The University of Texas at Dallas, which earlier this month won the President’s Cup at the “Final Four” national collegiate chess team championships, will award four-year, full-tuition-and-fees scholarships to the top finisher in each of the three categories at the “SuperNationals II” of chess this coming weekend at the Kansas City Convention Center.
Between 4,000 and 6,000 youngsters from across the country are expected to compete in the April 27-29 tournament, which will combine the three major national scholastic chess championships the National Elementary Championship, the National Junior High School Championship and the National High School Championship into one event.
UTD will award the scholarships to the winners of the three championship sections K-6 (elementary K-9 (junior high) and K-12 (high school) – with the stipulation that the winners must meet the university’s entrance standards.
UTD Undergraduate Dean Dr. Michael Coleman and General Studies Dean Dr. George Fair will attend the event to present the scholarships. UTD Chess Program Director and Coach Dr. Tim Redman also will attend the tournament – but in his capacity as the current president of the U.S. Chess Federation, the 90,000-member national governing body of chess, which is holding the event in partnership with Kansas City chess organizers.
It will be the second straight weekend that UTD has awarded coveted scholarships for chess proficiency. Last Saturday, UTD awarded a scholarship to a Dallas youngster, Patrick Ward, a sixth grader at George Dealey Montessori Academy, after the boy won all five of his games to win the 9th annual Dallas Area Chess-in-the-Schools Championship. Patrick, an excellent student, is the son of John and Thuy Ward. Five of his cousins attended UTD.
Also last weekend, the UTD chess team took first place for the third consecutive year in the Internet-based National Collegiate Chess League (NCCL). The outcome wasn’t decided until the fourth and final round on Sunday when UTD dominated Stanford University.
On April 15, UTD defeated the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford to win the “Final Four” in Dallas. UTD and UMBC had tied for first place at last December’s Pan American Intercollegiate Chess Championships in Milwaukee. The championship UTD team is composed of Yuri Shulman, Balazs Szuk, Andrei Zaremba, Andrew Whatley, David John, Dennis Rylander, and, as alternates, Andrei Dokuchayev and Jeff Ashton. The UTD trainer is International Master Rade Milovanovic.
About UTD
The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor®, enrolls approximately 6,500 undergraduate and 4,500 graduate students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. UTD, which has no football team, ranks among the top universities in the country in computer science graduates and has strong programs in many other academic areas including engineering.