Chess “Final 4” Comes to UMBC
As the UMBC community continues to honor the men’s basketball team’s historic first appearance in the NCAA Division I Tournament, the campus is positioned to host the 2008 President’s Cup, known as the “Final Four of College Chess,” on April 5-6.
Admission is free and spectators are invited to attend this United States Chess Federation (USCF) National event, which determines the 2008 National Collegiate Chess Team Champion. All matches will be held in the UMBC Game Room (2nd floor of The Commons).
To get the campus community excited about hosting the Final Four, UMBC has organized “Chess Week,” a week’s worth of events, activities and giveaways leading up to the 2008 President’s Cup. Events include a pep rally, a giant chess match between some of UMBC’s finest chess team members and much more.
The President’s Cup features the top four American college chess teams from the prestigious 2007 Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship. This year’s finalists are “Pan Am” champion University of Texas-Dallas (UTD), UMBC, New York University (NYU) and Miami-Dade College (MDC).
Rounds 1 and 2 will be held 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., respectively, on April 5. Round 3 is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 6, with a tiebreaker match (if necessary) at 2:30 p.m.
UMBC’s legacy as a chess power includes four Final Four victories (2003-2006) and seven Pan-Am titles (1996, 1998-2002 and 2005). UTD is a three-time Final Four champion and a six-time Pan-Am winner.
UMBC and UTD are the only Final Four winners since the event’s 2001 inception. Alan T. Sherman, director of the UMBC chess program and organizer of the 2008 Final Four, considers NYU and MDC to be respectable challengers for this year’s championship.
“We eagerly await the opportunity to avenge our narrow second-place finish to UTD at the Pan-Am,” Sherman says.
UMBC features four International Grandmasters: Sergey “The Stealth” Erenburg (Board 1, Israel), Timur Gareev (Board 2, Uzbekistan), Pawel “The Polish Magician” Blehm (Board 3, Poland) and Katerina “The Kiev Killer” Rohonyan (Board 4, Ukraine). Rohonyan, a senior computer science major, will remain at UMBC to study for her PhD.
The President’s Cup uses a Team Round Robin format scored by total individual points. Each team has four players and up to two alternates. Standard USCF rules apply.
Throughout each round, international Grandmaster Sam Palatnik will provide free move-by-move commentary in Commons Room 329. All games will be broadcast move-by-move at www.monroi.com.
(3/31/2008)
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