Introducing the Texas Tech Knight Raiders

Here are the three titled players who have been admitted to Texas Tech University for the Fall 2009 Semester. This is the first official recruiting class of SPICE, which was established in May 2007, and officially began on September 1, 2007.

IM Papp, Gabor (Hungary) 2558 FIDE (2 GM norms)

IM Kuljasevic, Davorin (Croatia) 2547 FIDE (2 GM norms)

IM Antal, Gergely (Hungary) 2479 FIDE (2 GM norms)

All of them have passed the mandatory tests and/or other strict requirements with flying colors. There is no getting around these requirements with Texas Tech University, which other titled players did not fulfill timely to be admitted for the fall semester of 2009.

In addition to receiving an excellent education from Texas Tech University, member of the Big 12, they will also have the opportunity improve their chess by competing in strong events locally (such as the SPICE Cup, SPICE Spring Invitational, Lubbock Open, etc.) and throughout the United States.

I will also work with all of them in a group and individual settings. With the strong training system in place, members of the Knight Raiders chess team will leave Texas Tech as better chess players than when they arrived. I will introduce other members of the Knight Raiders in the near future.

There are many strong and talented young players in chess in the U.S. and around the world who probably can make a decent living in chess. However, I still strongly advocate the path of continuing their formal education while playing chess. The education which they receive will help them in many ways for the rest of their lives, no matter which direction they choose to proceed.

There have been many excellent examples of Grandmasters pursuing both:

– GM Ken Rogoff

– GM Dmitry Jakovenko (pursuing his PhD in Math)

– GM Alex Onischuk

– GM Yury Shulman

– GM and Dr. Yona Kosashvili

– GM Eugene Perelshteyn, and many more…



Here is the official website of SPICE. Here is the official website of Texas Tech University.