2010 Southwest Collegiate Chess Championships Chess Club president Felipe Jesse Cruz and freshman Robert Sanchez competed at the 2010 Southwest Collegiate Chess Championships here in Dallas this past weekend, Feb. 20-21, and the dynamic duo scooped together enough combined victories in five grueling rounds of play to bring home the Third Place Team prize. El Centro College finished behind perennial chess powerhouses UT-Dallas (1st Place) and UT-Brownsville (2nd Place). Eight colleges and universities from across Texas dispatched some of their top players to the event, part of the annual Texas Scholastic Chess Championship Tournament which drew more than 1,000 of the state's best young K-12 and college chess players. |
2009 Pan-American Intercollegiate Felipe Cruz, Bradley Renfro, and West Overstreet treks to exotic South Padre Island, Texas, December 27-30, 2009, to compete at the College Chess League's annual premier tournament, the 2009 Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championships. The trio represents ECC at the event featuring 28 teams from 19 different international colleges and universities, including Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and New York University. "How exciting it must be for our students to be exposed to such competition," says Dr. McCarthy, ECC President. "In fact, I cannot think of another college activity like debate, or certainly a sport, where community college students could engage students from such prestigious colleges and universities." |
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 ECC's team compete against International Masters on the University of Texas-Brownsville B-Team. |
 Bradley Renfro (l) and Felipe Cruz (r) concentrate during second round play of the online tournament. |
National competition finish |
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Club honors local scholastic chessmeisters El Centro Chess Club offers the winners of Dallas Independent School District's Dealey Montessori Academy's 2009 Fall Scholastic tournament free entry fees to the 2009 National K-12 Championships being held in Dallas this December. The Dealey tournament featured over 150 young players from more than a dozen DISD schools. The offers are tendered to the first place finishers in each of the tourament's three grade sections: K-3, 4-5, 6-12. Winning the K-3 section is Gabriel Ferrer of Dealey. Co-winners of the 4-5 section are Ricky Vasquez and Andrew Mendoza, both from J.S. Hogg Elementary School. Winner of the 6-12 section is Eduardo Infante of the Science & Engineering Magnet school at Townview Center. |
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2009 Ed Gurukul Fall Scholastic El Centro Chess Club members Daniel Martinez and Eduardo Infante captured honors at the Ed Gurukul Scholastic chess tournament held in Plano, Texas, on September 19, 2009. The young dynamic duo won the 2nd Place Team trophy. Daniel took 2nd Place overall individual award and Eduardo finished 4th in a field of 35 competitors. In addition to attending El Centro College part-time, the players are juniors at DISD's Townview Center. |
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| At El Centro College's 2009 Conference Day, a group of nearly 40 faculty and staff members (l) attends an Introduction to Chess training session (for those with zero chess experience) conducted by our club advisor, Darrell Cook (r). Immediately after, Mr. Cook teaches a Basic Chess Strategy session (for those with some chess experience) with about 20 faculty and staff members attending. | |
2009 Dallas County North Lake College wins the First Place Team trophy at the First Annual DCCCD Chess Championships in February 2009. El Centro College, the host team, takes the Second Place Team trophy and Mountain View College captures the Third Place Team trophy. |
The El Centro Chess Club team competes in the premier college chess tournament of the year: the 2008 Pan-American Intercollegiate Championships, December 27-30, 2008, in Fort Worth, Texas. Our team finished 26th out of 29 teams from around North America. Not a bad finish for an infant college chess program less than a year old. Make no mistake . . . El Centro College has burst onto the college chess scene! |
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L.B. Ramirez (l) and J.L. McClure (r) garner the They competed among 23 of some of the state's top collegiate chess players, including International and National Masters, representing several Texas colleges and universities like the perennial powerhouses of University of Texas-Dallas, University of Texas-Brownsville, and Texas Tech. |
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The El Centro Chess Club's Fall 2008 Tournament was a success on Saturday, November 8, 2008. It was a 3-round, Swiss-style, USCF-rated event, with five new players joining the ranks of the United States Chess Federation. Awards went to: 1st Place ECC student: L. Ramirez (trophy) Top ECC Faculty: D. Richard (plaque) |
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ECC student L. B. Ramirez, a U.S. Army reservist, won a first place trophy for his rating class at the 49th Annual Armed Forces Open, October 11-13, 2008. The national tournament was held at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland. He scored 4.0 out of a possible 6.0 with 3 wins, 2 half-point byes, and just 1 loss (to the tournament's overall champion, no less) earning an overall 11th place finish out of 56 participants. Ramirez is the El Centro Chess Club president and has over 13 years of USCF tournament playing experience. He is our team captain for the upcoming Pan-American Intercollegiate Chess Tournament in December. |
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The El Centro Chess Club is an official student organization of El Centro College located at the historic West End of downtown Dallas, Texas. Since beginning in the Spring 2008 semester, the Club already has several active players who meet at least weekly to find and challenge worthy opponents in the Royal Game.
©2008-2010, El Centro Chess Club. All rights reserved.
ECCchessclub@dacworld.com
