Chess Team Puts Together Stellar Showing on World Stage

The University of Texas at Dallas chess team matched up against the best collegiate squads in the world, ultimately finishing fourth in the 16-team field at the inaugural FIDE World University Team Chess Championships held Aug. 3-9 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The Comets cruised through pool play undefeated, beating the University of Cambridge, National Technical University of Athens and Almaty Management University. UT Dallas then eliminated Gunadarma University of Indonesia in the quarterfinals, propelled by a come-from-behind victory by computer science junior and Grandmaster (GM) Yair Parkhov.

“Traveling to this prestigious event and representing our school against some of the strongest university teams in the world was a special experience for all of us,” UT Dallas coach and GM Mikhail Antipov said. “The competitive lessons and the fight the players showed will set us up well for the upcoming season. Qualifying for the President’s Cup is a must for us this year, and this experience will only make us stronger as a team as we work toward that goal.”

In the semifinals, the Comets lost to the other remaining U.S. team, Saint Louis University. This set up a showdown for third place between UT Dallas and Kazakh National University of Sports (KNUS).

In the competition’s format, each round has the two teams play twice across four boards. In the opener against KNUS, UT Dallas jumped in front, winning 2½-1½. KNUS pulled even with its own 2½-1½ victory and forced a tiebreaker — another team match, but this time using a blitz format. When the blitz match finished 2-2, the competition moved to a sudden-death single board of blitz chess, which KNUS won.

“While we fell short of our goal of a podium finish, it was a great privilege for our team to travel to Kazakhstan for the first time, compete in a highly organized international tournament and finish among the top four teams,” UT Dallas chess program director and GM Julio Catalino Sadorra BS’13 said. “I know we are capable of performing even better, and I hope our players use this experience as motivation to work harder and come back even better prepared for our next big opportunity.”

An event running a full week can be grueling even for experienced players. Parkhov struggled with an illness toward the end of the tournament but knew he had to continue to play.

“It was hard being sick on the last day, but my teammates’ energy kept me going,” he said. “We learned a lot from this tournament, and this will only make us a stronger team for the future.”

In addition to Parkhov, computer science junior and GM Aditya Samant; finance senior and GM Koustav Chatterjee; healthcare leadership and management master’s student and Woman Grandmaster Maili-Jade Ouellet; and finance junior and Woman International Master Munkhzul Davaakhuu represented UT Dallas at the tournament.

UT Dallas’ chess players will open fall semester play competing as individuals at the Southern California Open over Labor Day weekend.