Jorge Infante 
BROWNSVILLE– Last Tuesday, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley faculty, staff, and students joined in the celebration to send off UTRGV’s nationally renowned chess team to what can be their fourth national title at the President’s Cup.
At the Student Union in the Brownsville UTRGV campus, team A was greeted with cheers and applause as they entered the building. Steven Hirst, associate vice president of student affairs introduced the team and their success to the crowd in attendance. “Whether you know it or not, the best team in the country over the last five years has been right here at home, at UTRGV. Having won three of the past four national championships UTRGV has consistently been one of the best universities in the country, and we’re ready to capture the title yet again”, he said.
Team A is comprised of Kamil Dragun Grandmaster, Viktor Gazik Grandmaster, Juraj Druska International Master, Irakli Beradze International Master, Dante Beukes International Master, and Gleb Dudin International Master. Dudin, who arrived from Europe in January, is the newest member of team A. However, this will not discourage him this weekend at the tournament. “It feels great, to play for UTRGV and I think we have great chances. So, I will try my best,” he said. Dudin explained how he appreciates UTRGV’s warm welcome to the university and the country. “Here, all the people on our team are extremely friendly. So right after I came, they helped me to get used to this place, so now I feel like it’s my second home. When I came, it was my first time in the U.S so it’s completely new emotions, new experience, but now I’m feeling like I was here for a year or more,” he said.
This year, the President’s cup was held in St Louis Missouri. Here is where team A competed against St Louis University, the University of Missouri, and Webster University the host of the event. UTRGV Chess team coach Bartek Macieja said this will add a bigger challenge to the team. “It will be tough competition because one of our main rivals, Webster University is the one organizing it so we will be playing on their campus,” he said. Despite Webster University having home-field advantage, Macieja and team A is looking forward to the tournament. “We look forward to a very interesting, very entertaining fight,” Macieja said.
Juraj Druska, who has previously been part of the UTRGV chess team says the team can’t wait to show their strength this weekend at the tournament. When asked how they prepared for the tournament, he had one answer. “We have been practicing our whole lives, so it’s our daily routine to train in chess. I think we’ve prepped a bit more for this tournament than usual,” he said.
As of the airing of UTRGV tv’s April third broadcast, results are available at utrgvtv.com
