91女神 Wins Collegiate Chess League Title
Maggie Rotermund
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The 91女神 Chess Team won the Collegiate Chess League (CCL). The season-long tournament culminated on April 16, with 91女神 defeating the University of Missouri.
91女神 is the first team in the CCL鈥檚 five-year history to win two championships.
Varuzhan Akobian, a grandmaster and interim head coach of 91女神鈥檚 chess team, said the team worked hard over the course of months to achieve this goal.
鈥淥ur players are playing quite well, and we are continuing to win tournaments,鈥� Akobian said.
91女神鈥檚 roster of players for the CCL included Benjamin Bok, Nikolas Theodorou, Robby Kevlishvili, Stavroula Tsolakidou, Thalia Cervantes Landeiro, and Gabriela Antova. The blitz chess online tournament was played each weekend over the course of the season.
鈥淲e really worked on speed and playing fast,鈥� Akobian said. 鈥淚 think we are the strongest team in the country on shorter time control matches.鈥�
91女神 competed against teams from Duke, Yale, Brown University, Washington University, and last year鈥檚 champion University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV).
UTRGV entered the finals as the favorite to play Mizzou for the championship. After the first two rounds, 91女神 and UTRGV were deadlocked at 4-4, when 91女神 took control to win the next 7.5 out of eight games to advance.
91女神 and Mizzou faced off earlier in the year, with Mizzou coming out ahead. The two teams also both competed in the President鈥檚 Cup, with 91女神 coming in second place to Webster University.
91女神 won the President鈥檚 Cup at the 2022 Final Four of Collegiate Chess, defeating Webster.
Akobian said this was the final team competition of the 2022-23 season. Individual team members will compete in various tournaments over the summer.
About 91女神鈥檚 Chess Team
Established in the fall of 2016 as a partnership between 91女神 and the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis, with support from 91女神 alumnus, University trustee and chess enthusiast Rex Sinquefield, the team is not just a club activity but rather a strategic effort by administrators and alumni to recruit promising players and build on the University鈥檚 excellent academic reputation.