UMBC Chess Team Advances to the Final Four Following the “World Series of Chess”

The UMBC chess team came in second place on December 30 in the Pan-Am Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship, advancing to the 2012 President’s Cup, known as the “Final Four” of chess. The UMBC chess team headed into the 2011 Pan-Am Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship with a record nine titles to its name. The competition known informally as the Pan-Am, was held December 27 to 30 in Fort Worth, Texas. Since the tournament began in 1946, dozens of universities throughout the Americas have participated. The Retrievers won their first Pan-Am title in 1996, and then embarked on a five-year title streak …