The higher seeds dominated in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the Collegiate Chess League (CCL) Playoffs. SRM Institute of Science and Technology handled Texas Tech 11-5, while the University of Missouri, Columbia (Mizzou) moved past the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) by a score of 10.5-5.5 to make their way to the Semifinals. In the Semifinals, the University of Texas, Dallas (UTD) defeated SRM 10-6 and St. Louis University (SLU) moved past their in-state rivals Mizzou 9-3.
Collegiate Chess League Division 1 — Fall 2025 Playoff Standings
SRM 11-5 Texas Tech
Texas Tech brought their standard lineup, IM Roman Pyrih, IM Sebastian Kostolansky, IM Bogdan Bilovil, and NM Nathaniel Philip Moor. SRM countered with GM Srihari L R, IM Harsh Suresh, IM Srihari L, and IM Manish Cristiano F.
SRM never let Texas Tech into the match, taking a 3-1 lead after the first round. They continued to press in round two, bringing the advantage to 6-2. Texas Tech stabilized the match in the third round, but an even round still left SRM ahead by 8-4, only needing a half point the rest of the way to win the match. They took care of business, finishing with another 3-1 score. SRM was led by Suresh, who won all four games, including this amazing comeback.
The win earned SRM a semifinal match against the top seed, UTD.
Mizzou 10.5-5.5 UTRGV
Mizzou followed up their Finals appearance last season with a difficult run this fall, losing two matches and not securing a first-round bye. They were determined to get back on track in the Quarterfinals against the 6th seed, UTRGV. Mizzou brought an all-GM lineup of Aryan Tari, Mahel Boyer, Isik Can, and Luka Budisavljevic. UTRGV countered with an all-GM team of their own, Gleb Dudin, Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux, Jose Cardoso, and Santiago Avila.
Like the earlier match, the higher seed never allowed any counterplay as they controlled every round. UTRGV kept it close at first, losing each of the first two rounds by just a point. However, Mizzou broke through with a 3-1 victory in the third round, putting the match practically out of reach.
Back from his appearance in the World Cup, Tari led the way with 3.5/4, including this impressive victory against Rodrigue-Lemieux.
The victory brought Mizzou a semifinals match with their long-time rivals, SLU.
UTD 10-6 SRM
Just one day after their victory over Texas Tech, SRM faced another team from Texas, top seed, UTD. SRM brought back Srihari L R, Suresh, and Srihari L from the previous day, substituting IM Mohammed Anees M on board four. UTD brought only GMs, Koustav Chatterjee, Rahul Srivatshav Peddi, Aditya Samant, and Yair Parkhov.
This match was tense throughout. Neither team gained an edge in the first round, but UTD pulled ahead in rounds two and three with 3-1 victories. That meant that SRM would need to win every game to equalize in the final round. They won two games, but couldn’t complete the comeback, allowing Dallas to advance with a 10-6 victory. The decisive margin all came from Aditya’s games, as he scored a perfect 4-0, including this very precise game.
SLU 9-3 Mizzou
Mizzou won the CCL championship in the fall of 2024 and SLU defeated them in the finals in the spring of 2025, so both teams have championship experience and know each other well. Mizzou returned with the same team that had succeeded the day before against UTRGV, while SLU played their team of GM Aryan Chopra, GM Viktor Gazik, GM Nikolozi Kacharava, and IM Tianqi Wang.
You may have expected a match between these two powerhouse teams to go down to the wire, but Mizzou had a difficult time playing their best. Their team barely made it back from an over-the-board tournament in time to compete. SLU demonstrated good sportsmanship, allowing a slight delay, but then mercilessly took care of business once the match began. SLU ensured that they didn’t even have to play the final round by winning each of the first three rounds by a decisive 3-1 margin, only losing one game the entire match! Boards two, three, and four for SLU all scored 2.5/3 points. It was an especially impressive result for Wang, the lone IM in the field. Check out his tactical demolition of Boyer.
The CCL Finals will be held on November 22 at 2 p.m. ET / 20:00 CET.
You can watch the quarterfinal matches, hosted by Joe Lee here:
And you can view the semifinal matches here:
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