College Chess / 2013 UTD Invitational
lthough temperatures dipped below freezing this past November 21-26, players at the University of Texas (UT) at Dallas Grandmaster (GM) Invitational barely noticed.
Their time was spent inside the Embassy Suites playing site and most simply retreated to their hotel rooms after their games (nine rounds over six days, with a time control of Game/90 [30 second increment]). Two weeks after his victory, GM Julio Sadorra definitely
noticed the next Dallas winter storm. A fall graduate with a bachelor’s in business administration with a focus on entrepre- neurship, Sadorra had planned to walk at the December 7th commencement. However, due to severe weather conditions, UT Dallas was forced to close from December 6th through 9th. Once the weather cleared on December 10th, Sadorra participated in an alternate event honoring graduates. Sadorra won the 10-player GM section with 61
⁄2 out of 9 ahead
of his fellow students and invited-GMs Alejandro Ramirez and Jaan Ehlvest. Full results and linked games are available under the “Chess Team” tab (click on “Recent Tourna ments”) at the UT Dallas Chess Program website,
www.utdallas.edu/chess/. The tournament also featured a 10-player IM (international
master) round robin section with two invited grandmasters, one IM, one FIDE master (FM), two woman international masters (WIMs), a woman FIDE master (WFM), and three national masters (NMs). It was named the “IM section” because IM, WGM, and WIM
norms were possible, though not achieved. Invited GM Alex Lenderman won the IM section with 81
⁄2 of 9, followed by invited
GM Tamaz Gelashvili with 8 out of 9. UT Dallas Chess Coach IM Rade Milovanovic and UT Dallas
Chess Program Director Jim Stallings chose the invited players. Milovanovic explained, “We invite different players each year. For a section to offer norms, we also have to invite someone from another federation. It is difficult to invite someone from Europe to [come] here because of the expenses. So we are looking for someone who lives in the U.S. but has a different federation listed for FIDE. For the all-GM section, we didn’t have to worry about federation because norms weren’t possible. For the IM section, the maximum from one federation is five to allow for norms. Beyond norm considerations, generally we are looking for fighting spirit in our invited players to help train our players.” As an example of this ideal, GM Alex Lenderman advised FM
Alec Getz, “Enjoy the game. Play ‘positionally’ but not pas sively. You shouldn’t even have a style. Whatever you personally feel is the best move, you should play it.” Lenderman told Sadorra, “I like the way you play chess. You
went from an IM to a strong GM while in college. I think you could be an inspiration for a lot of people.” Sadorra plans to teach chess, work for Chessity (
www.chessity.com/), and train for his first Olympiad, where he will represent the Philippines. His long-term plans include pursuit of a master of business administration.
The UT Dallas Grandmaster Invitational overlapped with classes on Thursday, November 21 and Friday, November 22. Finance major Getz missed one class on Friday. His instructor planned for students to work on their papers during Friday’s class. So Getz e-mailed and talked to his instructor about his paper instead. WIM Cheradee Camacho is a senior studying computer science. She plans to graduate in December of 2014. She missed two Thursday
classes, data structures and digital circuits. Camacho said, “I talked to my professors about missing class for the chess tournament. In both classes, the professors were going to discuss what was on the upcoming tests. I had someone on Facebook e-mail me what they said.” Camacho stayed up “all night” on Monday to finish a computer program about restaurant inventory. On Tuesday, after the final round, she discussed her program with Artur Safin. A graduate student in mathematics, Safin said he was familiar with programming and could offer tips to Camacho. Then Safin, Getz, Camacho, and global business junior WFM Patrycja Labedz played bughouse. Getz said, “Obviously school is the first priority. Every week, though, we meet for chess. It’s manageable. Also the environment is supportive.” The UT Dallas chess team finished first in the last three (2010, 2011, and 2012) Pan American (Pan Am) Intercollegiate Team Chess
Championships. The 2013 UT Dallas Grandmaster Invitational pre pared students for the 2013 Pan Am, held December 27-30 at Texas Tech University.
32 February 2014 | Chess Life
GRADUATION PHOTO COURTESY OF GM JULIO SADORRA; GROUP PHOTO BY ALEXEY ROOT
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