Slogging through flight-grounding weather the day after Christmas has become as much a college chess tradition as the Buckeye marching band’s gridiron ritual of dotting the “i” in Ohio. Indeed, getting to the Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championships has been the opening battle since 1946, sometimes requiring a knight’s tour of re-bookings and last-minute car rentals to reach the right square—in this year’s case, the Sheraton Airport hotel in Cleveland, Ohio. Even this winter’s unwelcome trifecta of tornadoes, flooding and record snowstorms around the country didn’t keep a single one of the 42 pre-registered college teams from making their first moves right on time—and making the event the most powerful ever, with more than one-third of the entries titled players. The 185 players fighting for their schools in the premier open college championship in the Americas and the Caribbean include 25 GMs, 4 WGMs, a dozen IMs, and more than 30 other masters. Forty-two teams from 27 different colleges and universities compete for overall and division honors. Traditional powerhouses, with even higher average ratings than they brought to battle last year, lead the event after two rounds. Webster University of St. Louis, winner and national champion since the inception of its program three years ago, tops the chart with a US Chess Federation team rating of 2747. Texas Tech, another past national champ, weighs in at 2657. Ten-time PanAms winner UT-Dallas is next at 2632, and the newly named UT-Rio Grande Valley (formerly the UT-Brownsville team), brings an average of 2619 to the tables. As usual, Webster and Dallas are both backed up by “B” teams rated over 2500, and Webster even boasts a “C” team rated nearly 2400. Of the traditional sharks, only the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, another 10-time PanAms winner and the only team to make the final four every year of its 15-year history, is fielding a lower-rated team than in 2014, with two GMs and an IM, but relying on a 1900-player on board four. Can they keep up their record alive? In a big round three upset, University of Texas at Dallas beat Webster "A" 3-1. Valentin Yotov defeated Liem Le on board one with Black while GM Nadezhda Kosintseva did the same on board three against Vasif Durarbayli.
Five schools are now at 5-0. Standings after three rounds: 1. Texas Tech University “A”—First Board: GM Yaro Zherebukh 2. University of Texas-RGV “A”—First Board: GM Anton Kovalyov 3. University of Texas-Dallas “B”—First Board: GM Valentin Yotov 4. Webster University “B”—First Board: GM Alex Shimanov 5. University of Texas-Dallas “A”—First Board: GM Gil Popilski Two more rounds will be played on Tuesday and a final, sixth round Wednesday morning. Under the auspices of Oberlin College and the supervision of Chief Organizer Constantine Ananiadis, this year’s venue ranks with US Championship conditions. In a spacious playing area, each team is identified with a placard. The spectator room features a four-screen broadcast of the top boards, and a skittles room combines with a well-stocked bookstore provided by House of Chess. Upset winners even get book certificates at the end of every round. “It’s an honor to host the event and bring it back in Cleveland after 57 years! It’s great for Ohio chess and terrific for Oberlin College,” Ananiadis said. Chief Director NTD Joe Yun, backed up by both NTD Boyd Reed and Senior TD Kelly Bloomfield provide experienced, in-control leadership. The PanAm Championships offer six top overall prizes, as well as Division II, III, IV, and V honors. Trophies also go to the top community college, top four-year small college, and top boards. The top four US colleges will move on to the Final Four playoff in April at the Marshall Chess Club in New York City. Round 2 Individual Upset Prize
Isaac Steincamp Pittsburgh v. Shawn Swindell, Webster C
[pgn] [Event "PanAms"] [Site "?"] [Date "2015.12.28"] [Round "?"] [White "Steincamp, Isaac"] [Black "Swindell, Shawn"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A11"] [PlyCount "67"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] [SourceDate "2015.12.28"] 1. c4 c6 2. g3 d5 3. Nf3 dxc4 4. a4 Bf5 5. Na3 Nd7 6. Nxc4 Qc7 7. Bg2 h6 8. d3 e5 9. Bd2 Be6 10. Qc2 Ne7 11. Ba5 Qb8 12. Bc3 f6 13. O-O g5 14. d4 Bxc4 15. dxe5 Bf7 16. exf6 Nd5 17. Qe4+ Kd8 18. Rfd1 Bd6 19. Qf5 Rf8 20. e4 Nxc3 21. bxc3 Bb3 22. e5 Bxd1 23. Rxd1 Kc7 24. Rxd6 Qe8 25. Re6 Qc8 26. Re7 Re8 27. Rg7 Kd8 28. Qd3 g4 29. Rxg4 Kc7 30. Qd6+ Kb6 31. Rb4+ Ka6 32. Bf1+ Ka5 33. Nd4 b5 34. Nxc6+ 1-0 [/pgn]
Categories
Archives
- December 2024 (4)
- November 2024 (18)
- October 2024 (35)
- September 2024 (23)
- August 2024 (27)
- July 2024 (44)
- June 2024 (27)
- May 2024 (32)
- April 2024 (51)
- March 2024 (34)
- February 2024 (25)
- January 2024 (26)
- December 2023 (29)
- November 2023 (26)
- October 2023 (37)
- September 2023 (27)
- August 2023 (37)
- July 2023 (47)
- June 2023 (33)
- May 2023 (37)
- April 2023 (45)
- March 2023 (37)
- February 2023 (28)
- January 2023 (31)
- December 2022 (23)
- November 2022 (32)
- October 2022 (31)
- September 2022 (19)
- August 2022 (39)
- July 2022 (32)
- June 2022 (35)
- May 2022 (21)
- April 2022 (31)
- March 2022 (33)
- February 2022 (21)
- January 2022 (27)
- December 2021 (36)
- November 2021 (34)
- October 2021 (25)
- September 2021 (25)
- August 2021 (41)
- July 2021 (36)
- June 2021 (29)
- May 2021 (29)
- April 2021 (31)
- March 2021 (33)
- February 2021 (28)
- January 2021 (29)
- December 2020 (38)
- November 2020 (40)
- October 2020 (41)
- September 2020 (35)
- August 2020 (38)
- July 2020 (36)
- June 2020 (46)
- May 2020 (42)
- April 2020 (37)
- March 2020 (60)
- February 2020 (38)
- January 2020 (45)
- December 2019 (35)
- November 2019 (35)
- October 2019 (42)
- September 2019 (45)
- August 2019 (56)
- July 2019 (44)
- June 2019 (35)
- May 2019 (40)
- April 2019 (48)
- March 2019 (61)
- February 2019 (39)
- January 2019 (30)
- December 2018 (29)
- November 2018 (51)
- October 2018 (45)
- September 2018 (29)
- August 2018 (49)
- July 2018 (35)
- June 2018 (31)
- May 2018 (39)
- April 2018 (31)
- March 2018 (26)
- February 2018 (33)
- January 2018 (30)
- December 2017 (26)
- November 2017 (24)
- October 2017 (30)
- September 2017 (30)
- August 2017 (31)
- July 2017 (28)
- June 2017 (32)
- May 2017 (26)
- April 2017 (37)
- March 2017 (28)
- February 2017 (30)
- January 2017 (27)
- December 2016 (29)
- November 2016 (24)
- October 2016 (32)
- September 2016 (31)
- August 2016 (27)
- July 2016 (24)
- June 2016 (26)
- May 2016 (19)
- April 2016 (30)
- March 2016 (36)
- February 2016 (28)
- January 2016 (32)
- December 2015 (26)
- November 2015 (23)
- October 2015 (16)
- September 2015 (28)
- August 2015 (28)
- July 2015 (6)
- June 2015 (1)
- May 2015 (2)
- April 2015 (1)
- February 2015 (3)
- January 2015 (1)
- December 2014 (1)
- July 2010 (1)
- October 1991 (1)
- August 1989 (1)
- January 1988 (1)
- December 1983 (1)