The President's Cup (informally known as the Final Four of College Chess) determines the U.S. college team chess champion. Hosted in part by the

United States Chess Federation The United States Chess Federation (also known as US Chess or USCF) is the governing body for chess competition in the United States and represents the U.S. in FIDE, the World Chess Federation. US Chess administers the official national rating s ...

(USCF), the President's Cup is an annual invitational team championship, open to the top four U.S. schools from the most recent Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship (Pan-Am). It is run as a fixed-roster team

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero ...

, scored by individual (not team) points. The President's Cup usually takes place in early Spring.

History

The President's Cup has taken place each year in various locations since it was founded in 2001 by Dr.

Tim Redman Tim Redman is Professor Emeritus of Literary Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas. The author of ''Ezra Pound and Italian Fascism'' (1991), his research focuses on Ezra Pound and more generally on American and British modernism. He retired ...

with the financial support of University of Texas at Dallas president Dr.

Franklyn Jenifer Franklyn Green Jenifer (born March 26, 1939, in Washington, D.C.) is a former academic administrator, researcher, trustee, and board member of a number of well-known institutions and companies. Biography Franklyn Jenifer is an alumnus of Howard U ...

. Since 2011, the President's Cup has been sponsored in part by Booz Allen Hamilton. The event in 2020 was to be held in April but was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Final Four teams that qualified that year were Texas Tech, University of Texas at Dallas, Webster University, and Saint Louis University.

Rules

The governing body for the President's Cup is the College Chess Committee (CCC) of the USCF. The event is rated by the USCF and World Chess Federation (

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

) and played under USCF rules. The CCC has established eligibility requirements for college chess, and these same requirements apply to the Pan-Am and the President's Cup. Each team comprises four players and up to two alternates from the same school campus. Unlike the Pan-Am, ties for first place are broken (the title is not shared).

Significance

The winner of the President's Cup is considered the top chess team among U.S. post-secondary schools (colleges, universities, community colleges). By contrast, the Pan-Am determines the top post-secondary school in North American, Central America, South America, or the Caribbean. The winning school takes possession of the perpetual trophy, created in 2008 using funds from Sun Trust Bank, for one year.

Winners and venues

Bibliography

* Annual Reports of the USCF College Chess Committee * Articles about the President's Cup published in Chess Life magazine * * Program booklets from the President's Cup for some years.

External links

College Chess
** {{cite web, url= http://www.collegechess.org/2012%20Pan-Am%20Rules.pdf , title=Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship Rules

at University of Texas at Dallas
United States Chess Federation
(USCF)
World Chess Federation
(FIDE) Chess competitions Chess in the United States College sports championships in the United States 2001 in chess Recurring sporting events established in 2001 2001 establishments in the United States