The top four U.S. schools from the annual Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship qualify for the President's Cup, formerly nicknamed the Final Four of College Chess. Pursuing national chess championships, universities spend millions, including chess scholarships. Chicago, Columbia, Duke, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and UC Berkeley--which don't offer chess scholarships--have played in President's Cups. But chess scholarship schools triumph year after year. Most successful is Webster University, winning seven President's Cups as of 2025. This rich history of the United States College Chess Championship, written by a former U.

S. Women's Champion, provides an account of the cup from its inception, covering a diverse roster of winners. Webster University recruited Grandmaster Wesley So from the Philippines, who would go on to become one of the world's best players. Like So, some President's Cup players compete for USA Olympiad teams, while others play for their home countries. Many become chess coaches. One helped Abhimanyu Mishra, the world's youngest grandmaster; another taught Daniel "Danya" Naroditsky, who died tragically. Others excel in diverse fields, such as business and engineering. A handful are notorious.

This definitive history of the President's Cup includes first-hand photographs and 98 annotated games, many contributed by President's Cup players.