SLU Chess Team Members, Coach to Participate in World Chess Olympiad

ST. LOUIS – Five members of the 2021-22 Saint Louis University Chess Team will represent their home countries in the 44th World Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India, from July 28 through Aug. 10. SLU Coach Alejandro Ramirez is coaching the U.S. women’s team.

The World Chess Olympiad is held every two years. 

“The Olympiad is arguably the most important chess event in the World,” said Alejandro Ramirez, the coach of SLU’s chess team. “Over 180 countries send their strongest squads to represent them in two sections: Open and Women’s.”

SLU-affiliated players include:

Open Section

• Benjamin Bok, The Netherlands
• Nikolaos Theodorou, Greece
• Cemil Can Ali Marandi, Turkey

Women’s Section

• Stavroula Tsolakidou, Greece
• Gabriela Antova, Bulgaria

Each team is composed of five players and the event is played in 11 rounds of 4×4 matches, with one of the players from each team resting a round. The tournament is played one round a day and play begins on Friday, July 29. 

“It is a great honor to qualify for the Olympiad and represent your country,” Ramirez said. “Since the pandemic forced us to skip 2020, it is nice to be back in the ultimate festival of chess.”

Follow the World Olympiad

The World Olympiad comes on the heels of SLU capturing the national championship this spring.

SLU beat Webster University for the  President’s Cup at the Final Four of Collegiate Chess on April 3. Saint Louis University picked up 7.5 points during the tournament — just enough to edge Webster’s 7. Texas Tech University placed third with 5.5 points and University of Texas at Dallas rounded out the Final Four with four points. 

About SLU’s Chess Team

Established in the fall of 2016 as a partnership between SLU and the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis, with support from SLU alumnus, University trustee and chess enthusiast Rex Sinquefield, the team is not just a club activity but rather a strategic effort by administrators and alumni to recruit promising players and build on the University’s excellent academic reputation. The team currently has 14 members and recruitment efforts continue through donor-sponsored competitive chess scholarships, which can include room and board, tuition and fees.