UT Dallas pawn-pushers give thanks for chess

by PegNews wire

While others are carving up birds and stuffing themselves with stuffing, participants at the annual University of Texas at Dallas Grandmaster Invitational will be pushing pawns.

With a tournament schedule that starts on Wednesday, Nov. 26 and finishes up (with Round 9) on Sunday, Nov. 30, there'll be plenty of chess "action" for observers to thrill over, whether they show up in person at the meeting rooms of the Richardson Hilton Garden Inn (1001 W. George Bush Turnpike) or follow along online at one of these two sites which will be simulcasting the match play.

UTD's resident grandmaster, Alejandro Ramirez, will compete in the tournament, along with visiting grandmasters Julio Becerra (FL), Sergey Kudrin (CT), Jessie Kraai (NM) and Babakuli Annakov (Frisco, TX - by way of Turkmenistan).

Seven UTD-based International Masters will also be competing in the tourney, including:

* IM Drasko Boskovic, 25, of Serbia, a senior business administration major.

* IM Marko Zivanic, 24, of Serbia, a computer science major.

* IM Davorin Kuljasevic, 22, of Croatia, a senior majoring in business administration.

* IM John Bartholomew, 22, of the U.S., a senior majoring in business administration.

* IM Salvijus Bercys, 17, a sophomore majoring in finance.

* IM Jacek Stopa, 20, of Poland, a junior majoring in international political economy.

* IM Puchen Wang, 18, of New Zealand, freshman majoring in business administration.

There will be a brief (it says here) opening ceremony at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 26, with honored guests in attendance including Dr. Abby Kratz, associate provost; Steve Mitchell, mayor of Richardson; and John Jacobs, senior vice president for economic development at the Richardson Chamber of Commerce.

posted by JM