SRM Reaches Perfect 4/4, Saint Louis Bounces Back
SRM extended their perfect score to 4/4 in week four of the 2024 Collegiate Chess League (CCL) Fall Season. Saint Louis defeated Virginia and continues chasing SRM from a point behind.
Even with a 4/4 sweep by Athens's board one, IM Dimitris Alexakis, for the second week in a row, a balanced performance from SRM outscored their opposition. Meanwhile, Saint Louis clinched their match with a round to spare.
The CCL continues with week five on Saturday, October 26, 2024, at 2 p.m. ET/20:00 CET/0:30 a.m. IST.
Collegiate Chess League - Week 4 Standings
- SRM Continues Perfect Streak: Athens 5.5-10.5 SRM
- Defending Champions Bounce Back: Saint Louis 11-5 Virginia
SRM Continues Perfect Streak: Athens 5.5-10.5 SRM
After defeating the reigning champions last week, the top-scoring SRM team was the favorite. Yet, Athens too showed that they are a formidable team with their convincing victory in week three. Additionally, SRM fielded a lineup without their top seed, GM Pranesh M.
The match kicked off with a 2-2 split. IM Harikrishnan Ra coordinated his forces to set off a fatal kingside attack vs. IM Ioannis Kalogeris.
In round two, SRM took over the lead by scoring three wins. IM Raahul V S won a topsy-turvy game vs. Kalogeris by making steady progress in the time scramble.
Alexakis continued to win game after game for Athens. He generated surprising tactics against Harikrishnan's seemingly solid position in the third round.
Yet, Alexakis 3/3 score wasn't enough to cut into SRM's lead. The Indian team grew their edge to four points heading into the final round. This meant that Athens needed to fight back with a 4-0 sweep to make it to overtime.
IM Srihari L outplayed Konstantinos Tsarsitalidis in a queenless middlegame to clinch the match for SRM.
Defending Champions Bounce Back: Saint Louis 11-5 Virginia
With two GMs, one IM, and one national master, Saint Louis had a vast rating edge over Virginia, who fielded an FM and three NMs. Yet, Virginia scored a shocking victory vs. the top-seeded Missouri team in week one while Saint Louis was recovering from a loss vs. SRM last week.
Saint Louis took a huge lead in round one with a 4-0 sweep. Their fourth board, NM Shelev Oberoi, defeated Virginia's board one, FM Jason Morefield, with a clever tactical breakthrough on the queenside.
Round two was a fighting round. Morefield and NM Owen McCoy scored two wins for Virginia while GMs Nikolozi Kacharava and Dambasuren Batsuren won for Saint Louis, allowing them to maintain their four-point lead. Morefield paved the way for his knight to reach the dominating d6-outpost by tactical means vs. IM Tianqi Wang.
Morefield struck again with an upset win vs. Kacharava in round three, sacrificing a knight to rip open his opponent's kingside.
Yet, Saint Louis won on the other three boards, reaching nine points to clinch the match. Though the match was already decided, McCoy defeated Kacharava in 29 moves with a dazzling combination to create our Game of the Day with analysis by GM Dejan Bojkov.
In week five, Virginia and Athens will meet, and Missouri will face Rio Grande. The leading teams, SRM and SLU, will play teams fighting to avoid elimination from the playoffs, Prague and Yale.
You can watch the 2024 Collegiate Chess League presented by Susquehanna on Chess.com/TV. You can also enjoy the show on our Twitch channel and catch all our live broadcasts on YouTube.com/ChesscomLive. Games from the event can be viewed on our events page.
The live broadcast was hosted by GM Benjamin Bok and Jules Gambit.
The Collegiate Chess League is the premier online chess competition for college students. The 2024 CCL Fall Season is a team event that started September 28 at 2 p.m. ET/20:00 CET/0:30 a.m. IST and features a $25,000 prize fund.
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Vanessa West is a National Master, a chess teacher, and a writer for Chess.com. In 2017, they won the Chess Journalist of the Year award.
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