Emma Alegria Castillo 
PHOTO COURTESY BARTEK MACIEJA
UTRGV’s Chess Team made history in 2025, becoming the first collegiate program ever to win all four major national championships in a single year.
The Vaqueros captured titles at the Pan-American Intercollegiate Championship in January, the Southwest Collegiate Championship in March, the President’s Cup in April and the Texas Collegiate Super Finals in October, completing a run that senior Grandmaster Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux said felt deeply rewarding.
“UTRGV won a few national championships a few years ago but, in the last three or four years, we had a little bit of a rough patch,” Rodrigue-Lemieux said. “We won a few tournaments but nothing so important. So, it feels good to not only win one of them, but all of them.”
Program Manager Colt Smith-Munoz, who helps oversee the operations, training logistics and player development, said this year’s success came from the environment the students built together.
“The team has very good synergy with each other,” Smith-Munoz said. “They create this very strong familiarity, and I think that’s what really helps them build up motivation.”
The historic sweep, Rodrigue-Lemiuex said, reflects both the roster’s strength and its unity.
“We’re all hardworking and we all really want to win,” he said. “We all have this passion and this desire to win. When you mix all of this together, we compete really well as a team.”
Rodrigue-Lemieux said his teammates often “carry” him in team events but emphasized the chemistry off the board translates directly to their results.
“Many of us live together in the same apartment,” he said. “We can play chess or talk about chess anytime we want. When you’re friends with all your teammates and you get along super well, it’s a better dynamic.”
Of the four championships, Rodrigue-Lemieux said the President’s Cup stood out as both the hardest and most satisfying victory.
“We won the Pan-Ams to qualify [and] that was really satisfying to win,” he said. “But we knew it was just the qualifier for the finals. [The President’s Cup] was the most challenging and rewarding. Winning it was, like, the cherry on top.”
The team earned co-champion status in April, securing UTRGV’s place at the top of collegiate chess for the first time since 2019.
Beyond collegiate play, three UTRGV students, Rodrigue-Lemieux, GM Jose Cardoso and GM Santiago Avila, qualified for the 2025 International Chess Federation World Cup, one of the most prestigious tournaments in chess, featuring 206 of the strongest players in the world.
For Rodrigue-Lemieux, who traveled to Goa, India, it was a milestone.
“It was my first time playing this tournament, and it was kind of a childhood dream,” he said. “I didn’t perform super well, but I was just happy to be there. Hopefully, I’ll be back in two years.”
In the middle of all his competitions, Rodrigue-Lemieux said he was also invited to serve as national coach for Team Canada at the World Youth Championship in October.
“I used to love playing in that tournament when I was younger,” he said. “Now that I’m too old to compete, I really love being the national coach for my home country. You’re working with the most talented juniors in your country and seeing their perspectives. Many of them are the future of chess in Canada.”
UTRGV players also teach local children through the UTRGV Chess Academy, which Smith-Munoz said reflects the team’s commitment to uplifting the community.
“It reinforces [the player’s] understanding,” he said. “The best way to understand something is to teach it.”
Smith-Munoz said the team’s success helps define them as pillars in contributing to the Rio Grande Valley’s chess community.
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