UT Rio Grande Valley Wins Final Four!

A cheer erupted from the Webster University chess team as GM Ray Robson played the right move to ensure his winning chances in a must win scenario at the 2018 President's Cup "Final Four" Collegiate Championship. Webster's chess team depended on this win of GM Robson versus GM Dariusz Swiercz of Saint Louis University to tie for first. Alas, their elation was short lived, as Robson failed to follow the continuation. There was dead silence as the game was drawn, giving away the championship spot to a well deserved team: University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

This was the most dramatic scene at this year's tournament, which was hosted at the Marshall Chess Club.

The winning team was the third seed team of the tournament, featuring GMs Kamil Dragun (2686), Vladimir Belous (2684), Andrey Stukopin (2683), Hovhannes Gabuzyan (2679), and Carlos Antonio Hevia Alejano (2569). Their coach was GM Bartek Macieja. This was the team's second year qualifying for the Final Four, after the university's creation in 2013. In 2016, they placed second behind Webster University and were not one of the qualifying teams in 2017. They made their mark in collegiate chess history by ending Webster's 5th year championship reign, but also for their strong performance overall.

The winner of the tournament is determined by team points accrued, not in head to head match scores. For the first time, co-champions were a possibility for the tournament, but the UT team ended in clear first, with 7.5 points. Quite notable was GM Belous' performance, as he went 3-0 (he won all of his games).

The arbiter, FIDE arbiter Mike Hoffpauir called this year’s competition “the strongest Final Four in the history of this tournament,” which is not surprising given the team rosters. Almost every player on all the teams were grandmasters, with the exception of Saint Louis University’s IM Dorsa Derakhshani, and Texas Tech’s IMs Sergei Matsenko, Evgen Shtembuliak, and Luis Carlos Torres Rosas. It is also commendable that Texas Tech placed third without an all-grandmaster team like the others.

The Marshall looks forward to hosting the tournament every year and this championship was no exception. Next year, perhaps another result will surprise chess players and college teams across the nation- anyone could win.