By Stephen Fontenot and Julio Sadorra
For the second straight year, the University of Texas at Dallas will host the most exclusive event in college chess. The 2025 President's Cup will be held April 5-6 on the UT Dallas campus.
"It is exciting for us to be able to host this prestigious college chess event two years in a row," UTD chess program director and head coach Julio Catalino Sadorra BS'13 said. "This bid award is an endorsement from US Chess and its College Chess Committee of UT Dallas and our chess culture, and the way we organize collegiate tournaments. We plan to make the matches more visible this year, so I hope more students, visitors, chess fans online will follow them."
Year by year, the college chess scene in the US is becoming stronger, with more internationally titled players combining the pursuits of chess and academics. The qualifying event for this tournament, the Pan-American Intercollegiate Chess Championships, saw a record-breaking participation of 30 GMs! It is no surprise that most of the participants at this pinnacle event are GMs, many of whom have even played at Olympiads and World Cups.
History of the President's Cup
The President’s Cup was first contested in 2001 and was originated by Dr. Tim Redman, a former chess program director and professor of literary studies at the University of Texas at Dallas. Its purpose was to determine the best team from the top four finishers at the widely attended Pan-American Intercollegiate Chess Team Championship, which has frequently ended with three or four teams tying for first place. Additionally, Redman and others hoped that such a chess event would get more exposure and attention if it coincided with the final weekend of the NCAA men's college basketball tournament - a huge event in the United States.
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Webster University share honors for the most titles with six each. UT Dallas has the greatest number of appearances with 20.
Event details
Schedule
Playing venue
McDermott Library Suite
Playing hall where the final four teams will duke it out!
Visitor VIP area where visitors can follow the games on a projector screen and enjoy refreshments.
Format
The participants
University of Texas at Dallas
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Webster University
Saint Louis University
To learn more about these universities and players please visit https://solar.utdallas.edu/presidents-cup/
Other Links
Stephen Fontenot
Stephen Fontenot is a senior communications manager at the University of Texas at Dallas, where he covers the chess team as well as the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences. His previous roles include editing and writing sports stories for the San Antonio Express-News and Waco Tribune-Herald, with special attention to soccer and college basketball.
Julio Sadorra
Julio Sadorra is the Director and Head Coach of the chess program at University of Texas at Dallas. He is a Grandmaster who represents Philippines at Chess Olympiads, and a FIDE Trainer. He is passionate about coaching and organizing events for the UT Dallas chess community. Outside of chess, he organizes and plays basketball, soccer and volleyball with his team members.
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