The University of Texas at Dallas chess team earned a spot in the President’s Cup for a record 20th time in 25 years by finishing second at the Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship held Jan. 2-5 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Senior Ivan Schitco’s seesaw, final-round victory propelled the UT Dallas B team to its fifth win in six matches, a 2 ½-1 ½ win over Stanford University’s A Team. That result earned them second place in the tournament, from which the top four schools qualify for this spring’s showpiece event.
Schitco’s teammates — graduate student Andrei Macovei, sophomore Koustav Chatterjee, senior Balaji Daggupati and junior Karolis Juksta — will be joined by teams from UT Rio Grande Valley, Webster University and Saint Louis University for the President’s Cup in April at a yet-to-be-determined site.
“Team B showed great resilience after one setback and nerves of steel in the crucial matches against Texas Tech and Stanford,” said Julio Catalino Sadorra BS’13, coach of the UTD chess team. “These five players communicated well and covered for each other throughout the event, and these attributes always help us in qualifying for the President’s Cup.”
“The team and I dedicate this win to our university leadership, particularly to James Stallings, who has served the program for 20 years now. I’m proud of all our players. They gave their best in preparation for the tournament and fought to win each round for our university.”
Julio Catalino Sadorra BS’13, UTD chess team coach
The UT Dallas A Team — featuring freshmen Aditya Samant and Yair Parkhov, senior Rahul Srivasthav Peddi, graduate student Brian Escalante Ramirez and David Brodsky MS’24 — tied for fifth place with four match points out of six, joining reigning champion the University of Missouri and perennial contender Texas Tech University in missing out on qualification.
The UT Dallas D Team finished 14th with 3 ½ match points, earning the Division II title for teams with average ratings below 2200. Their roster features junior Saksham Rautela, sophomore Vignesh Anand, graduate student Barrett Winchell, junior Minh Tran and senior Gary Carter Jr. Anand earned Top Board 4 honors in the open division, while the E Team’s Louis Calvary, a junior, was the Top Board 3 player in the under-1800 rating division.
“The continued success of the UT Dallas chess team over the last quarter of a century results from the excellent chess player-scholars recruited and the excellent coaching they receive upon arriving in Dallas,” UTD Chess Program director Jim Stallings said. “Such sustained accomplishments only occur when there is a bedrock of strong support by the University administration, faculty and students.”
The UTD women’s team ranked third among the all-female teams at the event, finishing with two match points.
The tournament featured 44 teams in the open division and 91 teams overall, representing 48 colleges and universities.
“The team and I dedicate this win to our university leadership, particularly to James Stallings, who has served the program for 20 years now,” Sadorra said. “I’m proud of all our players. They gave their best in preparation for the tournament and fought to win each round for our university.”