UTRGV’s Chess Team Wears a Tall Tower of Crowns
UTRGV student Jakub Fus mentally prepares for his chance to shine against Webster University’s Emilio Cordova at the 2025 national chess Presidents Cup. Photo courtesy UTRGV Chess Program Manager Colt Smith Munoz
Finch Cantu | Pulse
After their underdog co-victory April 6 in the President’s Cup, members of UTRGV Chess reflected on their journey toward winning what is the team’s fourth national championship since 2018.
The President’s Cup is a national chess championship that takes place among the top four competitors from the National Pan American Intercollegiate Chess Championship, according to a news release from the UTRGV Newsroom.
The competition’s website states the President’s Cup took place April 5 to 6. The competitors were UTRGV, UT Dallas, Saint Louis University and Webster University.
UTRGV and Webster University tied with seven points and were crowned co-champions.
Prior to this, the UTRGV Chess Team has come out on top at the President’s Cup in 2018, 2019 and 2021. The team has also won a number of international victories.
Jose Cardoso, a business administration freshman who joined the team in Spring 2025, expressed pride in the team.
“Of course we wanted to win this cup, just UTRGV, but co-champions is also great,” Cardoso said.
Gleb Dudin, a psychology sophomore, said he thinks it is good that the team has new players.
“We still show that we are capable of reaching the same heights,” Dudin said.
He has been playing for UTRGV for over two years.
The duo are chess grandmasters, which team coach and grandmaster Bartek Macieja explained is the highest title a chess player can earn.
According to Macieja, both members “played very well” in the President’s Cup. Cardoso won two of the three games he played and tied in the third. Dudin, meanwhile, won two and lost one.
Macieja expressed pride in his students, saying this year was special because based on the average ratings, UTRGV was the weakest team.
“We were clearly an underdog in that competition,” he said. “So, it was very, very nice that we succeeded in becoming national co-champions.”
To get to this victory, Dudin said the team underwent intense training leading up to the President’s Cup.
For him, it mainly involved practicing then analyzing, “then maybe some good sleep, maybe not.”
Cardoso added every week, the team had sessions with Macieja and held practice games between members.
Dudin and Cardoso also competed in training tournaments to help prepare for the President’s Cup.
This semester alone, the UTRGV Chess Team has already claimed four victories.
In January, UTRGV won the Pan-American Championship, which Macieja called “the biggest university tournament on this continent.”
Additionally, the team won the Southwest Collegiate Team Championship in early March, winning all matches in that event as well.
To Macieja, the President’s Cup victory is the culmination of the team’s success this semester.
He credits the overall success of the team to the popularity of chess in the Rio Grande Valley and the support of administration and professors at the university.
“I must say that everybody, especially starting from our president, Doctor Bailey, is very proud of our successes, and the university, the entire administration is very supportive of our results,” Macieja said.
