The Cuban Cyclone, The Polish Magician and The Kiev Killer are headed to Kansas, and they're out for revenge. Residents of Wichita may feel they aren't in Kansas anymore later this month when the international, intellectual sport of college chess brings top UMBC players from Cuba, India, Poland and the Ukraine to town for the 2004 Pan American Intercollegiate Chess Tournament, the Super Bowl of college chess.

Recruited from around the globe, the Cyclone, Magician and Killer are nicknames for members of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) team, which is determined to recapture its standing as the number one college chess team in the western hemisphere.

At the 2003 Pan Am, UMBC was knocked off the throne by arch-rival University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). Dozens of national and international universities participate annually, including Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, and the Universities of Chicago, Peru and Toronto; still, the only team able to defeat UMBC in recent years is UTD. If UMBC recaptures the top spot this year, it will be their seventh title in ten years and will break the record for the most wins by one team.

The UMBC Retrievers team includes the number one player in Canada, Pascal "The Frenchman" Charbonneau, as well as the number one player in the U.S., Alexander "The Invincible" Onischuk, who is Ukrainian. Pawel "The Polish Magician" Blehm and and Bruci "The Cuban Cyclone," Lopez complete the Team A roster.

Team B is comprised of Beenish "The Indian Tiger" Bhatia, Katerina "The Kiev Killer" Rohonyan, John "The Maryland Mauler" Rouleau and Battsetseg "The Mongolian Terror" Tsagaan.

About the Pan American Intercollegiate Chess Tournament:

Dates: December 27 through 30, 2004

Place: Hilton Hotel and Conference Center, Wichita Airport, Wichita, KS

More information on the Pan American Intercollegiate Chess Tournament is online here.