RICHARDSON, Texas  (May 2, 2001) –The University of Texas at Dallas, which last month won the “Final Four” national collegiate chess team championship in Dallas, has awarded four-year, full-tuition-and-fees scholarships to four of the top performers at the "SuperNationals II" of chess competition in Kansas City last weekend.

The winners of the scholarships, each of which has a cash value of about $45,000 to non-Texas residents, were Noah J. Siegel, 18, and Samson Benen, 16, both of New York City, John Bartholomew, 14, of Egan, Minnesota, and Noah Pang, 11, of Cambridge, Massachusetts.  The only stipulation is that the winners must meet UTD’s rigorous entrance requirements at matriculation.

Siegel and Benen, with 6½ points each, tied with Hikaru Nakamura, 14, of White Plains, New York, for first place in the National High School Championship.  Nakamura already had won a scholarship to UTD with his victory a year ago in the National Elementary School Championship in Grapevine, Texas.  Four players tied for first, with six points each, in the National Junior High School Championship.  Bartholomew won the scholarship on tiebreak points.  Pang, with a perfect score of seven points, won the National Elementary School Championship.

More than 4,700 students participated in “SuperNationals II,” making it the largest chess tournament ever held in the United States.  For the first time, the three scholastic levels of play ­ elementary, junior high and high school ­ were combined into one event.

 UTD Associate Provost and Undergraduate Dean Dr. Michael Coleman and General Studies Dean Dr. George Fair presented the scholarships to the winners.  UTD Chess Program Director and Coach Dr. Tim Redman also attended the tournament ­ in his capacity as the current president of the U.S. Chess Federation, the 90,000-member national governing body of chess, which co-sponsored “SuperNationals II” along with the Kansas City Regional Chess Council.

“We view these scholarships as a way ­ along with our McDermott Scholars program and other opportunities that are available at The University of Texas at Dallas ­ for us to recruit top high school talent nationally,” said Coleman.  “To us, competitive chess at this level is a metaphor for excellence.”

Last month, the UTD chess team defeated the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford to win the “Final Four” championship in Dallas.  UTD and UMBC had tied for first place at last December’s Pan American Intercollegiate Chess Championships in Milwaukee.

About UTD

                The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor®, enrolls approximately 6,500 undergraduate and 4,500 graduate students.  The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores.  The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. UTD, which has no football team, ranks among the top universities in the country in computer science graduates and has strong programs in many other academic areas including engineering.  For more information about UTD, please visit the university’s web site at www.utdallas.edu