SPICE/Knight Raiders chess teams see many accomplishments

SPICE/Knight Raiders chess teams see many accomplishments
Posted: August 15, 2010 - 12:13am

• August 2010
Knight Raiders A team member Gergely Antal (senior economics major) finished second at the College Tournament of Champions, the most prestigious national collegiate individual chess championship in the U.S. He won the same event in 2009.

•July 2010
Knight Raiders women’s team member Rebecca Lelko (freshman math major) won the seventh annual Susan Polgar Girl’s Invitational Rapid Championship, the most prestigious all-girls national event.

•July 2010
SPICE and Texas Tech hosted the annual Susan Polgar Girls Invitational for the third straight year. This is the most prestigious all-girls national chess event.

•July 2010
Susan Polgar was named the Ambassador for Norway’s bid for the 41st Chess Olympiad to be held in 2014.

•June 2010
Knight Raiders A team member Davorin Kuljasevic (graduate finance student) became the first Knight Raider in school history to earn the Grandmaster title, the highest title in chess. There are only about 1,000 Grandmasters worldwide.

•June 2010
Knight Raiders A team member Gabor Papp (senior finance major) earned his second Grandmaster norm. He needs one more norm to earn the Grandmaster title, the highest title in chess.

•May 2010
Knight Raiders A team member Davorin Kuljasevic (graduate finance student) won the Croatia Cup as part of the Mladost Zagreb team. This is the most prestigious team championship in Croatia.

•April 2010
The 13 active members of the A team, B team and women’s team gained nearly 1,100 rating points in just this short time! That is an average improvement of nearly 90 rating points per player. This success is a direct result of the world-class chess training program of SPICE at Texas Tech.

•April 2010
The Knight Raiders A team qualified for the Final Four in its first year. In spite of being the lowest seed by quite a big margin, the team finished third in the country. No school has ever made the Final Four in its first attempt before. Susan Polgar became the first-ever female head coach in collegiate chess to lead a men’s team to the Final Four.

•March 2010
SPICE and Texas Tech hosted the second annual SPICE Spring Invitational, the second-highest rated International Invitational Chess Tournament in the U.S., in 2010, only behind the SPICE Cup. Knight Raider Gergely Antal finished in a tie for second. Thirteen-year-old Darwin Yang from Plano earned his first International Master norm in this event. This event was covered by many local TV stations and newspapers, and the news reached out to more than 160 countries worldwide.

•March 2010
Members of the Knight Raiders chess teams captured the top five places at the annual Lubbock Open Championship, the most important annual local chess tournament in Lubbock. Gergely Antal finished first, Chase Watters and Rebecca Lelko tied for second and third, while Joshua Osbourn and Brian Cassidy tied for fourth.

•February 2010
SPICE was featured as a part of the Texas Tech 2010–20 Strategic Plan.

•January 2010
Knight Raider Brian Cassidy tied for first at the fourth “Get Smart! Play Chess!” Winter Chess Championship in Lubbock.

•December 2009
The Knight Raiders A team tied for second place in Division I competition at the 2009 Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship held Dec. 27-30 on South Padre Island, and therefore qualified for the College Final Four. This is the most prestigious national collegiate team chess event in the U.S. It is the first time that Texas Tech has sent an A team.

Davorin Kuljasevic and Gergely Antal won the national individual honors as top performers on board 1 and 3, respectively. Gabor Papp finished second for top performers on board 2.

The Knight Raiders B team won first place in Division IV competition at the same Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship.

•November 2009
The Knight Raiders A Team (Gergely Antal, Davorin Kuljasevic, Gabor Papp and Chase Watters) captured the Texas State Collegiate Chess Championship team title in Houston. This is the first time Texas Tech has sent an A team to the state championship.

The Knight Raiders A Team members Gergely Antal and Davorin Kuljasevic captured first and second place, respectively, at the Texas Tech State Collegiate Chess Championship individual competition in Houston.

The Knight Raiders B Team (Zach Haskin, Josh Osbourn, Rebecca Lelko, Brett James, and Ananya Roy) captured third place at the same Texas State Collegiate Chess Championship.

•October 2009
SPICE and Texas Tech hosted the prestigious 3rd annual SPICE Cup, the highest-rated international invitational tournament in U.S. history. The event was held at the Student Union Building. The news of the event reached more than 160 countries worldwide.

The Knight Raiders and SPICE broke a world record for an officially rated chess tournament at the lowest point on earth, at the bottom of Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. Knight Raiders A Team members Gergely Antal and Gabor Papp tied for first and second place.

•September 2009
Knight Raiders A Team member Gergely Antal captured the prestigious 75th Annual Southwest Open title in Fort Worth with 245 players. Teammate Davorin Kuljasevic finished second in the same event.

•August 2009
Knight Raiders A Team member Gergely Antal captured the 2009 College Tournament of Champions in Indianapolis, the most prestigious national collegiate individual chess championship in the U.S.

Source: http://lubbockonline.com