Thu, 26 Dec 2019 16:05:17 -0500
news, students

UMBC fields two teams in 2019 Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship

The UMBC Chess program has two four-player teams competing in the 2019 Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship this weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina. The four day tournament starts this Friday evening at 6:30 and finishes with a final round on Monday morning. The Pan-Am collegiate chess team competition has been held since 1946 and UMBC has won ten times since 1996, tying with the University of Texas Dallas for the most number of wins.

The tentative composition of the two teams in the tournament is:

Team A: GM Tanguy Ringoir; WIM Mai Narva; IM Rohan Ahuja; IM Marek Matyas; and WIM Ewa Harazinska (alternate).

Team B: Maor Leker; Douglas M Malcolm; Danielle Sharp; and Kabindra B Shahi.

The team is coached by Igor Epshteyn. CSEE Professor Alan Sherman is the founder and the director of the UMBC Chess program.

The top four USA schools from this six-round team Swiss championship will advance to the Final Four in April. Initially, UMBC was ranked 8th top school and 16th top team among 63 teams (some schools have multiple strong teams). The Pan-Am Intercollegiate is open to any college or university in North, Central, or South America.

You can follow UMBC’s progress at the Pan-AM website and keep track of the games, pairings, and standings at the 2019 Pan Am web site.