Last season, Saint Louis University, SLU, won the Collegiate Chess League Spring 2025 (CCL) in convincing fashion. On September 30, they began their title defense by winning their first match of the Collegiate Chess League Fall 2025 just as convincingly against Texas Tech University, 10.5-5.5.
Each match consists of four rounds of blitz, played at a 5+2 time control. Each team’s four players compete against the other team’s four players, making the match a best-of-16-game competition. If a match is tied, there’s a round of tie-break games.
The CCL continues with week two on Saturday, October 4, at 11 a.m. ET.
Collegiate Chess League Division 1 — Fall 2025 Week 1 Standings
SLU Handles TTU, 10.5-5.5
SLU won every match of the spring season, on their way to the championship. They picked up right where they left off to start the fall season with a convincing win against TTU. SLU was the higher-rated team, led by GM Aryan Chopra on board one, with GM Viktor Gazik on board two, GM Dambauren Batsuren on board three, and IM Tianqi Wang on board four. Their opponents were also strong, featuring, in board order, IM Sebastian Kostolansky, IM Roman Pyrih, IM Bogdan Bilovil, and Nathaniel Philip Moor.
For TTU to win the match, they would need to pull off a few upsets along the way. For a few minutes, it looked like everything was going according to plan, as Moor had a dominant position against Chopra, up until it fell apart.
After the first round, SLU led 3.5-0.5. SLU’s lead only grew the rest of the way, although there were some tough moments. Kostolansky led the way for TTU, scoring 2.5/4, including this impressive win over Gazik.
Kostolansky was the only player who managed a plus score for TTU. Meanwhile, SLU’s team was so deep that they were led by Batsuren’s perfect 4/4 score on board three. Even when he lost material early, he found tactics to turn things around in this game with Bilovil.
Performances like that helped SLU to a smooth round-one victory. Can they pull off another perfect season? Stay tuned!
You can check out this match and a division two battle between UCLA and UC Berkeley here.
The live broadcast was hosted by Joe Lee and Rachel Burak.
The Collegiate Chess League is the premier online chess competition for college students.
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