Flash Report - Final Four, Day One!

While spring raged outside on the streets of New York City (beautiful blue skies, temperatures in the 60s, a street fair a few blocks away at Washington Square Park), the first two rounds entered the books at the Final Four of College Chess. When the last board was done at 9 p.m., defending champion University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) had a commanding 1.5-point lead over top-seeded Webster University, 6.5 to 5. University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) follows with 3 points, then Harvard with 1.5. We can expect an intense fight today as the two leaders face each other in the final round Sunday morning. In round one, Webster defeated Harvard 3-1, and UTRGV matched that score in their defeat of UTD. The key matchup in Webster vs. Harvard was on board one between GM Illia Nyzhnyk (Webster, 2746) and GM Darwin Yang (Harvard, 2564). The draw in this rating mismatch (is it fair to ever say there is a “mismatch” amongst grandmasters?) meant that “Yang acquitted himself well” and it was a victory of sorts according to commentator GM Irina Krush. UTRGV’s strong showing was somewhat surprising given they were only a slight rating’s favorite over UTD. In Round 2, Webster tied with UTD 2-2 and UTRGV defeated Harvard 3.5-0.5. All games can be downloaded at http://uschessfinalfour.org. The final round takes place at 9 a.m. Sunday, April 7, with live streaming continuing on the above website. The awards ceremony will also be streamed at approximately 2 p.m. Follow us on Twitter too via @USChess and #CollegeChess. PHOTOS: Harvard (left) vs. Webster University in round 1