UTB-TSC chess teams achieve mixed results

Posted: Saturday, December 29, 2012 10:02 pm
Brownsville Herald
 

The fourth and fifth rounds of competition for the2012 Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championships brought mixed results Saturday for the “A” team and “B” team representing the University of Texas at Brownsville-Texas Southmost College.

The Pan American event, held at Princeton University in Princeton, N.J., will qualify four teams for the President’s Cup, known as the Final Four of College Chess, to be held in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Herndon, Va., from April 6-7, 2013.

The “A” team from UTB-TSC gained a 4-0 sweep Saturday versus the University of Maryland College Park as Axel Bachmann, Katerina Nemcova, Mauricio Flores and Max Cornejo all won their games.

The “B” team from UTB-TSC scored a 3-1 victory Saturday in round four versus the Princeton University “A” team. Aura Salazar, Daniela De la Parra and Armando Cortez won their games for UTB-TSC, while Luciana Morales lost her game.

But, in the fifth round the “A” team lost, 2.5 to 1.5, to the University of Illinois “A” team after one particularly close game and the “B” team lost, 3-1, to the Lindenwood “A” team. 

Bachmann won his game against Illinois, while Flores drew, and Nemcova and Cornejo lost their games. Versus Lindenwood, Salazar won, but De la Parra, Cortez and Morales lost.

“Everyone from Illinois played extremely well,” Jeffrey Serna, an “A” team member from UTB-TSC, said. “We could still have a shot at qualifying for the Final Four if everything falls into place Sunday.”

Both teams from UTB-TSC earned three out of a possible five match points in the tournament by the close of the fifth round.

The first place title at stake in the Pan Am event will bring recognition as the top college chess team in the Western Hemisphere.

The sixth and final round of the Pan Am championships will begin at 9 a.m.

Source: http://www.brownsvilleherald.com
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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