Sacred Heart University finished in 4th place at the 2025 U1800 Pan American Intercollegiate Chess Championship hosted by the Charlotte Chess Center January 2nd – 5th! It was an exciting finish as SHU headed into the final round in sole possession of first place but was upended by New York University. Congratulations to the students representing the university at the #1 college tournament in North America!

The field of 91 teams was split into an Open Division (44 teams, 189 players) and an Under-1800 Division (47 teams, 199 players). SHU was ranked #6 in the U-1800 division entering the tournament. The team finished 4-1-1 for a score of 4.5/6.0. SHU had the toughest draw in the tournament, playing the #2, #3, #5, #6, #15, and #38 teams. See the round-by-round recap below. Full tournament results can be found here.

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, a perennial powerhouse, finished in 1st place in the Open section. The University of Cincinnati finished in 1st place in the U1800 section.

Individual scores:

Board 1 – Junior National Master Mark DeDona (5.0, 6th overall)
Board 2 – Senior Brent McCreesh (3.0, 77th overall)
Board 3 – Graduate Student Joey Cyr (4.5, 27th overall)
Board 4 – Junior Mark Khalil (4.0, 48th overall)

Team match scores:

Round 1: 3.0 – 1.0 win over United States Air Force Academy
Round 2: 3.5 – 0.5 win over University of Texas at Austin (B)
Round 3: 2.0 – 2.0 tie with Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
Round 4: 3.0 – 1.0 win over North Carolina State
Round 5: 3.5 – 0.5 win over University of Connecticut
Round 6: 1.5 – 2.5 loss to New York University

SHU is dedicated to the continued growth and success of our chess program and is actively looking for students who want to participate in the competitive arena of collegiate chess. To learn more about becoming part of our program, please email chess@sacredheart.edu or visit http://chess.sacredheart.edu