Miami Dade College to host the 2007 Pan American Intercollegiate Chess Tournament    

~2007 Pan American Tourney to be held at MDC Thursday, Dec. 27 through Sunday,Dec. 30~

Miami, December 21, 2007 – Miami Dade College (MDC) will once again host the 2007 Pan American Intercollegiate Chess Tournament, which runs from Thursday, Dec. 27 through Sunday, Dec. 30.  MDC previously hosted the tournament in 2005.

The best collegiate chess teams in the nation are expected to participate including perennial chess powerhouses the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Maryland at Baltimore County, as well as teams from Yale, John Hopkins University, Stanford, and the University of Chicago, among others. Teams are also expected from Canada and the Caribbean.

The four top teams from the tournament will go on to the Final Four of Chess; the most highly regarded collegiate chess competition in the U.S., often referred to as the World Series of Collegiate Chess. 

The MDC team has made it to the Final Four tournament every year since two students discovered a mutual passion for playing chess five years ago. This month, the MDC team is back with a voracious appetite for the championship title.

This year’s players include Renier Gonzalez, who recently completed his norms to attain the Grand Master ranking; the highest ranking a chess player can attain worldwide, Javier Gonzalez, Charles Galofre, and newcomer Devlin Sinclair from Jamaica.   

What:   2007 Pan American Collegiate Chess Tournament 

When:  Beginning Thursday, Dec. 27, at 6 p.m. through Sunday, Dec. 30

Where:  Wolfson Campus Chapman Conference Center, 300 N.E. Second Ave.,

               Building 3, Room 3210                                          

Match schedule:

Rounds   1  Thursday, Dec. 27, at 6 p.m.

                2  Friday, Dec. 28, at 10 a.m. 

                3  Friday, Dec. 28, at 5 p.m.

                4  Saturday, Dec. 29, at 10 a.m.

                5  Saturday, Dec. 29, at 5 p.m.

                6  Sunday, Dec. 30, at 9 a.m.

For more information about the MDC chess team, please contact: Rene Garcia, 305-237-3012.