UT Dallas chess team reaches Final Four

The University of Texas at Dallas might not be a basketball powerhouse, but its chess team soon will be having a bit of March madness of its own.
The team closed out 2016 with a fourth-place showing at the Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship in New Orleans, earning it a spot in this year’s Final Four in March in New York City.
Although the team has been to the Final Four 15 times since its inception in 2000, the win places UT Dallas in a position that eluded it last year.
“Making the cut for the Final Four means much more today than just five years ago,” Jim Stallings, the university’s chess program coordinator, said. “The number and strength of the teams have increased significantly.”
Known as the Comets, the UT Dallas chess team comprises four grandmasters: Gil Popilski, Denis Kadric, Dani Raznikov and Angel Arribas.