Andrei Zaremba

Andrei Zaremba

Andrei Zaremba, 20, of Dearborn, Mich., a member of the national collegiate champion chess team at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), tied for third place in the prestigious U.S. Junior Invitational Chess Championship held in Dallas July 18-23. The tournament, which pitted the ten top-rated chess players in the United States under the age of 21 against each other, was won by Aaron Pixton, 16, of Vestal, N.Y. Vinay Bhat, 18, of San Jose, Calif., finished second, while Daniel Fernandez, 17, of Boca Raton, Fla., shared third place with Zaremba.

Dmitry Schneider, 17, of New City, N.Y., who will enroll as a freshman this fall at UTD and compete on the university’s chess team, tied for fifth in the invitation-only event, which was co-sponsored by the U.S. Chess Federation and the Dallas Chess Club.

In the U.S. Junior Open chess championship, held concurrently at the same venue, UTD finished at the top of the team standings due to strong performances by university chess team members Andrey Dokuchayev and Enrique Rios, who finished in a four-way tie for first place among individual competitors. The U.S. Junior Open drew some of the nation’s best under-21 players that did not compete in the invitational tournament.