A year later, Antipov is back at UT Dallas, the scene of this triumph, with a different objective: Antipov is the new coach for the Comets chess program, working with program director Julio Catalino Sadorra BS’13 to lift UTD back to the top of the collegiate chess landscape. “We are excited to welcome Grandmaster Mikhail Antipov to the UTD chess program,” Sadorra said. “Coaching is completely different from being a professional chess player. “The biggest differences from an outsider’s perspective are that there are more players in the UT Dallas program, and that studying here is more serious and more time-consuming,” Antipov said. “In collegiate chess, balancing chess work with academics can be a serious challenge.