Webster sweeps; UMBC, Illinois and Texas Tech advance

Webster University chess team, l. to r., Maraani Kamphorst, Georg Meier, Manuel Leon Hoyos, Anatoly Bykhovsky, Le Quang Liem, Vitaly Neimer, Susan Polgar, Inna Agrest, University President Beth Stroble, Fidel Corrales, Andre Diamant, Ray Robson, Wesley So, Jake Banawa and Denes Boros. Photo courtesy of Webster University S.P.I.C.E.

The final standings are located here.

The 60th Pan American Intercollegiate chess tournament is over and the teams in the Final Four of college chess (known as the President's Cup) are determined! UMBC, Illinois and Texas Tech, along with the undefeated Webster University A-team, will compete in the Spring at a time and place to be announced (most likely in the Washington, D.C. area in early April - last year was in Herndon, VA). The Webster University A-team swept the tournament with a 6-0 match score, while the Webster-B team also scored well enough to qualify.

It is a long standing tradition that each college or university is limited to one team in the Final Four. National TD and FIDE Zonal President Franc Guadalupe was the chief tournament director. A total of 42 teams from 27 schools represented by 23 grandmasters, four WGMs, 12 IMs and six WIMs competed.

University of Illinois Chess Team, l. to r., Eric Rosen, Michael Auger, Akshay Indusekar and Leo Luo.

For the second year in a row, the team from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign shocked the experts. Last year, with four wins and two draws in six total matches, the Illinois team garnered five out of six possible points and wound up in a 5-way tie for first place in the tournament. They repeated their spectacular 5-1 result again this year. It was the only team among the five that had no coach and no grandmasters. The team’s four players are Eric Rosen (2379), Michael Auger (2233), Xin “Leo” Luo (2202), and Akshay Indusekar (2094). All of the players except Indusekar were on last year's Illinois PanAm team.

NM Eric Rosen, the 2011 U.S. National K-12 champion (pictured above), led the Illinois team on Board 1 for the second year in a row. Source: Chicago tribune

GM Wesley So of Webster University, by way of the Philippines, and reigning World University Champion, won the first place prize on Board #3 and the best individual performance award with a perfect 6-0 score and a performance rating of 2894. GM Ray Robson, also of Webster, was the top rated US-born player in the tournament and took the first board #4 prize with the only other 6-0 score.

GMs Le Quang Liem of Webster's A-team, Fidel Corrales Jimenez of Webster's B-team, Niclas Huschenbeth or UMBC, WIM Mariam Danelia University of Texas at Dallas C-team and Yaroslav Zherebukh of Texas Tech all finished at 5-1 on Board #1. Zherebukh received the trophy on tiebreaks. GM Anatoly Bykhovsky of Webster-B was the clear winner on Board #2 with 5.5 points. The "Best Female" prize went to Mariam Danelia of UT-D, losing only to GM Anton Kavalyov (2704) of University of Texas at Brownsville.

Suprisingly, both UT-Dallas and UT-Brownsville fell short of advancing to the Final Four this year. Additional team prizes were awarded to University of Toronto (Division II), Harvard University (Div III), Oberlin College (Div IV), and UMBC-B team (Div V). Miami-Dade was the top community college. UMBC-B also received the biggest team upset prize for their win over Florida State University. The individual biggest upset was by Robert Huie IV (rated 1189) of UMBC-B. Huie defeated USCF Rated Expert Embert Lin (2005) of NYU in Round 1.

According to Texas Tech chess program director Al Lawrence, "The championship is rich in college tradition. The first Pan-Ams took place in 1946 (but the championship traces its heritage to a U.S. university championship going back even further) and was held biennially until 1962, when the event was made annual and has indeed been held every year since then."

Congratulations to all of the teams who made the trip to Lubbock for this year's tournament, especially to the host team from Texas Tech University for putting on such a great event in addition to qualifying for the Final Four.

Members of the Texas Tech University Chess Team with their coach, GM Alex Onischuk (rear).
Photo courtesy of Texas Tech University chess program

Games from Round 6:

Le (Webs-A),Q - Kovalyov (UTB),A [E06]
2013 Pan Am Intercollegiate (6), 30.12.2013
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.d4 0-0 6.Nbd2 b6 7.0-0 c6 8.Qc2 Bb7 9.e4 Na6 10.a3 dxc4 11.Nxc4 b5 12.Ne3 c5 13.d5 exd5 14.exd5 Nxd5 15.Nf5 c4 16.Rd1 Re8 17.Bf4 Nc5 18.Ne5 Rc8 19.Nxf7 Qd7 20.Ne5 Qe6 21.Rxd5 Bxd5 22.Nd4 Qd6 23.Nxb5 Qe6 24.Nd4 Qd6 25.Nf5 Qe6 26.Bh3 Qa6 27.Nxe7+ Rxe7 28.Bxc8 Qxc8 29.Rd1 Qe6 30.f3 Re8 31.h4 Nd7 32.Nxd7 Bxf3 33.Ne5 Bxd1 34.Qxd1 h6 35.Nf3 Qb6+ 36.Qd4 Re1+ 37.Kf2 Qxd4+ 38.Nxd4 Rb1 39.Bd2 Rxb2 40.Ke3 Kf7 41.a4 a6 42.Bc3 Rg2 43.Kf3 Ra2 44.a5 g6 45.Ke4 Rg2 46.Kf3 Ra2 47.Ke3 Rg2 48.Be1 Ra2 49.Nc6 Ke6 50.Bc3 Rg2 51.Kf4 Rf2+ 52.Ke4 Rg2 53.Nd4+ Kd7 54.Be1 Kd6 55.Bb4+ Kd7 56.Kf3 Ra2 57.Kf4 Rf2+ 58.Ke3 Ra2 59.Ne2 Ke6 60.Nf4+ Kf5 61.Kf3 h5 62.Ng2 Ra4 63.Ne3+ Ke6 64.Be1 Ra3 65.Bb4 Rb3 66.Be1 Ke5 67.Ke2 Rb2+ 68.Kd1 Rb1+ 69.Ke2 Rb2+ 70.Kd1 Rb1+ 71.Ke2 Rb2+ 72.Kd1 Rb1+ ½-½

Hernandez (UTB),H - Meier (Webs-A),G [D30]
2013 Pan Am Intercollegiate (6), 30.12.2013
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 h6 6.Bh4 0-0 7.Be2 b6 8.0-0 Nbd7 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.Bxe7 Qxe7 11.Bb5 Bb7 12.Qa4 Rfd8 13.Bc6 Bxc6 14.Qxc6 Nb4 15.Qa4 Nd5 16.Nc3 Nxc3 17.bxc3 c5 18.e4 Nf6 19.Rfe1 cxd4 20.cxd4 Rac8 21.Qa6 Rc2 22.h3 Rdc8 23.Rad1 R8c4 24.Ne5 Rc7 25.d5 exd5 26.exd5 Qc5 27.Nd3 Qxd5 28.Nb4 Qc4 29.Qxc4 R2xc4 30.Rd8+ Kh7 31.Nd5 Nxd5 32.Rxd5 Rc1 33.Rdd1 Rxd1 34.Rxd1 Kg6 35.Rd3 Kf6 36.g4 Ke6 37.Kg2 Rd7 38.Rc3 Rd4 39.Kf3 Ra4 40.a3 g6 41.Kg3 b5 42.f3 Kd5 43.h4 a5 44.Rc7 Rxa3 45.Rxf7 b4 46.Rb7 b3 0-1

So (Webs-A),W - Cornejo (UTB),M [E32]
2013 Pan Am Intercollegiate (6), 30.12.2013
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 d6 7.Nf3 b6 8.Bg5 Nbd7 9.Nd2 Bb7 10.f3 c5 11.e4 cxd4 12.Qxd4 Qc7 13.Be2 d5 14.exd5 exd5 15.0-0 Rfe8 16.Rfe1 Qe5 17.Qxe5 Rxe5 18.Bf4 Ree8 19.Bf1 Nc5 20.b4 Ne6 21.Be5 Red8 22.Rac1 Rac8 23.Kf2 Ne8 24.a4 Nd6 25.cxd5 Rxc1 26.Rxc1 Bxd5 27.Nb1 Bb3 28.a5 bxa5 29.bxa5 f6 30.Bc3 Rc8 31.Na3 Kf7 32.Bd2 Rxc1 33.Bxc1 Nd4 34.Be3 Nc6 35.a6 Ke6 36.g4 g6 37.h4 Kd5 38.Bf4 Bc4 39.Nxc4 Nxc4 40.Bd3 Nb4 41.Be4+ Ke6 42.Kg3 Ne5 43.Bb7 Nd5 44.Bc1 Nc4 45.h5 g5 1-0

Nemcova (UTB),K - Robson (Webs-A),R [B85]
2013 Pan Am Intercollegiate (6), 30.12.2013
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Be2 Nf6 7.0-0 Be7 8.f4 0-0 9.Kh1 Bd7 10.Be3 a6 11.a4 Rc8 12.Nb3 Na5 13.e5 Ne8 14.Nxa5 Qxa5 15.Qd2 Bc6 16.Bd4 dxe5 17.fxe5 Nc7 18.Bd3 Nd5 19.Rf3 f5 20.exf6 Nxf6 21.Bc4 Kh8 22.Bxe6 Rcd8 23.Rd3 Nh5 24.Re1

24...Nf4 25.Bd5 Nxd5 26.Nxd5 Qxd2 27.Rxd2 Rxd5 28.c4 Rd6 0-1

Corrales Jimenez (Webs-B),F - Zherebukh (TTU),Y [B46]
2013 Pan Am Intercollegiate (6), 30.12.2013
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Qd2 Bb4 8.f3 d5 9.a3 Ba5 10.Nb3 Bxc3 11.Qxc3 e5 12.exd5 Nxd5 13.Qd2 Nxe3 14.Qxe3 Bf5 15.Bd3 Bxd3 16.0-0-0 0-0 17.Rxd3 ½-½

Steingrimsson (TTU),H - Bykhovsky (Webs-B),A [B36]
2013 Pan Am Intercollegiate (6), 30.12.2013
1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.e4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Nxd4 7.Qxd4 d6 8.Be3 Bg7 9.f3 0-0 10.Qd2 a5 11.Na4 Nd7 12.Be2 b6 13.0-0 Nc5 14.Nc3 Bb7 15.Rfd1 Qd7 16.Rac1 Rfc8 17.b3 Qe8 18.Bf1 h5 19.Kh1 Kh7 20.Nd5 Bxd5 21.exd5 Bf6 22.g3 Rc7 23.Re1 Qd7 24.h4 Qf5 25.Qd1 Kg7 26.Rc2 Qc8 27.Kh2 Qb7 28.f4 Kg8 29.Bf2 Na6 30.Re3 Kg7 31.f5 Qc8 32.Bh3 Qh8 33.fxg6 fxg6 34.Rce2 Rf8 35.Rf3 Nc5 36.Bd4 Kh7 37.Ref2 Qg7 38.Rf1 Ra7 39.Qe2 Raa8 40.Be6 Bxd4 41.Rf7 Rxf7 42.Rxf7 Rf8 43.Rxg7+ Kxg7 44.Kh3 Rf2 45.Qe1 Rxa2 46.Bf5 Be5 47.Bxg6 Rb2 48.Bxh5 Rxb3 49.Kg4 Rxg3+ 50.Kf5 a4 51.Bg4 a3 52.Qd2 Bf6 53.h5 Nb3 54.h6+ Kh8 55.Qf2 Nd4+ 56.Kf4 Rc3 57.Bh5 Rc2 58.Qg1 Ne2+ 59.Bxe2 Rxe2 60.Qg6

60...a2 61.Qe8+ Kh7 62.Qf7+ Kxh6 63.Qf8+ Bg7 64.Qc8 Rh2 65.Qg4 Rh5 66.Qe6+ Bf6 67.Qg8 a1Q 68.Qf8+ Bg7 0-1

Hoyos (Webs-B),M - Moradiabadi (TTU),E [A05]
2013 Pan Am Intercollegiate (6), 30.12.2013
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 b6 3.Bg2 Bb7 4.0-0 e6 5.c4 Be7 6.Nc3 0-0 7.d3 d5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Bd2 c5 10.a3 Nd7 11.b4 Rc8 12.Qb3 Nxc3 13.Bxc3 Bd5 14.Qb2 Bf6 15.Rfc1 c4 16.e4 Bxc3 17.Rxc3 Bb7 18.Rxc4 Rxc4 19.dxc4 Bxe4 20.Qd4 Nf6 21.Rd1 Qa8 22.Ne1 Bxg2 23.Nxg2 Rc8 24.Ne3 h6 25.Qf4 Qc6 26.Rd6 Qa4 27.Rd3 Qc6 28.Qd4 Qc7 29.Qa1 Nd7 30.f4 Nf6 31.Qf1 h5 32.Qf3 a5 33.f5 e5 34.Rd1 axb4 35.axb4 Qe7 36.b5 Qa3 37.Qe2 Qb3 38.Qd3 Qb2 39.Qd2 Qa3 40.Qe2 Qb3 41.Qd3 Qa2 42.Qd2 Qa4 43.Qe2 Qb4 44.Kh1 Qb3 45.Rd3 Qb4 46.Rd1 Qa4 47.Qb2 Qa8+ 48.Qg2 Qa3 49.Qe2 Re8 50.Nd5 Qc5 51.Kg2 e4 52.Nxf6+ gxf6 53.Rd5 Qc7 54.Rd4 Qe5 55.Qe3 Qxf5 56.Rd5 Re5 57.Rd4 Kg7 58.Rd6 Re6 59.Rd5 Qg6 60.c5 bxc5 61.Rxc5 Qg4 62.Rc6 Re5 63.b6 Rb5 64.Rc2 h4 65.h3 Qe6 66.Re2

66...Rb3 67.Qxe4 Rxg3+ 68.Kf1 Qxh3+ 69.Ke1 Rg1+ 70.Kd2 Qd7+ 71.Kc2 Qd1+ 72.Kc3 Qa1+ 73.Kc4 Qa6+ 74.Kc5 Rg5+ 75.Kc6 Qc8+ 76.Kd6 Qc5+ 77.Kd7 Rd5+ 0-1

Gorovets (TTU),A - Boros (Webs-B),D [D11]
2013 Pan Am Intercollegiate (6), 30.12.2013
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Qb3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Qd1 ½-½

Huschenbeth (UMBC),N - Margvelashvili (UTD),G [B12]
2013 Pan Am Intercollegiate (6), 30.12.2013
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 Nd7 6.0-0 Bg6 7.Nbd2 Nh6 8.Nb3 Nf5 9.Bd2 Be7 10.g4 Nh6 11.h3 0-0 12.c3 Kh8 13.Ne1 Ng8 14.Nd3 f6 15.f4 fxe5 16.Nxe5 Nxe5 17.dxe5 Qb6+ 18.Kh2 a5 19.a4 Be4 20.Nd4 c5 21.Nb5 c4 22.Qe1 Bc5 23.Bxc4 Ne7 24.b4 axb4 25.cxb4 dxc4 26.Qxe4 Rad8 27.Rad1 Rxd2+ 28.Rxd2 Bxb4 29.Rd4 Bc5 30.Rxc4 Nd5 31.Rfc1 Be7 32.Qd4 1-0

Professor and director of the chess program Alan Sherman (standing, center) with the team that represented UMBC at the 2013 Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship in Lubbock, Texas. UMBC is one of the top four qualifying schools from the PanAm qualified to go on to compete in the Final Four of college chess, held in the Spring. The winner is considered national champion and takes home the President’s Cup. Team coach GM Sam Palatnik is standing of Prof. Sherman's left.
Photo courtesy of University of Maryland - Baltimore County

Sadorra (UTD),J - Kore (UMBC),A [A41]
2013 Pan Am Intercollegiate (6), 30.12.2013
1.Nf3 d6 2.d4 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.e4 Bg4 5.Be2 Nc6 6.Be3 e5 7.d5 Bxf3 8.Bxf3 Nd4 9.Bxd4 exd4 10.Nd2 Ne7 11.0-0 0-0 12.Be2 c6 13.Bd3 Nc8 14.f4 Nb6 15.b4 Nd7 16.Nb3 Re8 17.Rc1 Rc8 18.dxc6 Rxc6 19.c5 dxc5 20.bxc5 Qe7 21.e5 Rd8 22.Bb5 Rc7 23.Bxd7 Qxd7 24.Rc4 Bf8 25.Kh1 d3 26.Rf3 Qf5 27.Qd2 Rcd7 28.h3 Rd5 29.Rf2 Qe6 30.Re4 Bxc5 31.f5 Qe8 32.Nxc5 Rxc5 33.e6 Rc2 34.Qh6 Rxf2 35.Rh4 d2

36.Qxh7+ Kf8 37.Qh6+ Ke7 38.Qg5+ Kd6 39.Qg3+ Ke7 40.Qg5+ Kd6 41.Qg3+ Kd5 42.Qd3+ Ke5 43.Re4+ Kxf5 44.g4+ Kf6 45.Qc3+ Ke7 46.Qc5+ Rd6 47.Qc7+ Kf6 48.Qc3+ Kg5 49.Qe3+ Kf6 50.Qc3+ Ke7 51.Qc7+ Kf8 52.Qxd6+ Kg8 53.Kg1 Rf6 54.Qxd2 Rxe6 55.Rd4 Re2 56.Qd3

56...Qe5 57.Rf4 Rxa2 58.Rf2 Rxf2 59.Kxf2 Qc5+ 60.Kg3 Qe5+ 61.Kh4 Kg7 62.Qd7 Qe1+ 63.Kg5 Qe3+ 64.Kh4 Qf2+ 65.Kg5 Qf6# 0-1

Bregadze (UMBC),L - Yotov (UTD),V [A11]
2013 Pan Am Intercollegiate (6), 30.12.2013
1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 c6 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.d4 e6 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 c5 9.0-0 Bb7 10.Qe2 Nbd7 11.Rd1 Qb8 12.a3 Bd6 13.dxc5 Bxf3 14.Qxf3 Nxc5 15.Bc2 Bxh2+ 16.Kh1 Be5 17.Qc6+ Ncd7 18.Ne4 0-0 19.Rxd7 Nxd7 20.Qxd7 Rd8 21.Qe7 Ra7 22.Qh4 Rc7 23.Nc3 g6 24.e4 a5 25.Bg5 Rdc8 26.Bd3 b4 27.axb4 Qxb4 28.Rb1 Rd7 29.f4 Bg7 30.Qh3 h6 31.Nd5 Rxd5 32.exd5 hxg5 33.dxe6 f5 34.fxg5 Qf4 35.Bf1 Rc1 36.Rxc1 Qxc1 37.Qd3 Qxg5 38.g3 Be5 39.Kg2 f4 ½-½

Holt (UTD),C - Paikidze (UMBC),N [D38]
2013 Pan Am Intercollegiate (6), 30.12.2013
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 h6 6.Qa4+ Nc6 7.Bxf6 Qxf6 8.e3 0-0 9.Be2 dxc4 10.0-0 a6 11.Bxc4 Bd6 12.Rfd1 Rb8 13.Qc2 b5 14.Be2 Bb7 15.a3 e5 16.d5 Ne7 17.Rac1 Qg6 18.Bd3 f5 19.e4 f4 20.a4 b4 21.Nb1 Qf6 22.Nbd2 g5 23.Nb3 g4 24.Nfd2 g3 25.Nc5 gxh2+ 26.Kh1 Bc8 27.Nxa6 Rb6 28.Nxc7 f3 29.Nxf3 Bg4 30.Qe2 Ng6 31.Qe3 Bxc7 32.Rxc7 Nf4 33.Bf1 Kh8 34.Rdc1 Bxf3 35.Qxf3 Qg5 36.Qg3 Qxg3 37.fxg3 Nh5 38.Kxh2 Nf6 39.Rc8 Rxc8 40.Rxc8+ Kg7 41.a5 Rd6 42.a6 Rd7 43.Bb5 Ng4+ 44.Kg1 Rf7 45.d6 Rf2 46.Bd7 1-0

Webster University A-team, pictured above, finished with a perfect 6-0 match score and a combined record of 19 wins, 0 losses and 5 draws in their collective games. Pictured, l. to r., are Ray Robson, Le Quang Liem, Wesley So, Georg Meier, Susan Polgar (coach) and P.J. Truong (alternate).
Photo courtesy of Susan Polgar Daily News & Information