Collegiate Chess League Fall Week 6: UTD Defeats SLU, Holds Top Spot

For the last couple of years the Collegiate Chess League (CCL) has been a battle between two giants, the defending champions, Saint Louis University (SLU) and the University of Missouri, Columbia (Mizzou). However, in week five, the University of Texas, Dallas (UTD) defeated Mizzou and in week six they handled SLU as well, taking sole first place in the league.

The CCL continues with week seven on Saturday, November 8, at 11 a.m. ET/17:00 CET.

Collegiate Chess League Division 1 — Fall 2025 Week 6 Standings

UTD 8.5-7.5 SLU

Fresh off of their win against Mizzou, UTD was ready for another higher-rated opponent. SLU’s team featured the highest-rated players, both in terms of classical and online ratings. SLU ran the same all-GM lineup as last week with Aryan Chopra, Viktor Gazik, Dambasuren Batsuren, and Nikolozi Kacharava. UTD met them with a lineup of GM Aditya Samant, IM Karolis Juksta, GM Yair Parkhov, and GM Balaji Daggupati. 

The first round demonstrated clearly that ratings weren’t going to decide the match. UTD jumped out to an early 3-1, winning two games and drawing the two others. SLU started their comeback in round two, needing a little luck as Chopra turned around a lost position against Parkhov.

After two rounds, SLU had narrowed the lead to 4.5-3.5. They even took the lead after round three, 6.5-5.5, despite a long, impressive endgame grind by Parkhov.

It looked like SLU was going to complete the comeback, but they ran into a disaster in the final round. UTD repeated their first round magic, winning two games and losing none. Parkhov defeated Batsuren and Daggupati used a successful opening to defeat Nikolozi, clinching the match by a one-point margin.

In his post-match interview Balaji credited the victory to strong team play, saying, “we all managed to equally contribute.” When asked about championship aspirations, he didn’t get ahead of himself. “When it comes to the playoffs, we will see who’s in better form then.”

You can check out this match, as well as the battle between Arizona State B team and the University of Michigan B team below, hosted by Joe Lee. 

The Collegiate Chess League is the premier online chess competition for college students.

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