Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship

The Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship ("World Series of College Chess") is the foremost intercollegiate team chess championship in the Americas. Organized by the United States Chess Federation, the Pan-Am Intercollegiate is open to any team comprising four players and up to two alternates from the same post-secondary school (university, college, community college) in North America, Central America, South America, or the Caribbean. The Pan-Am began as such in 1946 (there had been earlier versions open to U.S. schools only), and is held annually, usually December 27–30. It has been held in the United States for virtually all of its history; however, it was hosted in Canada four times (1969, 1971, 1984, 1999). The current format is a six-round fixed-roster team Swiss-system tournament scored by team points. Sometimes the Pan-Am Intercollegiate is held as part of a larger event called the Pan-American Chess Championships comprising the Pan-Am Intercollegiate, Pan-Am Scholastic Team Championship, and Pan-Am Open (for any individual).

Significance and related events

The winning team is considered to be the top college or university team in Pan-America. In the event of a tie, the title is shared among the top scoring teams.

The top four USA schools from the Pan-Am are invited to the President's Cup ("The Final Four of College Chess"), typically held in early April. The winner of the President's Cup is considered to be the US College Chess Team Champion. Started in 2001, the President's Cup is an invitational team round-robin tournament scored by individual points, in which all ties are broken.

The International University Sports Federation (IUSF) holds an annual World University Chess Championship, conducted as an individual Swiss System with separate sections for men and women.It began in 2000.

The Internet College Chess League (ICCL) is a team Swiss tournament held over the Internet in the spring. It began in 1999.

Rules

The governing body for the Pan-Am is the College Chess Committee (CCC) of the United States Chess Federation (USCF). The CCC ratified a set of guidelines for the Pan-Am in 1992, which have been amended by various resolutions of the CCC. College chess does not fall under the authority of the National College Athletic Association (NCAA). The Pan-Am is conducted under USCF rules and is rated both by USCF and FIDE.

The CCC adopted stricter eligibility requirements effective January 2004. Among other conditions, hese rules require each player to be enrolled at least half-time in a degree-seeking program, have a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of at least 2.0 (on a four-point score), play for at most six years, and for internationally titled players only be under 26 years old as of September 1 of the year of competition. Previously, there were no age restrictions, and players were required only to be making progress in a degree-seeking program. Subsequently, the age limit for titled players was relaxed to under 30 years old for graduate students. In 2009, the CCC further relaxed the age limits for titled players by allowing them to play at any age provided they satisfied the following stricter academic requirements: are full-time students in a degree-seeking program, have a GPA of at least 3.0, and satisfy these conditions for at least one semester.

Age limits have been the most contentious rules issue. The current requirements, which apply only to titled players, reflect a compromise. Some feel that it is improper and illegal to discriminate on the basis of age, and that eligibility should be defined solely in terms of academic considerations. Others feel that college competitions should be restricted to traditional college-age students, taking issue with a few of the players who happened to be over thirty.

For many years prior to 1996, high school teams were allowed to compete in the Pan-Am Intercollegiate, though few did.

History

Started in 1946, the Pan-Am has been held under various names and formats. For some years in the period 1945-1974 there was an individual college championship. Following Bobby Fischer's victory at the 1972 World Championship, the popularity of the Pan-Am temporarily soared. Beginning in the 1990s, the Pan-Am has been dominated by powerhouse teams from schools offering major chess scholarships, particularly Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), and University of Texas at Dallas (UTD).

Early years

The Pan-Am started in 1946, although there had been a team event for American schools only before World War II. One noteworthy result from this earlier event, from 1931–32, had City College of New York winning, with Reuben Fine on board one and Sidney Norman Bernstein on board two; the team scored 31.5 out of a possible 32 points.

From 1946 to 1964, the Pan-Am Intercollegiate Team Championship was held every even year, with a Pan-Am Intercollegiate Individual Championship held every odd year from 1945 to 1965.

American schools from the northeast and midwest regions dominated both the hosting and winning of the championship. Columbia University won three titles, the University of Chicago won two, and CCNY won two during this period. The first eight tournaments averaged about a dozen teams taking part. From 1962 to 1967, participation doubled to an average of about 25 teams per year.

Annual competition begins

With increased interest, annual team competition began in 1964. The next year also saw the first non-American winner, the University of Toronto. The first non-American school to host was Canada's McGill University at Montreal in 1969, and McGill also won the event that year. From 1968 to 1971, interest doubled again, to nearly 50 teams per year.

From 1965 to 1974, the Pan-Am Individual Championship also took place.

The Fischer boom

With Bobby Fischer mounting a successful run to the World Chess Championship during the years 1970 to 1972, chess interest in the United States boomed to all-time highs. This was reflected in the highest participation levels in the history of the Pan-Am, with an average of nearly 108 teams per year from 1972 to 1978; the top turnout was 123 teams (520 players) in 1975. Future Grandmasters Larry Christiansen and Ron Henley (both recruited with chess scholarships) anchored the 1976 championship team from the University of South Florida, the first southern school to win.

Three straight titles

The University of Toronto was the first school to win three straight outright titles, from 1980 to 1982; this feat was repeated by Harvard University from 1988-90. Rhode Island College, which adopted chess scholarships to attract top players, rolled to a convincing victory in 1985. The 1983 Champion team from Yale University featured 3 future US Chess Champions in Joel Benjamin, Michael Wilder, and Inna Izrailov.

From 1979 to 1986, an average of 57 teams took part. Future US Chess Champion Grandmaster Patrick Wolff led Yale University to victory in 1987. Harvard University enjoyed a very successful streak from 1986 to 1990 with four titles in five years, either won outright or shared.

Prior to 1986 the Pan Ams were organizated by the Intercollegiate League of America (ICLA), which ran the tournaments with vigor. The United States Chess Federation took over the organization after the 1986 Pan-Am in Providence, Rhode Island.

Kamsky plays in Pan-Am but Vivek Rao shines

Chicago 1991 saw a reigning U.S. champion appear in the Pan-Am for the first time, when 17-year-old Soviet emigre Gata Kamsky, one of the world's top players, was top board for Brooklyn College. Kamsky lost a sensational game to Vivek Rao from the winning University of Illinois team. Vivek Rao was not only sensational in the 1991 Pan-Am. He was also sensational in leading Harvard in winning the 1988, 1989 and 1990 Pan Ams.

Chess scholarships and the rise of powerhouse schools

The 1990s saw two important events that influenced college chess: the fall of the Iron Curtain sent a flood of very strong eastern European and former Soviet players to the Americas, and several schools began offering major chess scholarships.

The University of South Florida offered chess scholarships in 1976 but soon abandoned the experiment after winning the 1976 Pan-Am. Subsequently, Rhode Island College offered partial chess scholarships based on ratings, and they eventually won the Pan-Am in 1985. Howard Prince at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) pioneered the effective use of major chess scholarships to build a powerhouse team. Recruiting Russian Grandmasters, BMCC won the Pan-Am in 1993, 1994, and 1997.

Building on BMCC's model, Alan Sherman at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) convinced the administration to offer major chess scholarships to outstanding chess-player scholars. Through chess scholarships, coaching, and determination, UMBC built a chess dynasty that has won (or tied for first place) at the Pan-Am in 1996, 1998–2002, 2005, 2008-2009. Following UMBC's success, Tim Redman at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) built a rival chess dynasty with chess scholarships. UTD won (or tied for first place) at the Pan-Am in 2000-2001, 2003–2004, 2006-2008, 2010-2011.

In 2009, two more Texas schools fielded strong teams: University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB) and Texas Tech University--both the result of offering major chess scholarships. The 2010 Final Four will be the strongest ever between UMBC (average USCF rating 2559), UTD (2574), UTB (2598), and Texas Tech (2429).

Although some have criticized UMBC and UTD for "buying" chess teams with scholarships, Sherman and Redman led the movement for stricter eligibility requirements. Furthermore, UMBC and UTD go beyond CCC rules and require each scholarship recipient to be a full-time student, maintain a GPA of at least 3.0, and contribute to the community services activities of their clubs.

List of Champions and venues

#	Year	Location	Winning School Team	Number of Teams
1	1946	New York, NY	City College of New York	13
2	1948	New York, NY	City College of New York	15
3	1950	New York, NY	Columbia University	16
4	1952	New York, NY	Columbia University	12
5	1954	New York, NY	Fordham University	8
6	1956	Philadelphia, PA	University of Chicago	14
7	1958	Cleveland, OH	University of Chicago	10
8	1960	Princeton, NJ	Columbia University	13
9	1962	Philadelphia, PA	Brooklyn College	28
10	1963	Notre Dame, IN	University of Texas, University of California at Berkeley	28
11	1964	Los Angeles, CA	San Jose State University	21
12	1965	New York, NY	University of Toronto	27
13	1966	State College, PA	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	27
14	1967	Hoboken, NJ	University of California at Berkeley	24
15	1968	Chicago, IL	University of Chicago	49
16	1969	Montreal, QC	McGill University	43
17	1970	Evanston, IL	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	51
18	1971	Toronto, ON	Columbia University	55
19	1972	Columbus, OH	University of Chicago	108
20	1973	Atlanta, GA	University of Toronto, University of Chicago	73
21	1974	Louisville, KY	University of Toronto	89
22	1975	Columbus, OH	University of Nebraska, Harvard University	123
23	1976	New York, NY	University of South Florida	108
24	1977	St. Louis, MO	University of Pennsylvania	67
25	1978	Chicago, IL	Yale University	85
26	1979	Los Angeles, CA	University of Florida	42
27	1980	Atlanta, GA	University of Toronto	52
28	1981	New York, NY	University of Toronto	71
29	1982	Columbus, OH	University of Toronto	62
30	1983	Worcester, MA	Yale University	59
31	1984	Kitchener, ON	Columbia University	59
32	1985	New Brunswick, NJ	Rhode Island College	60
33	1986	Providence, RI	University of Chicago, Harvard University	53
34	1987	Columbus, OH	Yale University	38
35	1988	New Brunswick, NJ	Harvard University	36
36	1989	Salt Lake City, UT	University of California at Berkeley, Harvard University	19
37	1990	Cambridge, MA	Harvard University	30
38	1991	Chicago, IL	University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign	33
39	1992	Detroit, MI	University of Minnesota	33
40	1993	DeLand, FL	Borough of Manhattan Community College	31
41	1994	Providence, RI	Borough of Manhattan Community College	31
42	1995	New York, NY	New York University, Brooklyn College	36
43	1996	Baltimore, MD	University of Maryland, Baltimore County	36
44	1997	Bowling Green, KY	Borough of Manhattan Community College	38
45	1998	Dallas, TX	University of Maryland, Baltimore County	20
46	1999	Toronto, ON	University of Maryland, Baltimore County	31
47	2000	Milwaukee, WI	University of Maryland, Baltimore County, University of Texas at Dallas	21
48	2001	Providence, RI	University of Maryland, Baltimore County, University of Texas at Dallas	29
49	2002	Miami, FL	University of Maryland, Baltimore County - B	30
50	2003	Miami, FL	University of Texas at Dallas	30
51	2004	Wichita, KS	University of Texas at Dallas	23
52	2005	Miami, FL	University of Maryland, Baltimore County	27
53	2006	Washington, DC	University of Texas at Dallas - B, University of Texas at Dallas - A	24
54	2007	Miami, FL	University of Texas at Dallas	28
55	2008	Dallas, TX	University of Maryland, Baltimore County, University of Texas at Dallas - B	29
56	2009	South Padre Island, TX	University of Maryland, Baltimore County	28
57	2010	Milwaukee, WI	University of Texas at Dallas	28
58	2011	Fort Worth, TX	University of Texas at Dallas	28

Records

As of 2009, UMBC holds the records both for most wins and longest winning streak. UMBC has won (or tied for first place) at the Pan-Am nine times, including a five-year streak 1998-2002. UMBC has also won the Final Four a record five times (2003–2006, 2009).

Bibliography

• Edelman, Dan, Pan-American Intercollegiate and High School Team Chess Championships: Official Tournament Rules, Including College Chess Committee Guidelines (January 1993). Official 1993 Version.
• Annual Reports of the USCF College Chess Committee. Available in the Annual Reports of the US Chess Federation.
• Articles about the Pan-Am Intercollegiate published in Chess Life magazine.
• Rating Reports from the Pan-Am Intercollegiate. Available from the US Chess Federation.
• Program booklets from the Pan-Am for some years.

External links

• United States Chess Federation (USCF)
• World Chess Federation (FIDE)
• International University Sports Federation (IUSF)
• College Chess
• College Chess Eligibility Requirements
• Pan-Am Guidelines
• The Story of Chess at UMBC 1990-1997
• Results of 2010 Pan American Championships