Illini Team Makes it to Final Four Again

For the second year in a row, the chess team from the University of Illinois has excelled at the Pan American Games, beating teams with considerably higher average ratings and proceeding to the President’s Cup (national Final Four) in Manhattan in April.  In doing so, the team has once again gained national recognition.

The Illini foursome is comprised of FIDE Master Eric Rosen, National Masters Michael Auger and Leo Xin Luo, and Akshay Indusekar.  The team upset Texas Tech-B, Columbia University and Lindenwood A-teams, all with ratings 200 or more points above the Illini.  As noted in an article on the USCF website, Illinois’ two consecutive strong performances mean “they can hardly again be termed a ‘dark horse.’” (http://bit.ly/1dq8yJx)

The story was covered by the New York Times, where columnist Dylan Loeb McClain featured a game in which Rosen beat Lindenwood’s David Recuero Guerra, an International Master from Spain (http://nyti.ms/1iOP6pf).   

The team’s success was also described on Susan Polgar’s blog (http://bit.ly/1eDq6Am), was covered twice by Chicago’s Fox Television News (http://bit.ly/1hj0l90), and is chronicled on the club’s home page at http://www.illinichessclub.org.   The team is approximately a third of the way toward meeting its fundraising goal of $9500.