The University of Texas at Dallas junior Andrei Zaremba, whose play at the recent Final Four of college chess vaulted UTD to a national chess championship, has been selected to participate in the prestigious U.S. Junior Invitational chess tournament next month in Dallas.
Andrei Zaremba
The field for the tournament is limited to the top nine rated chess players in the United States under the age of 21, in addition to the winner of last year’s U.S. Junior Open tournament. The winner of the event, sponsored by the U.S. Chess Federation, is recognized as the U.S. Junior chess champion for the coming year.
The tournament will be held July 18-23 at the Renaissance Dallas North Hotel. The invitation-only event will take place at the same time as the U.S. Junior Open chess championship, to be held July 19-21 at the same venue. That tournament is expected to draw some 300 of the best under-21 players in the country, including, possibly, several other members of the UTD chess team.
“Andrei’s selection to the U.S. Junior Invitational field for the second consecutive year confirms his status as one of the rising young stars on the American chess scene,” said Dr. Tim Redman, a professor of literary studies and director of the UTD chess program. “It’s no stretch to imagine his becoming a presence on the international chess stage in the years to come.”
Redman characterized Zaremba, who turns 20 this month, as “a personable young man who has his priorities straight. During the school year, his studies rightly come first, followed closely by his passion for chess. However, he uses the summer months to improve his chess skills, which grow more formidable as time passes.”
Redman called Zaremba’s game “both aggressive and insightful – he reminds me of a young Victor Korchnoi, the former contender for the world championship.”
It was Zaremba’s dramatic victory over an opponent from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), in the final match of the Final Four tournament in April that handed UTD the national collegiate chess title for the second straight year. Zaremba and his teammates bested rivals from UMBC, Harvard and Stanford at the event, held at the World Chess Hall of Fame in Miami.
Zaremba is a FIDE (World Chess Federation) Master who represented the U.S. five times in the World Youth Championship, where he finished ninth twice. He is a two-time winner of the Denker Tournament, an annual competition among high school state chess champions from across the country.
A native of St. Petersburg, Russia, Zaremba and his family now call Dearborn, Michigan, home. He is an electrical engineering major at UTD.
Zaremba ranks seventh on the list of invitees to the U.S. Junior Invitational. The tournament’s top-ranked player – Dmitry Schneider of New York – plans to enroll this coming fall at UTD, according to Redman.
Chess Scholarship to Winner
The winner of the U.S. Junior Open Championship in Dallas will be awarded a four-year full scholarship, covering all tuition and fees, to UTD, Redman said. He added that Dr. Alexey Root, associate director of the university’s chess program who heads up recruiting for the chess team, will meet with players visiting Dallas who may have an interest in attending UTD.
Redman, a past president of the U.S. Chess Federation, will serve as director of the two Dallas tournaments.