<p>“MIAMI (March 22) - Don’t underestimate the grocery store deli worker, the security alarm salesman or the 34-year-old computer science student who anchor the Miami Dade College chess team. The community college undergrads have already faced Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth, Northwestern and beaten them all.”</p>
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<p>Granted there are a couple members from the Cuban national team on the Miami-Dade College team…but still…pretty neat.</p>
<p>ldmom,
Although not generally thought of as highly selective institutions, UT-Dallas and UMBC are chess powerhouses. I believe it is UT-Dallas which offers a full 4 year scholarship to the winner of the United States Chess Federation’s high school championship. I am not surprised that there is another little known school which excels in chess. Certain institutions just become hotbeds for chess and recruit world class chess players just as schools might recruit basketball players.</p>
<p>momof3sons - I never knew this! ^ </p>
<p>My 8th grader, who is a little chess nut, got a kick out of the story. :)</p>