By Victoria Brito

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS – The World Chess Federation (FIDE) and two-time national chess champion UTRGV will cohost the first FIDE World University Online Chess Championship, beginning March 13 and concluding March 21.  

The FIDE World University Championships, one of the most prestigious collegiate chess events in the world, will be held virtually for the first time this year due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. About 1,000 students are expected to participate from around the world. 

The event will be held through the chess web platform Tornelo, with four separate individual competitions spanning two weekends March 13-21.

“This is the most important event in the world for college chess,” said UTRGV Chess Coach Bartek Macieja, co-organizer of the tournament. “It is an honor to organize the first-ever online FIDE championship, and a recognition of our great national successes in winning the collegiate Final Four two years in a row, where we are competing again this year.”

Week one of the FIDE championship will consist of an online blitz championship, in which games are played in 10 minutes or less.

Week two will hold the online rapid championship, where game time is more than 10 minutes, but less than 60.  

The winner will be the world champion of collegiate chess.

There also will be a team competition on March 27 and 28 with the highest scoring universities, based on their member’s individual scores.

Directly following the worldwide FIDE tournament, the UTRGV Chess Team is slated to compete in the Final Four of Collegiate Chess in April. The team won back-to-back championships in 2018 and 2019, and qualified again this year.

Dr. Douglas Stoves, UTRGV dean of Student Rights and Responsibilities, said the FIDE competition is an opportunity for the chess team to show its impact not only in Texas and the United States, but also around the world.

“The fact that we now have this great opportunity to organize this first-ever, worldwide tournament with FIDE, as a founding partner, continues to solidify the legacy of UTRGV Chess and is representative of UTRGV as a global leader,” Stoves said. “This honor recognizes the hard work and dedication of our players and our coaches at UTRGV.”

 

ABOUT FIDE 

The International Chess Federation (FIDE) is the governing body of the sport of chess and regulates all international chess competitions. Founded in 1924 in Paris, FIDE is a non-governmental institution and was one of the first associations of its kind in the world, alongside the governing bodies of the sports of football, cricket, swimming and auto racing. In 1999, FIDE was recognized by the International Olympic Committee as a Global Sporting Organization.