Pan-American Collegiate Team Tournament
Peter, Kimmy, Harvey, and Ralph represented Cornell at PanAms hosted in McAllen, TX this winter!
From January 4-7, 2024, over 30 universities and 80 teams from across North America gathered in Texas to compete in the Pan-American Collegiate Team Tournament (PanAms). Cornell played in the Open Section alongside teams stacked with Grandmasters and International Masters, so it would be an understatement to say that there was tough competition! This was the first year where we were able to represent Cornell at this annual tournament - it was a challenging but rewarding experience as we met so many other students who were equally as dedicated to their studies and playing chess competitively.
We played against the following teams:
University of Texas at Dallas - Team B (lost)
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee - Team A (won)
Georgia Tech - Team A (lost)
Duke - Team A (lost)
Georgia Tech - Team C (draw)
University of Toronto - Team B (draw)
Here is Kimmy’s favorite game from the tournament. Try to think about what you would play as black from this position after 21. Rf3 (don’t look at the notation!). Can you see the 6-move sequence she calculated?
And let’s check out Ralph’s masterpiece!
Our esteemed Chess Royale creator, Ralph, had this to say about his experience at PanAms:
“The chess was challenging. My opponents were challenging. I’d never been so humbled, yet never had so much fun traveling with friends.”
Hopefully we will come back even stronger next January! Stay tuned for updates about our future tournaments :)