Pan-Ams Head to Milwaukee, December 27-30
By Alex Betaneli   
December 17, 2010
mil300.jpgThe Pan-American Intercollegiate Championships are traditionally held somewhere warm on December 27-30. At times, college students can sunbathe or even swim in the ocean. Although this year's host city Milwaukee, Wisconsin cannot promise any ocean water or particularly warm sun light (after all, we are in Midwest), there are plenty of fun activities that the players can look forward to. Skiing, ice skating, building a snowman and entering a snowball fight are just a few of the exciting options! We just had 16 inches of snow in Wisconsin, so chances are the weather will be good during the tournament :)

The Crowne Plaza hotel offers the most comfortable rooms, top level food choices, and a terrific bar among other things. Not that most college students drink, but perhaps their coaches might want to relax during the games. Twenty seven teams have already entered (see the list below), with over 20 titled players including  ten Grandmasters! The rating favorites include three schools from Texas (University of Texas, Brownsville; University of Texas, Dallas, Texas Tech University) and the Univeristy of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). All four teams have an average rating over 2500. Other hopefuls are Standford (2211 average), Miami Dade College (2100 average) and University of Toronto (2100 average). Shall we have problems with power, the teams will be forced to compete outside. In this case, Toronto would become a clear favorite!

Many side events are scheduled to be held during the tournament. Blitz Championship is set for the evening of Tuesday, December 28th. With $1,500 in prizes, many players are expected to play. The Pan American Open section ($2,900 in prizes) already has almost fifty participants signed up, including GM Alex Yermolinksy of South Dakota and several strong masters. Two scholastic sections are also offered.

It is not too late to sign up, just drop an email to the organizer, [email protected]. Please visit the official website http://www.panamerican.wichessacademy.com/ during the tournament and look for terrific photos by Betsy Dynako and updates on CLO.

Teams Entered (average ratings are approximate and might change):

University of Texas,Brownsville-A 2612
Univeristy of Maryland, Baltimore-A 2585
University of Texas, Dallas-A 2550
Texas Tech University-A 2526
University of Texas, Dallas-B 2500
University of Maryland, Baltimore-B 2280
University of Texas, Brownsville-B 2247
Stanford University 2211
Miami Dade College-A 2100
University of Toronto-A 2031
University of Texas, Dallas-C 2029
University of Chicago 1983
Texas Tech University-B 1951
University of Minnesota 1903
University of Central Florida-A 1902
Washington University-Saint Louis 1901
Arizona State University 1883
University of Toronto-B 1834
Miami Dade College-B 1800
Brown University 1799
Texas Tech University-C 1775
University of Maryland, College Park-B 1621
University of Maryland, College Park-A 1614
Reed College (OR) 1597
Florida Atlantic University 1400
University of Central Florida-B 1201
Madison Area Technical College (WI) 1100