By: Timothy Chapman
The UTRGV Chess team competed in the annual Texas Collegiate Super Finals last weekend, in Dallas Tx. Several players on the team are newcomers this semester, but that does not mean that they are new to the game.
International Master Tamas Petenyi, talked about how he started playing chess and winning tournaments when he was 6 years old.
“I first played in a couple of youth tournaments, in my second tournament already I won national championships in my youth category. I think that was under 8 years, and then I basically stuck with the sports. it seemed like I had the talent for it and I started competing,” said Petenyi.
He said he is living the dream when it comes to getting to play chess at a high level and he is excited about the big tournaments that are to come.
“It will be a great challenge of course; we will be up against the best teams from Texas. It would be really amazing if UTRGV got the fifth Texas state champion title.” said Petenyi. “My motivation during my stay here in the U.S. is to become a Grandmaster which is the highest title in chess, I’m really excited.”
International Master Tianqi “Steve” Wang shared what his strategy and motivation is coming into tournaments.
“I just basically play off of clock, so my argument is that if my opponent never has time, they can never find moves. I can win without actually having to find the best moves,” said Wang.
Now that he is part of the UTRGV chess team, Wang looks to go head on with previous opponents.
“I’m looking forward to actually having strong teammates for Pan-Ams [Pan American Team Chess Championship] because the one times I went for my undergraduate years, I ran into ‘tryhards’ and it was not a very pleasant experience. I look forward to get my revenge on these people this year,” said Wang.
Woman International Master Sila Caglar said her strategy in preparing for games involves lots of studying and mind exercises.
“For me it’s like openings, puzzles, I mostly check my old games to see my weaknesses in the same opening, so I won’t repeat them again,” said Caglar about improving her chess matches approach.
Just like her teammates, she has been playing the game and competing in championships for over a decade.
“I became European champion when I was 12, I think it’s the most important one in my career because there’s no other Turkish players like Europe player to become European youth champion,” said Caglar.
FIDE Master Jakub Fus, said it’s easy to get discouraged during difficult matches, however it’s important to learn to manage the way one reacts in different situations.
“Sometimes it turns out badly and you start losing and you get upset or angry. You start and you keep going and going and then you play 400 games and you’re still angry so it also can backfire, but it depends on the person,” said Fus.
“There’s rating online as well, and if you lose 100 points of rating then you are angry and you want to get it back,” said Fus about bouncing back after defeat.
After having so many years of experience, his approach during these upcoming tournaments is treating them as if they were any other game.
“Well at some point when you play these matches you start to approach every game in a very similar [manner], like every game is important. Every game is for rating. Every game is just very important for you, you don’t lose your rating, you give 100 percent in every tournament that you play,” said Fus.
The UTRGV chess team will be competing in the 2023 Pan American Intercollegiate Team Championship, hosting teams from all over North America.
