Still on top: UTB-TSC chess team
Special to the StarValley Morning Star 
Posted: Friday, January 4, 2013 10:30 pm
 
The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College chess team finished among the top five schools at the 2012 Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championships at Princeton University in Princeton, N.J.

The UTB-TSC A Team finished sixth among 44 teams representing 30 universities at the competition. Because two of the top five teams were from the same school, UTB-TSC was still among the top five schools. This was the sixth consecutive year UTB-TSC has finished among the top five. The UTB-TSC B Team placed 18th.

Also, A team member grandmaster Axel Bachmann was named the top Board 2 player in the tournament with 5.5 game points out of a possible 6.

“We’re proud of our students to have finished as one of the top five schools in collegiate chess for the sixth straight year. That’s something pretty special,” said Russell Harwood, UTB-TSC chess program director.

In the tournament’s final round last Sunday, the UTB-TSC A Team defeated the UT Dallas B team 3.5 points to .5 points. Mauricio Flores, Max Cornejo and Katerina Nemcova won their games. Axel Bachmann drew his game. The A team finished the tournament with 4 match points out of a possible 6.

Harwood said the A team showed character to bounce back from an upset loss to the University of Illinois A team in Saturday’s fifth round.

The UTB-TSC team has seen fast success in the chess arena after it started competing in 2001. The team won the National K-12/Collegiate Championships in 2005. The University was named Chess College of the Year by the U.S. Chess Federation in 2007.

At the 2010 Pan Ams in Milwaukee, the team tied for second place, positioning it for the Final Four in April 2011, where UTB finished third, just one point away from first place. The Chess Team also holds the honor of being the 2011-12 Texas State College Chess Champions.

23This tournament determined the collegiate championship for the Western Hemisphere. This was also the qualifying tournament for the 2013 President’s Cup, known as the Final Four of College Chess. The University of Texas at Dallas, Webster University, University of Maryland Baltimore County and University of Illinois qualified for the Final Four.

Source: http://www.valleymorningstar.com

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