A key match in the fourth week of the Collegiate Chess League (CCL) saw the University of Missouri, Columbia (Mizzou) cement their place atop the league with a dominant 12-4 victory over the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV).
The CCL continues with week five on Saturday, October 25, at 11 a.m. ET/17:00 CEST/8:30 p.m. IST.
Standings After Week 4
Mizzou 12-4 UTRGV
UTRGV must have felt on top of the world, after their upset victory over the defending champions from Saint Louis University in week two. They have had a hard time matching those heights since then, with a defeat against Texas Tech University, followed by a tough match against the league leaders, Mizzou. UTRGV brought their A-team with GM Gleb Dudin, GM Shawn Rodriguez-Lemieux, IM Ekin Ozenir, and GM Santiago Avila. Mizzou countered with their standard all-GM lineup of Aryan Tari, Mahel Boyer, Isik Can, and Luka Budisavlejevic.
Mizzou took the intrigue out of the match early with a powerful 3.5-0.5 performance in the first round. Rodriguez-Lemieux drew with Boyer, but Mizzou won on the other three boards. That was a sign of things to come for UTRGV. Rodriguez-Lemieux managed an undefeated 2.5/4 score for the match, but that accounted for most of his team’s points for the day. Somewhat shockingly, GMs Dudin and Avila scored no points combined, which put their team in an insurmountable hole. Their difficulties were not for a lack of effort. Dudin played a sharp King’s Indian style setup against Budisavlejevic’s London in the first round, but was met with a powerful attack.
UTRGV fought back in the second round, highlighted by Rodriguez-Lemieux’s smooth endgame win against Tari and Ozenir’s win over Boyer. However, defeats on the other two boards kept the match at a three-point margin.
Mizzou put the match out of reach in round three with another 3.5-0.5 performance. Can outplayed Ozenir in a tricky King’s Gambit Declined.
The final round only mattered for the margin of victory, but Mizzou delivered anyway, 3-1. Tari scored a miniature against Dudin that earned the rare perfect score from Game Review.
Check in next week to see if Mizzou can keep it up against the other top schools in the country!
Click here to watch the Mizzou vs UTRGV match. You can also watch UTRGV’s next match, an exciting battle against the SRM Institute Of Science And Technology, below.
The live broadcast was hosted by Joe Lee.
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