The Brownsville Student Union organized a send-off in honor of the UTRGV Chess Team members who competed in the Final Four of College Chess last weekend in St. Louis.
Around 40 people attended last Tuesday’s event in the Student Union’s La Sala on the Brownsville campus, including Janna Arney, executive vice president and provost; Maggie Hinojosa, senior vice president for Strategic Enrollment and Student Affairs; Rebecca Gadson, dean of students; Patrick Gonzales, vice president for University Marketing and Communications; and Ala Qubbaj, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science.
The chess team then traveled last Friday to St. Louis to compete in the President’s Cup where it faced Webster University, Saint Louis University and the University of Missouri for the championship.
UTRGV held the national champions title from 2019-2021, and Chess Coach Bartek Macieja is hoping for a fourth title.
“All teams that will be competing against us, they are at least at the same level as we are,” Macieja said. “Probably one team is considered to be stronger. So, mathematically, we probably have 25% of chances [to win]. I believe in our team and I believe we can achieve what we [have] achieved already three times.”
Competing this year will be Grandmasters Kamil Dragun and Viktor Gazik, and International Masters Juraj Druska, Irakli Beradze, Gleb Dudin and Dante Beukes.
After having an off year in 2021 after not qualifying for the competition, also known as the President’s Cup, the team placed third in the Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Championship on Jan. 5 in Seattle.
UTRGV qualified to compete for the President’s Cup after Team A placed third and Team B placed fourth in the Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Championships. Both Team A and B cannot compete against each other, which opened the spot for the fifth-place team, St. Louis University, to take the fourth and final spot, according to a UTRGV news release.
Beradze, a postbaccalaureate computer science student, said support from UTRGV professors, officials and authorities, has made competing for the chess team and managing school work less challenging.
“Last year was quite tough because of the pandemic,” Beradze said. “[The] UTRGV Chess Team was not represented as its full team because some of our team members had COVID. … We couldn’t qualify for the last Pan-American Championship because of that. This year, our team is full. We have the strongest team now. All of our strongest team members are representing the university.”
Stephen Hirst, associate vice president for Strategic Enrollment and Student Affairs, said the university has supported the chess team by increasing its budget by 44% in the last several years, using that money for scholarships and the formation of a women’s chess team.
“We should remember that this is yet another opportunity to show the world that our university, and the Rio Grande Valley, is home to champions,” Hirst said. “…What we have here is not just a team, but a dynasty.”
Dragun, a business administration graduate student and team leader, said the team has prepared to the best of its abilities but other competitors are strong and winning will not be easy.
“The whole [UTRGV] team is new,” Dragun said. “On the paper, other teams are stronger than we are, but the same case was exactly in the past. It might be taken as a good sign for us.”
Although several members say the team is not favored to win, the chess coach said he and the UTRGV community would like to see the team win its fourth national championship, and receive the national title to show how good the university is.
“We are preparing,” Macieja said. “We are very motivated, very focused on the event. I can see the desire to win. … Preparation, focus, motivation, these are the factors that may play a key role. And my goal [is] not only to prepare them on the chess board, but also outside of the chess board.”
The team was scheduled to compete on Saturday and Sunday. Results were not available at press time.
