UTRGV’s Chess Team places first at the USCF President’s Cup Tournament after competing on April 3 and 4 against top universities, such as St. Louis University, Webster University and Texas Tech University.
The team consists of Grandmasters Mateusz Bartel, Hovhannes Gabuzyan, Kamil Dragun and Vladimir Belous.
These National Collegiate Champions were coached by chess Grandmaster Bartek Macieja.
Macieja said that this win was not only a great achievement for the team, but the overall university as well.
“To win three consecutive Final Four tournaments, that’s an amazing accomplishment which will stay forever in the history of University College chess,” he said.
Macieja also said that he is very pleased with the team’s execution at the tournament. Especially, because they were able to adapt to online competitions after participating in a few virtual tournaments and practices with the team.
“I’m really so proud of my students’ motivation, how focused they were entering the tournament,” he said.
The 2020 competition, that was originally taking place in New York, was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but players, such as Belous said that this tournament was unlike their previously won competitions in 2018 and 2019.
“It was different because it was online, there were some specific moments that you never see on the board,” he said.
Dragun agrees that this year’s tournament was different, but also said that it was nothing the team couldn’t handle.
“It was much different than chess over the board, [but]… compared to others we don’t have this problem that we can’t compete,” he said.
According to a UTRGV news release, Dragun has been present at the two previously won President’s Cup tournaments and has competed with the Chess Team since 2017.
For more information on this win and to view their upcoming tournament schedule visit the UTRGV chess website.
