SLU Chess Team Wins Spring 2025 Collegiate Chess League Title
04/03/2025
The Saint Louis University A Chess Team defeated the University of Missouri in the finals to win the Spring 2025 Collegiate Chess League. This win is SLU's fourth Collegiate Chess League title in the last five seasons.
SLU beat Mizzou in the finals with a convincing 10-2 win. SLU built up such an insurmountable lead that the match only went three rounds.
Photo by Sarah Conroy.
"I'm very proud of the team's accomplishment," said Head Coach Varuzhan Akobian. "This was a dominating victory against our main rival. We won all our regular matches in the regular season and rolled through the playoffs to win the Spring 2025 CCL title."
The CCL is the premier online chess competition for college students. The spring season began in January with a SLU victory over the National Technical University of Athens.
SLU's regular season performance earned them a first-round bye and a trip to the semi-finals. SLU cruised through the tournament and advanced to the semifinals. SLU beat the University of the Texas Rio Grande Valley 11-9 to earn a trip to the finals.
The finals featured a rematch between SLU and Mizzou. In the Fall 2024 CCL season, Mizzou claimed the title by beating the Billikens in the final. In the spring season, the Billiken got revenge and reclaimed their CCL crown.
The Billikens team consisted of all grandmasters. The winning squad was led by team captain Robby Kevlishvili, who was playing in his last match for SLU as he will be graduating in May. Also playing a role were Aryan Chopra, Viktor Gazik and Emin Ohanyan. All three are in their first semester at SLU. Substitute players were Batsuren Dambasuren, Nikolozi Kacharava, Steve Wang, and Shelev Oberoi.
In addition to Akobian, the team is also led by Assistant Coach Darius Swiercz.
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