Chess Team Seeks 4th Straight Pan-Am Victory

UT Dallas expects a showdown with its old rival, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), when the teams do battle at the Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship later this month.

The tournament, known as the “World Series of College Chess,” will be held Dec. 27-30 at the Sheraton Beachfront Hotel at South Padre Island. This year’s host is UT Brownsville.

The games can be followed on the Internet Chess Club or monroi.com sites on the Internet.

UT Dallas has won the tournament three years in a row but faces its toughest competition in history this year.

“Not only is there the perennial archrival University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), but extremely strong intrastate rivalries have emerged,” said Chess Program Director Jim Stallings. “UT Brownsville, with three grandmasters (GMs) on its team, will not be a surprise winner in any round. In addition, Texas Tech University now has three top boards that could defeat any of the other teams.” 

Typically, 30 teams will compete in the Pan-American Championship. For the last 11 years, either UT Dallas or UMBC has won.

 “This year every round will be extremely important,” said Stallings. “There will be no easy rounds. Having last year won the famous three-peat, I suppose we are now striving for that rara avis known as a four-peat.”  

UT Dallas will enter three teams: two teams consisting of one grandmaster each, plus a mix of international masters and national masters, and an all-female team.

The rest of the field will include strong master-level teams from both Yale and Stanford. Traditionally formidable Miami Dade College, New York University and University of Chicago will have teams entered. Teams from as far away as the University of Toronto and the University of West Indies at Barbados will round out the Pan-American Intercollegiate mix.

“UT Dallas team members will be prepared,” said UT Dallas Chess Coach Rade Milovanovic. “They know this will be difficult, and others wish to win.”

More details on the tournament schedule, location, etc. can be found at the College Chess site.