News Release.... UMBC ties for 3rd place in 93 Pan-Am Chess Tournament! This week two UMBC chess teams battled wits against thirty-one of the best college chess teams from North and South America in the 1993 Pan-American Intercollegiate Chess Tournament, held December 27--30, in DeLand, Florida. Competitors included Harvard, Toronto, NYU, Chicago, RPI, Unphu (Dominican Republic), and British Columbia. With 4.5 points, the top UMBC team tied for third place, sharing a $300 prize with Rhode Island College (RIC). Along the way, UMBC Chess Champion Ishan Weerakoon (CMSC) tied for best performance on Board 2. All games took place in the Lynn Business Center at Stetson University. Each team consists of four players. For each match, a team score was calculated as the sum of the scores of the four players. Each win counts 1 point; each draw counts 0.5 points; and each loss counts 0 points. At least 2.5 points are required to win any match. Using the Swiss pairing system, each team played six matches, where at each round teams with identical scores played each other. Each player had to complete the first 50 moves in 2 hours, and each subsequent 25 moves in 1 hour, or lose by time forfeiture. The top UMBC team comprises Craig Jones (USCF rating 2200), Ishan Weerakoon (2185), Kimiani Stancil (2068), and Manish Singh (1985). At the last moment, however, Singh was unable to compete, so alternate Milton Smith (1930) played Board 4. In Rounds 1 and 2, UMBC defeated Michigan Institute of Technology 4-0 and Wright State 3-1. In Round 3, UMBC upset top-ranked British Columbia 3-1, despite the fact that their average rating was 2202 as opposed to UMBC's 2096. In Round 4, UMBC was paired against Manhattan College, whose first board is senior master Gennady Sagalchik (2618). With amazing play, Jones secured a drawn position but let the draw slip away in a time-pressure blunder. Nevertheless, with wins by Weerakoon and Smith, the match ended in a 2-2 tie. Round 5 against Harvard was the most exciting match. Early into the match Jones and Stancil secured draws, and bit later Smith appeared to be in serious trouble. By then, Weerakoon had a comfortable position which he could have easily drawn. But knowing that a draw would be insufficient for team victory, the usually conservative Weerakoon began attacking like wildfire, offering his knight for three pawns. When his opponent declined this sacrifice, Weerakoon traded bishop and knight for rook and two pawns, gaining a decisive advantage. Several moves later, however, Weerakoon blundered away his advantage. Unwilling to concede, Weerakoon created a dangerous passed pawn and forced his opponent to navigate through a web of complications to earn the Harvard victory. Finally, in Round 6, UMBC beat Rutgers 2.5-1.5, and Manhattan defeated Harvard. Thus, Manhattan took 1st place with 5.5 points, and Harvard finished 2nd with 5 points. UMBC and RIC tied for places 3 and 4 with 4.5 points each. Under the tie-break rules, UMBC was awarded the 4th place trophy since RIC scored 17 individual points against UMBC's 15.5, even though UMBC had played much stronger competition. UMBC's second team consists of Pavel Pasmanik (2137), Vinod Akunuri (unrated), Predrag Tosic (unrated), and Christopher Todd (1475). They finished with a respectable 3.5 points. In addition to the main team tournament, there was a separate concurrent individual tournament called the Pan-Am Open. Alternates Daniel Byrum (1350) and James Goodwin (unrated), and Faculty advisor Alan Sherman (1844) played in this tournament. Sherman finished 2nd in the open with 4.5 points, earning $82.50. In addition, by beating Stetson Club Champion Haskins (2084) in the last round, Sherman also won the top Faculty prize. Support for UMBC's participation in the Pan-Am games was provided in part by the SGA and by the President's Office.