The University of Texas at Dallas chess team recently wrapped up a successful season with tournament wins, new players and a return of in-person, public events.
In February, UT Dallas followed up its victory in last fall’s Texas Collegiate Super Finals by winning the Southwest Collegiate Championship against the top university chess teams in Texas, including Texas Tech University and UT Rio Grande Valley, which are typically among the top six collegiate programs in the U.S.
Also in March, Woman International Master Gergana Peycheva won the Texas Women’s Championship tournament in Brownsville, and teammate Tarini Goyal placed third. Both are the team’s first women players in several years.
“The team dominated the Texas state championship events,” said Julio Catalino Sadorra BS’13, chess team coach. “They worked hard for it.”
Sadorra said the team implemented an updated training strategy this season, which included physical workouts and other new team-oriented activities. As a result, he said there has been more camaraderie and support among team members.
In addition to the state tournament wins, the team placed sixth in the Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship, held last December in Seattle, just missing its 19th trip to the President’s Cup tournament, which is considered the “Final Four of College Chess.”
The season also marked the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began that the team held in-person, public events during its annual ChessFest on campus.
At one of the events, Peycheva and Goyal, separately, played opponents simultaneously on 26 chessboards. At another event, Grandmaster Ivan Schitco and International Master Andrei Macovei took turns playing blindfolded against students, staff and faculty at the Eugene McDermott Library. Also during ChessFest, UTD bestowed Grandmaster Melik Khachiyan, a U.S. chess coach and trainer for more than 30 years, with its Chess Educator of the Year award.
“These in-person events brought a lot of energy to the campus and to the chess program,” said Jim Stallings, UT Dallas Chess Program director. “We’re thrilled that we can again be part of the everyday campus life at UTD.”
This year the program moved to the Hobson Wildenthal Honors College, which is also home to the Debate Program and Model United Nations.
Although some team members are graduating this spring, Sadorra said he has high expectations for next year’s squad. He said there will be additional internationally recognized players joining the team.
“I only expect the team to get better,” he said. “I am very excited about what could happen next year.”