UMBC’s ranking among the best college chess teams has been continuously challenged, but at the Pan American Intercollegiate championships in Texas, UMBC won with an undefeated run.

“This is maybe the greatest chess accomplishment for UMBC, because it came against the strongest competitive field ever assembled on college chess,” Alan T. Sherman, director and founder of the UMBC program, told the Baltimore Sun.

UMBC’s team A had a total of 6.0, which was 1.5 higher than the universities with the next highest totals of 4.5, University of Texas at Dallas A and B teams and Texas Tech University. UMBC’s B team finished in sixth place with a total of 4.0.

The chess team also won a match against top-ranked University of Texas Brownsville, 2.5-1.5. UT-B finished in fifth place in this competition.

UMBC’s winning team consists of two Grandmasters Leonid Kritz and Sergey Erenburg, Woman Grandmaster Sabina-Francesca Foisor, and International Masters Giogi Margvelashvili and Sasha Kaplan.

This win continues UMBC’s streak since in the last Pan-American Intercollegiate championship UMBC was tied in first place with the University of Texas at Dallas Team B.