Artwork by Tin Kuljasevic
2012 College Chess Final Four
March 30 – April 1 in Herndon, VA / Washington DC area
#1 seed Texas Tech
#2 seed UTD
#3 seed UMBC
#4 seed NYU
Texas Tech University Knight Raiders Roster
Board 1: Grandmaster Georg “the German Precision” Meier (Germany)
Freshman – Finance
FIDE rating: 2671 – USCF rating: 2722
2011 European Team Championship Gold medalist, winner of the 19th Pamplona International, 2-time runner up of the SPICE Cup A group, #2 player on the German Olympiad team
Board 2: Grandmaster Elshan “the Knowledge Tree” Moradiabadi (Iran)
Graduate student – Business
FIDE rating: 2538 – USCF rating: 2594
Former National Champion of Iran, World Mind Sports Games Bronze medalist, #2 player on the Iranian Olympiad team
Board 3: Grandmaster Anatoly “the Rocket” Bykhovsky (Israel)
Sophomore – Finance
FIDE rating: 2536 – USCF rating: 2640
3-time National Youth Champion, 2-time Israeli Blitz Champion, 2-time SPICE Cup Champion, key member of the 2011 National Collegiate Chess Championship team
Board 4: Grandmaster Andre “the Shiny” Diamant (Brazil)
Sophomore – Economics
FIDE rating: 2494 – USCF rating: 2538
Former National Champion of Brazil, former top ranked Brazilian junior, member of the Brazilian Olympiad team, key member of the 2011 National Collegiate Championship team
First alternate: Grandmaster Denes “the Entertainer” Boros (Hungary)
Sophomore – Psychology
FIDE rating: 2482 – USCF rating: 2524
Former Hungarian youth rapid champion, former member of the Hungarian Youth Olympiad Gold medalist team
Second alternate: International Master Vitaly “the Diplomat” Neimer (Israel)
Freshman – Finance
FIDE rating: 2381 – USCF rating: 2421
Former Israeli Youth Champion, World under 14 and 16 runner up, Certified Chess Trainer
Head Coach: Grandmaster Susan Polgar
Coach: FIDE Master Paul Truong
Team Assistant: IM-elect Faik Aleskerov
Go Faik!
Why Wesley So is not included here? Is it true that he is in Webster University line up? thank you and more powers.
I love both the Iranian- Israeli collaboration and the great nicknames! Meier is a great man and chess player and I wish he would be called the “Uruguallan weapon”, because he is the pride of Uruguay!
Neimar is a great man as well. Him and Anatoly will hopefully corroborate Israeli chess organization and achievements in the future as they are now learning from the best of the best.
I like how you have two Israelis playing on the same team with an Iranian. Keep up the good work!