Saint Louis Wins Clash Of Leaders To Reach 3/3
GM Robby Kevlishvili top scored with 4/4 and GM Aryan Chopra made 3.5/4 as Saint Louis University moved to a perfect 3/3 with victory in week three of the Collegiate Chess League Spring 2025 (CCL). They beat their fierce rivals from Chennai, SRM Institute of Science and Technology 11-5, though only after a very shaky start.
The CCL continues with week four on Saturday, February 15, at 2 p.m. ET/20:00 CET/0:30 a.m. IST (Sunday, February 16).
Collegiate Chess League - Spring 2025 Week 3 Standings
- SLU March On After Winning Clash Of Leaders: Saint Louis 11-5 SRM IST
- How The Other Half Lives: Georgia Tech E 8.5-7.5 Duke University B
SLU March On After Winning Clash Of Leaders: Saint Louis 11-5 SRM IST
SRM's team looks modest on paper, with one GM, 18-year-old Pranesh M, and three IMs, compared to SLU's all-GM line-up, but that should fool no one. In the 2024 Fall season the Indian team, with the same line-up, beat SLU 9-7 on the way to topping the table, and it was only in the Play-Off Semifinals that SLU got revenge by winning 9-7 themselves.
This time the clash looked much more one-sided, with Saint Louis having wrapped up victory before the final round of games and going on to win by a six-point margin.
It wasn't so straightforward, however. The first round of matches was the most intense, with SRM's top-two scoring convincing wins, while from the positions on the board a 4-0 sweep was a real possibility. In the end, however, SLU's leaders found a way to turn things around.
IM Srihari L correctly sacrificed a bishop against Aryan, but though his attack became overwhelming, he failed to convert and went on to lose.
On this occasion Srihari unfortunately lived up to his unusual Chess.com username "losingexperience" by losing all four games. We didn't learn where that came from, but Kevlishvili's "GroovyKettle" was clarified!
After that escape for SLU in the first mini-match, they won the second 3.5-0.5, with Aryan trapping IM A Ra Harikrishnan's queen in the middle of the board.
The match was over when SLU scored 3-1 in the penultimate round, though SRM's top-scorer, Harikrishnan, did get to beat two GMs. GM Emin Ohanyan, down to his last seconds, spoiled a winning position and then stumbled into checkmate.
So Saint Louis leads Division 1, but in the second part of the live show we got to see a little further down the CCL pyramid!
How The Other Half Lives: Georgia Tech E 8.5-7.5 Duke University B
Division 1 of the CCL is just the tip of the iceberg, with 24 divisions in total. For a change, we got to see some of the lower-ranked teams in action, with Georgia Tech E beating Duke University B in a topsy-turvy Division 15 encounter where the teams oscillated wins before Georgia clinched victory with a 3-1 win in the final mini-match.
The players' ratings ranged from 1323 to 1679 at the start of the match, which of course meant we got some entertaining swings. GM Benjamin Bok hadn't managed to finish the sentence "this game could still go either way," when mate-in-one was blundered in an equal position in Tony Cao vs. Aditya Bose-Bandyopadhyay.
GM Bok was also stunned by Gavin Jiang's stubborn refusal to take a free rook, twice...
The commentators wondered if it was a display of mercy, but Jiang went on to win the game. He also top-scored with 3/4 as Georgia Tech triumphed!
You can watch the Collegiate Chess League 2025 Spring presented by Susquehanna on Chess.com/TV. You can also enjoy the show on our Twitch channel and catch all our live broadcasts on YouTube.com/ChesscomLive. Games from the event can be viewed on our events page.
The live broadcast was hosted by WGM Dina Belenkaya and JulesGambit.
The Collegiate Chess League is the premier online chess competition for college students. The 2024 CCL Fall Season is a team event starting September 28 at 2 p.m. ET/20:00 CET/0:30 a.m. IST and featuring a $25,000 prize fund.
Previous coverage:
Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.
