TTU receives some prominent national recognition

Texas Tech, Lubbock receive some prominent national recognition
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Sunday, August 17, 2008

The support for SPICE and chess is widespread in Lubbock. For such unparalleled support for SPICE and chess, Texas Tech and Lubbock were recently awarded two of the highest national honors on Aug. 9 in Dallas.

Tech was named the Co-College of the Year (with UTD), and Lubbock was named the Co-Chess City of the Year (with Tulsa, Okla.) by the U.S. Chess Federation. And recognition for Lubbock and Tech as leaders in chess will only get bigger.

• The Knight Raiders chess team just added a new powerful member, International Chess Master Gergely Antal of Hungary. He will be the highest-rated player in team history.

Born in 1985, he was one of the top young talents in Hungary early in his career. Gergely decided to focus on his academic work instead of being a professional chess player.

He arrived in Lubbock a few days ago and he will begin his study at Tech in a few weeks.

With the addition of Gergely, the Knight Raiders chess team will be ranked in the top 10 nationally for the first time.

Three additional grandmasters are expected to join Texas Tech next year. Our strong recruiting process was made possible thanks to Texas Tech and an extremely generous pledge from a private donor earlier this year.

The gift provides $320,000 for TTU scholarships over the next five years. This support follows $25,000 in support already given to Texas Tech's chess program by the same benefactor in 2007. With strong local support, we are making a very big difference.

Here is the full article.