Comets Chess Program Features Full Quintet of ‘Queens’

For the first time in a decade, The University of Texas at Dallas chess program will field a full women's team to compete against the top programs that feature women's rosters.

The five-player squad for the women's chess team will feature Women's Grandmaster (WGM) Anastasia Paramzina and Woman International Masters Gergana Peycheva, Tarini Goyal, Ann Chumpitaz and Munkhzul Davaakhuu. Chumpitaz and Munkhzul are new arrivals on campus.

Grandmaster (GM) Julio Catalino Sadorra BS'13, the Comets' coach and a former player at UT Dallas, has been working since 2021 to recruit for this opportunity, and he called it another clear sign of growth for the program and the University.

"I am excited for our university to finally have a full women's team composed of internationally titled players," he said. "It's a victorious feeling to complete this project. This is the strongest women's team assembled in the history of our chess program, perhaps even in the whole Southwest."

"This is the strongest women's team assembled in the history of our chess program, perhaps even in the whole Southwest."

Julio Catalino Sadorra BS'13, UT Dallas chess coach

UT Dallas last won the top women's team title at the annual Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship in 2013. Sadorra believes the newly assembled team has a great chance to claim that title next January in Charlotte, North Carolina. But the benefits go beyond that.

"Having a team of titled women players can help us popularize chess more on our campus and in the Dallas community," Sadorra said. "When our women players hold their own, we show the public the reality of 'The Queen's Gambit.' With this many titled women players on our team, I believe our program will attract more highly ranked women chess players and bright students in the near future."

Competitive chess has long been a male-dominated pursuit; only 11% of International Chess Federation (FIDE)-rated players are women, and as of this year, less than 3% of all players ever awarded the GM title are women. Jim Stallings, director of the UT Dallas chess program, described improving gender balance as an ongoing effort.

"Women remain underrepresented in competitive chess, but the chess community is working to reduce the systemic barriers that have created this disparity," he said. "We take pride in being part of the movement to ensure that future generations have more balanced opportunities."

The so-called "Queens" roster includes students from Bulgaria, India, Russia, Peru and Mongolia. Peycheva, a business administration junior, said that the UTD chess community made adjusting to a new country easier.

"Moving to UTD as an international student from Bulgaria was tough at first, but the team, especially the women's team, quickly became my second family," she said. "Tarini became my very best friend and has been a huge support."

Peycheva described herself as "really excited" for the new season, in part because of the growth of the women's team.

"I'm especially looking forward to competing in the Pan-American Championship with a full women's team, and I'm excited to give my best and help the team with anything I can," she said.

UT Dallas recruitment benefits from word of mouth, and the chess program is no different. Chumpitaz, a transfer student from Lima, Peru, heard about the University from fellow Peruvian and current UTD information technology and management graduate student and chess GM Brian Escalante Ramirez. She said that UT Dallas provided the perfect opportunity to pursue an undergraduate physics degree while also continuing to learn and work on chess.

"All my life, I wanted to study in the United States," she said. "It was of course a big change in my life, but since I've arrived, everything has been awesome."

Perhaps no one has undergone a greater change of scenery than Munkhzul, a finance freshman, who hails from Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. About half of the 3.3 million inhabitants of the world's most sparsely populated nation reside in what is the coldest capital city in the world.

Her path to UT Dallas was enabled by Bayaraa Zorigt BS'10, MS'11, MBA'13 - a team captain on the first all-women's chess team at UT Dallas in 2007 and the current provost of American University of Mongolia.

"UTD gave me the opportunity to apply my chess skills to academics and real life," she said. "I am forever thankful to Jim Stallings and the UTD chess team for that wonderful gift. Coach Julio Sadorra, my former teammate and good friend, joins me in working to give that same golden opportunity to the next generation of talented young Mongolians."

Goyal, a business analytics and business administration graduate student, serves as the team's captain. She said the quintet's bond transcends the game of chess.

"From supporting each other in every professional endeavor to being one another's chefs and counselors, we have created a safe space for each other in this journey full of peaks and troughs," she said. "With the addition of new team members, I look forward to representing UTD alongside amazing minds from across the world."