memorial 1st place
2007 Miami Open 9th and 14th places
2007 Southwest Open (2 UTB players tied with 3 others for 1st)
2007 Southwest Collegiate Co-Champion
2007 Texas Region VIII Champion
2006 Texas Collegiate Champion
2006 National Collegiate Champion
2006 Southwest Collegiate Co-Champion
2006 Susan Polgar National Open for Girls Champion
2006 Mexican Girls Under-21 National Champion
2006 Mexican Female Championships – 2nd place
2005 National Collegiate Champion
2005 Texas Collegiate Champion
UTB/TSC Chess Team Takes Honors at Weekend Tournaments
Members of the UTB/TSC Chess Team took home a few top honors over Labor Day weekend in two tournaments Friday, Aug. 31 through Monday, Sept. 3, in Brownsville and Stillwater, OK.
Eleven members competed in the 73rd Annual Southwest Open, held for the first time in Brownsville. The tournament, one of the oldest chess tournaments in the state, is an individual player event. Two UTB/TSC students, International Master (IM) Axel Bachmann and IM Daniel Fernandez, tied with two players from The University of Texas at Dallas for first place and a local IM for first place.
“I am very pleased with the Southwest Open results,” said UTB/TSC Chess Program Director Russell Harwood. “Whenever we are able to have comparable results to UTD at the top of the standings, it is a good thing because they were the top collegiate chess program in the nation last year. This was a very strong tournament, and should help prepare our team members for the upcoming team competitions.”
Woman International Master Nadya Ortiz traveled to Stillwater, for the 2007 OCF North American Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) Open.
Out of 90 players in the tournament, Nadya tied for first place with three other players. She took home second place based on tiebreakers.
“During this tournament, Nadya played against three FIDE Masters, beating two of them and drawing against the third,” Harwood said. “Nadya played some very tough competition, and ended up with 7.5 points out of 10. The whole team is proud of Nadya for her excellent results in this prestigious tournament. Nadya just joined the team this past January, and she will definitely help us in our important team competitions this year.”
The chess team is planning to compete in three team events during the fall semester:
· The 11th Annual State Grade and Collegiate Championships, Saturday, Nov. 17 and Sunday, Nov. 18, at The Woodlands, TX
· The 2007 National K-12/Collegiate Championships, Friday, Dec. 7 to Sunday, Dec. 9, in Houston.
· The Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championships from Thursday, Dec. 27 to Sunday, Dec. 30, in Miami.
“We are very excited about our team,” said UTB/TSC Chess Coach Grandmaster Gilberto Hernandez. “Our goal is to finish among the top four universities in the United States at the Pan-American Intercollegiate and qualify for the Final Four. We are clearly stronger than last year, since we added two titled players in the spring and four new players this fall, including Luciana Morales, a Woman International Master from Peru, one of the top young female players from South America.”
Hernandez is set to be the guest of honor at the national tournament in early December, and will conduct a simul and lecture for tournament participants.
Harwood said they also plan to enter an all-female team in the same tournament.
“As far as I know, this will be the first time that there has been an all-female team entered in the collegiate section at this event,” Harwood said. “They should get plenty of attention, serve as excellent role models and hopefully inspire young girls to continue playing chess. We are also hoping to take two teams to the Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championships, which will be held from December 27th through the 30th, in Miami, Florida.”
Last year was our first time UTB/TSC competed in the Pan-American Intercollegiate event, which is the most important collegiate event of the year.
“We entered one team, which finished in a tie for 7th place with Harvard and Yale,” Harwood said. “This year, there will be several divisions, based on the rating of the players. We are hoping to finish among the top four U.S. universities and qualify for the Final Four in the spring. It will be a wonderful experience for them and will establish UTB/TSC as a major player in collegiate chess.”
For more information contact Russell Harwood, Chess Program director, at 882-5761 or at Russell.harwood@utb.edu
| September 10, 2007 |