Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship

The Pan-Am began as such in 1946 (there had been earlier versions open to U.S. schools only), and is held annually, usually December 27–30.

[3] Since 2001, a separate invitational team tournament has been held: the top four finishing US schools in the Pan-Am advance to the President's Cup (informally known as the "Final Four of College Chess" and typically held in the first weekend of April), which determines the US National College or University Champion.

For many years prior to 1996, high school teams were allowed to compete in the Pan-Am Intercollegiate, though few did.

Following Bobby Fischer's victory at the 1972 World Championship, the popularity of the Pan-Am temporarily soared.

During the first decade of the twentieth century, future world champion Jose Raul Capablanca represented Columbia, on first board.

Rhode Island College, led by former US High School Chess Champions James Thibault and Sandeep Joshi, rolled to a convincing victory in 1985.

The winning 1983 team from Yale University featured 3 future US Chess Champions in Joel Benjamin, Michael Wilder, and Inna Izrailov.

Future US Chess Champion Grandmaster Patrick Wolff led Yale University to victory in 1987.

The United States Chess Federation took over the organization after the 1986 Pan-Am in Providence, Rhode Island.

Chicago 1991 saw a reigning U.S. champion appear in the Pan-Am for the first time, when 17-year-old Soviet émigré Gata Kamsky, was first board for Brooklyn College.

Kamsky lost a sensational game to Vivek Rao of the winning University of Illinois team.

The University of South Florida offered chess scholarships in 1976 to two young players, but abandoned the experiment after winning the 1976 Pan-Am.

Subsequently, Rhode Island College offered chess scholarships, and eventually won the Pan-Am in 1985.

The Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) recruited grandmasters and eventually offered chess scholarships.

The 2010 Final Four was the strongest to date: it featured UMBC (average USCF rating 2559), UTD (2574), UTB (2598), and Texas Tech (2429).