Texas And Lviv Advance To The Semifinals: CCL Playoffs
The University of the Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) started the Collegiate Chess League (CCL) playoffs with a bang against the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). Athens entered the playoffs with a better regular season record but UTRGV dominated, reaching the 8.5 points needed for victory in just three rounds of matches. Meanwhile, Lviv State University of Physical Culture used a tremendous final round to advance past the SRM Institute Of Science And Technology.
The CCL playoffs continue on Friday, March 21, at 2 p.m. ET/20:00 CET/0:30 a.m. (Saturday) IST.
Collegiate Chess League Division 1 — Spring 2025 Playoff Bracket
TRGV and Lviv advance to the semifinalsUTRGV dominates against Athens, 10.5-1.5
UTRGV won the CCL in the spring of 2022 but had a difficult regular season this year. They lost GM Viktor Gazik to Saint Louis University in the offseason and needed to win on demand last week to make the playoffs. On the other hand, NTUA had a successful season, winning four of their seven matches. Athens features a balanced lineup with IM Dimitris Alexakis, IM Nikolaos Koutlas, IM Ioannis Kalogeris, and FM Grigorios Drakoulakos. UTRGV was a bit higher-rated with GM Jose Cardoso and GM Gleb Dudin, followed by IMs Ekin Baris Ozenir and Jakub Fus.
UTRGV was powered by perfect 3-0 scores from Dubin and Fus. Check out this fascinating attacking game by Fus, where Black missed an amazing defensive resource to save the game.
UTRGV advances to face the top-seed, Saint Louis University, next week.
Lviv Advances Against SRM: 9.5-6.5
SRM Institute of Science and Technology had a great regular season in the CCL. They won five of their seven matches, only losing to their all grandmaster opponents. Their lineup features GM Pranesh M, IM Srihari L R, IM Manish Anto Cristiano F, and IM Raahul V S. In the first round of the playoffs, they faced Lviv State University of Physical Culture, with their lineup of GMs Igor Kovalenko and Martyn Kravtsiv along with the untitled players Svyatoslav Voloshchuk and Rotislav Goncharenko.
The match was tight throughout, but Lviv pulled away with a dominant 3.5/4 in the final round, including significant rating upsets on the bottom two boards. On board four, Goncharenko was never in trouble and helped his team to advance.
Lviv will face a stiff challenge next week against the defending CCL champions, University of Missouri-Columbia.
You can check out the match between UTRGV and Athens along with a battle between Cornell University and Carnegie Mellon University here:
The live broadcast was hosted by GM Benjamin Bok and Joe Lee.
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:
- Week 7: Rio Grand Valley Edges Lviv State University In Tense Match
- Week 6: SLU Defeats Mizzou To Remain Unbeaten
- Week 5: SLU Handles Yale
- Week 4: Mizzou Sweeps First Round On Way To Victory: CCL Week 4
- Week 3: Saint Louis Wins Clash Of Leaders To Reach 3/3
- Week 2: Saint Louis Leads With SRM On 2/2, Athens Scores 1st Win
- Week 1: Missouri Settles the Score vs. Virginia, SLU Inches Ahead of Athens
- Collegiate Chess League Spring 2025 Registration
