President's Cup (chess)

The President's Cup (informally known as the Final Four of College Chess) determines the U.S. college team chess champion. Hosted in part by the United States Chess Federation (USCF), the President's Cup is an annual invitational team championship, open to the top four U.S. schools from the most recent Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship (Pan-Am). It is run as a fixed-roster team round-robin tournament, scored by individual (not team) points. The President's Cup usually takes place in early Spring.

UMBC vs. NYU at 2008 Final Four at UMBC

Presidents Freeman Hrabowski of UMBC and David Daniel of UTD hope to gain possession of the President's Cup at the 2008 Final Four.

History

The President's Cup has taken place each year in various locations since it was founded in 2001 by Dr. Tim Redman with the financial support of University of Texas at Dallas president Dr. Franklyn Jenifer. Since 2011, the President's Cup has been sponsored in part by Booz Allen Hamilton. The event in 2020 was to be held in April but was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Final Four teams that qualified that year were Texas Teach, University of Texas at Dallas, Webster University, and Saint Louis University.

Rules

The governing body for the President's Cup is the College Chess Committee (CCC) of the USCF. The event is rated by the USCF and World Chess Federation (FIDE) and played under USCF rules. The CCC has established eligibility requirements for college chess, and these same requirements apply to the Pan-Am and the President's Cup. Each team comprises four players and up to two alternates from the same school campus. Unlike the Pan-Am, ties for first place are broken (the title is not shared).

Significance

The winner of the President's Cup is considered the top chess team among U.S. post-secondary schools (colleges, universities, community colleges). By contrast, the Pan-Am determines the top post-secondary school in North American, Central America, South America, or the Caribbean. The winning school takes possession of the perpetual trophy, created in 2008 using funds from Sun Trust Bank, for one year.

Winners and venues

Year	Location	1st Place	2nd Place	3rd Place	4th Place	Host	Organizer
2001	Dallas, TX	University of Texas at Dallas (UTD)	University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)	University of California, Berkeley	Stanford University	UTD	Redman
2002	Miami, FL	UTD	UMBC	Stanford	Harvard University	Chess Hall of Fame	Lawrence
2003	Miami, FL	UMBC	UTD	Miami Dade College	University of Chicago	Chess Hall of Fame	Lawrence
2004	Lindsborg, KS	UMBC	UTD	Miami Dade	MIT	Karpov School of Chess	Korenman
2005	Lindsborg, KS	UMBC	UTD	Miami Dade	Stanford	Karpov School of Chess	Korenman
2006	Dallas, TX	UMBC	UTD	Miami Dade	Duke	UTD	Stallings
2007	Dallas, TX	UTD	UMBC	Miami Dade	Duke	UTD	Stallings
2008	Baltimore, MD	UTD	UMBC	Miami Dade	New York University (NYU)	UMBC	Sherman
2009	Dallas, TX	UMBC	UTD	University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB)	Stanford	UTD	Stallings
2010	Brownsville, TX	UMBC	UTB	Texas Tech University	UTD	Brownsville	Harwood
2011	Herndon, VA	Texas Tech	UTD	UTB	UMBC	Booz Allen Hamilton	Herman, Hoffpauir
2012	Herndon, VA	Texas Tech	UMBC-UTD (tie)	UMBC-UTD (tie)	NYU	Booz Allen Hamilton	Herman, Hoffpauir
2013	Rockville, MD	Webster University	UTD	UMBC	University of Illinois	Booz Allen Hamilton	Herman, Hoffpauir
2014	New York, NY	Webster University	UMBC	Texas Tech	University of Illinois	New York Athletic Club	Booz Allen, Herman, Sifer, Hoffpauir
2015	New York, NY	Webster University	UTD	Texas Tech	UMBC	New York Athletic Club	Booz Allen, Herman, Hoffpauir
2016	New York, NY	Webster University	University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV)	Texas Tech	Columbia University	Marshall Chess Club	Two Sigma, Booz Allen, Herman, Hoffpauir
2017	New York, NY	Webster University	Texas Tech	St. Louis University	UTD	Marshall Chess Club	Two Sigma, Booz Allen, Herman, Garcia
2018	New York, NY	UTRGV	Webster University	Texas Tech	St. Louis University	Marshall Chess Club	Two Sigma, Booz Allen, Herman, Garcia
2019	New York, NY	UTRGV	Webster University	UTD	Harvard University	Marshall Chess Club	Two Sigma, Booz Allen, Herman, Garcia

Bibliography

Annual Reports of the USCF College Chess Committee
Articles about the President's Cup published in Chess Life magazine
"Rating Reports from the President's Cup". US Chess Federation.
Program booklets from the President's Cup for some years.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.