Contact: Nicole Ruediger410-455-5791, nruedige@umbc.edu The UMBC chess team heads into the 2012 Pan-Am Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship with a record nine titles to its name. The competition known informally as the Pan-Am, will be held December 27-30, 2012 at Princeton University. Since the tournament began in 1946, dozens of universities throughout the Americas have participated. The Retrievers won their first Pan-Am title in 1996, and then embarked on a five-year title streak from 1998-2002. The team, all on chess scholarships at UMBC, is composed of students not only with exceptional chess skills but also with strong academic records, says Alan Sherman, chess director. UMBC requires students to maintain a 3.0 GPA to maintain chess scholarships. The UMBC players are:Giorgi Margvelashvili (Captain), Niclas Huschenbeth, Sasha Kaplan, Nazi Paikidze. Alternates are Sabina Foisor and Adithya Balasubramanian. 2012 Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championships When: December 27-30, 2012 Where: Frick Chemistry Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540 For move-by-move progress of Pan-Am matches, go to www.monroi.com For more information on the UMBC team: Alan T. Sherman, director, UMBC Chess Program 410-963-4779 or sherman@umbc.edu