UT Dallas chess team headed to final four

DALLAS - A local team is headed to the final four of college chess.

The University of Texas at Dallas is a dynasty in the sport. This will be UTD’s 16th appearance in the United States Chess Federation’s President’s Cup tournament in about 20 years.

“This is very important because you can prepare with a computer, and your opponent will prepare against you with a computer. Sometimes you can lose without actually playing because your opponent prepared and can get a winning position by playing computer lines. So you need to be ready for that,” said Anton Kovalyov, a UTD chess player.

Players will compete in New York next week against students from Harvard, UT Rio Grande Valley and Webster University in St. Louis.

So are they athletes? UTD does offer chess team scholarships.