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UTB/TSC Chess Team Member Earns Grandmaster In Brazil Tournament

BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS – AUGUST 4, 2009 – Mauricio Flores, a freshman electrical engineering major and chess team member at The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College, earned the Grandmaster status on Saturday, Aug. 1, at the Continental Absolute Chess Championship Americas 2009 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
           
Flores, a native of Valparaiso, Chile, placed sixth overall in the tournament held Saturday, July 25 to Sunday, Aug. 2 that featured 250 players from Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, Mexico, the United States and other North and South American nations. He played in 11 matches, winning seven of them.

“I did not win the tournament, but my result was incredible,” Flores said. “I beat three strong Grandmasters and tied another three.”

The Grandmaster title is the highest in the game and achieved by earning at least a 2,500 chess ranking against other players. Titles below Grandmaster are International Master, World Chess Federation Master and Candidate Master. The Brazil tournament featured 30 Grandmasters.

Flores earned the title in the tenth round by beating Grandmaster Yuniesky Quezada of Cuba.

“It was a tough match but finally I got the victory,” Flores said. “It was a very special moment because during the game, I had the opportunity to remember one of the coaches I had in Chile when I was 14. I remembered about a specific position and attacking scheme and that was what I needed in that moment.”

Flores began playing chess eight years ago. He said the game compares to mathematics, one of his favorite subjects.

“Now that I am a Grandmaster, I will keep training as hard as before and will do my best to become stronger,” he said.

His designation as Grandmaster brings the total of title holders on the 20-member University chess team to two. The other Grandmaster is team member Axel Bachmann of Paraguay.

“In this year with two Grandmasters, probably we will fight for the national title,” Chess Coach Gilberto Hernandez said. “It changes the way we think.”

Hernandez met Flores last year at the Pan American Under 18 tournament in Argentina. After Flores’ victory in the tournament, Hernandez invited the student to play chess and study at UTB/TSC.

The University will host the 2009 Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championships from Sunday, Dec. 27 to Wednesday, Dec. 30, at the Sheraton South Padre Island Beach Hotel. The top four collegiate teams from this tournament will compete in the Final Four of Chess, which the University will host in April.

For more information on the chess program, contact Chess Coach Gilberto Hernandez or Chess Program Director Russell S. Harwood at (956) 882-5761 or at gilberto.hernandez@utb.edu or russell.harwood@utb.edu.