11th annual SPF Girls' Invitational - Additional prizes for World Youth Qualifiers

Rules & Conditions for the 11th Annual Susan Polgar Foundation Girls' Invitational
(Over $200K in prizes and scholarships)
July 10 – 15, 2014 at Webster University (St. Louis, Missouri)

Webster University will provide complimentary room and meal accommodation on campus for all qualifiers!

The annual Susan Polgar Girls’ Invitational, in its 11th year, is the most prestigious all-girls event in the United States. It will once again be held at Webster University (St. Louis, Missouri).

• There will be an intense training session with Susan Polgar and members of the SPICE team, followed by a 6 round (g/90+30) FIDE rated championship tournament.

• The traditional Blitz, Puzzle Solving, Bughouse events will stay the same as in previous years.

• There will be many chess prizes awarded, as well as scholarships to Webster University.

Each state is allowed one representative to be nominated by May 20, 2014. Official representative alternates may be substituted no later than June 15. (Susan Polgar and/or the Polgar Committee may allow the host state to enter an additional qualified player.) Susan Polgar and/or the Polgar Committee may allow exceptions to the May 20 entry/alternate deadline. Should the state affiliate fail to respond to the notice for this tournament, Susan Polgar and/or the Polgar Committee may determine the candidate from that state.

Players must have been enrolled in a school (up to 12th grade) located in the state they represent, also of the year in which the tournament is held. Home-schooled students who are under the age of 19 on July 10th of the year in which the event is held or students who have never attended college on a full time basis prior to June 1 of the year in which the tournament is held, are eligible to represent the state in which they reside.

Exception: If a player graduates from high school early and is already attending college, she may still represent her state if nominated. This is the decision of each state affiliate.

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: The participants of the Susan Polgar Girl’s Invitational DO NOT have to be high school students. Any qualifier under the age of 19 (by July 10th of the year in which the tournament is held) is eligible!

Special invitation for this year only: All past participants of the SPNI and SPFGI (Susan Polgar National Invitational/Susan Polgar Foundation Girls’ Invitational 2004-2013) are invited to participate in the 2014 SPFGI. The idea is to have the past participants learn my method of training so they can go back home and share their knowledge with the younger players. However, registration MUST be made ASAP since space is limited. There will be mutual training sessions for all, however separate section & prizes for alumni participants over the age of 19.

Players are required to furnish the organizer an emergency phone number and the e-mail address of a parent/guardian.

There is no entry fee to participate in the 2014 SPFGI; however, players are responsible for their own travel. For all state representatives, and qualifiers from the SPNO or SPWO, Webster University will provide complimentary room and meal accommodation on campus.

For alumni participants, wild card/special invites, coaches, parents, or other family members, inexpensive accommodations are available for housing and dining on Webster’s campus. Please note that all reservations and registrations MUST be made (and accommodation expenses prepaid) no later than June 15, 2014.

Prizes: Trophies / plaques will be awarded to the winners of the Susan Polgar Foundation Girl’s Invitational Puzzle Solving, Blitz, and the SPFGI Championship. Co-champions are recognized in the case of a tie, with each champion receiving a Champion’s Plaque or Trophy.

The Champion (or Co-Champions) of the main event will automatically be invited to defend her/their title (must meet age requirement).

Champion: Webster University scholarship* (approximately $24,000+ per year x 4 years) Champion's Cup. (In case of a tie, a playoff will used to determine the level of scholarships)

2nd place: Webster University scholarship (approximately $14,000+ per year x 4 years)

3rd place: Webster University scholarship (approximately $12,000+ per year x 4 years)

Brand new additional prizes this year!

Top under 16: $1,000 scholarship to help defray expenses to the 2014 World Youth (if participating**)

Top under 14: $1,000 scholarship to help defray expenses to the 2014 World Youth (if participating**)

Top under 12: $1,000 scholarship to help defray expenses to the 2014 World Youth (if participating**)

Top under 10: $1,000 scholarship to help defray expenses to the 2014 World Youth (if participating**)

* The scholarships to Webster University must be exercised no later than Fall of 2017, and are not transferable. In addition, these scholarships cannot be combined with other academic scholarships, or stacked. If players won scholarships in past events, they can choose to exercise the highest one.

** After flight ticket has been purchased, a $1,000 reimbursement check will be sent to the winners.

The Polgar Committee’s goal is to have all 50 states (including two representatives for California, two for Texas, and two for Missouri) and the District of Columbia represented. We strongly encourage each state and the District of Columbia affiliate to hold a scholastic championship tournament to determine each state’s champion and representative. Failing this, rating criteria may be acceptable. A scholastic girls’ champion or the highest rated girls’ scholastic player in a state who has no state affiliate of the USCF should contact the Polgar Committee as soon as possible.

Susan Polgar and/or the Polgar Committee and its members may elect to award a limited number of wild cards each year for the Susan Polgar Girl’s Invitational.

Special qualifying events: The Polgar Committee will award automatic qualifying spots to the reigning winners in each section of the annual Susan Polgar NO for Girls (New Orleans) and the Susan Polgar World Open for Girls (Chicago).

The SPFGI Chairperson is Martha Underwood (AZ).

NOTICE TO ALL STATE OFFICIALS: Please send the nomination from your state to the Polgar Committee (PolgarCommittee@gmail.com).

Contact info: Polgar Committee (PolgarCommittee@gmail.com)

The Susan Polgar Foundation can be contacted at 806-281-7424 or through info@PolgarFoundation.org.

Even more prizes added for the SPF Girls' Invitational

Last night, I made the announcement that I will personally sponsor an additional $5,000 cash prizes for the top 3 finishers of the 10th annual Susan Polgar Foundation Girls' Invitational. You can read what I wrote below.

Today, one of the sponsors / partners of the Susan Polgar Foundation just donated another special prize for the winner, valued at approximately $2,400! The official announcement will be made at the Opening Ceremony.

This means that the winner can potentially win the following:

- Full tuition and fees scholarship to Webster University (approximately $100,000)
- Cash scholarship ($3,000)
- iPad mini (approximately $340)
- Another special prize (approximately $2,400)
- Champion's trophy
 
Here is what I wrote yesterday:

Around 12-13 years ago, the Executive Director of the United States Chess Federation (USCF) visited me at my Chess Center in Queens, NY, to ask me to help the federation in various important areas. Two of the things I was asked to help were:

- To create a serious US Women's Olympiad chess program as no women's team from the US has ever won any medal before that.

- To help boost girls' chess popularity in the US as they were being ignored at that time.

I said yes and immediately began to work to improve a number of different aspects. The first official business was to create the Susan Polgar Foundation (SPF).

Then, the Women's Olympiad training program was created in late 2002 / early 2003. The program included IM Irina Krush, IM Anna Zatonskih (at that time was a WGM), IM Rusa Goletiani (at that time was a WGM), and WGM Jennifer Shahade (at that time was a WIM). I even came out of retirement after nearly 9 years of hiatus to participate and lead this team.

In 2004, the US Women's team captured 4 medals (2 gold and 2 silver) at the Calvia Chess Olympiad. Since 2003, every single US Women's Champion has come from this Women's Olympiad training program which I created.

Also in 2003, I created the Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls (it is now called the SPF Girls' Invitational), the most prestigious all-girls national championship in the US. This was the first all-girls national championship created in the United States and it was unanimously approved by the Executive Director and the USCF Executive Board.

A few months later, I persuaded the USCF to approve the All-Girls National Championship (sponsored by KCF). I also created two additional events: the Susan Polgar National Open for Girls and the Susan Polgar World Open for Girls (both sponsored by the SPF).

Since then, nearly $2 million in scholarships (through SPF and our partners) have been awarded to girls in events which my foundation organized and sponsored. This is the 10th year of the SPF Girls' Invitational, and it will be the largest one ever, with 58 young ladies qualified. To celebrate the tremendous success of this event, I decided to expand it by inviting some additional young female players from North, Central, and South America.

The total budget / prizes / scholarships for this championship is almost $250,000! It is unprecedented for girls' chess anywhere. All state representatives and qualifiers will receive free rooms and meals for the entire duration of the event, plus many extra goodies. Over the years, thousands of girls have competed all across the United States to earn spots in the invitationals.

I am very proud to lead the charge to get more girls involved in chess, and to revolutionize girls' chess in America. To celebrate the special 1oth anniversary, I have just decided to personally sponsor $5,000 cash scholarship to the top 3 finishers ($3,000 to 1st, $1,500 to 2nd, and $500 to 3rd).

This is a surprise as it was not announced before. The winners can use the cash prizes toward school / tournament expenses, or additional coaching, however they wish. I also hope to attract additional sponsors next year to make this event even better.

http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2013/07/big-10th-anniversary-surprise-for-girls.html

The Revolutionary Mind, an interview by Renata Holcmann

Polgar: The Revolutionary Mind, an interview by Renata Holcmann
 
I was interviewed by Renata Holcmann of Columbia University. With her permission, I would like to share what she wrote with you.

The very first time I heard the name Polgar was when I was at a local chess tournament in my hometown of Papa, Hungary. Both me and my sister won first place in our categories and some people were murmuring that “they might be the next Polgar sisters.” This idea of sibling chess prodigies very much appealed to my mother and she encouraged us to keep playing and hoped that we -as sisters- would go far with chess. Unfortunately, this dream of hers evaporated in a sudden moment when my sister decided to quit chess when she lost a game to me. So from then on, it was only me, who followed the news about the Polgar sisters and dreamed of meeting them one day. But out of the three sisters I really wanted to meet Susan – the oldest one –, who was the fore-runner in the Polgar family and became a true icon, for many of her accomplishments, in the chess world.

Susan (Zsuzsanna) Polgar was born in Budapest, on April 19th in 1969. Both her parents –Laszlo and Klara Polgar- were school teachers. When I asked Susan how she started to play chess, she quite surprised me with her answer: “Accidentally. I was searching for a new toy and found the chess set.” Then she went on explaining with quite an enthusiasm how she immediately fell in love with the shape of the pieces. She demanded her mother to play a game with her, but she told her that she has to wait until her father comes home and he would teach her then. Then the studying of this royal game began for Susan, just at the age of four! She very much enjoyed learning tactics and found the checkmate puzzles a lot of fun. Not long after her 4th birthday, she entered a chess tournament in Budapest. She competed in the 1st to 4th grade category (almost everyone was twice her age) and won all her ten games, becoming the Budapest Champion. After this event, her life changed forever. The media started following her every move and she was labeled as a “wunderkind.” Hungary’s reaction to her sudden success was divided: a small group of people responded positively to her great achievement, believing that she truly is a chess prodigy. While others started attacking her parents for not letting her play with dolls or at the playground, instead making her sit by the chessboard for hours. This was the bigger group, the pessimists and jealous crowd who also thought that her winning the Budapest Champion title was just an accident, a one-time lucky event and saw no future for her in chess. They could not be more wrong about her…

When Susan turned six years old, her parents made a decision to home-school her since she already knew how to read and write, was years ahead in Math and also spoke Russian fluently. Susan claims, “My Russian became almost as good as my native tongue” due to being enrolled in a nursery school in the previous years where they only spoke Russian. Also, not being in school all day, gave her the chance to spend more time with chess. Predictably, because of this, her parents were constantly attacked in the media. Susan emphasized how much her parents sacrificed for her and her sisters to make it possible for them to succeed. There were many hurdles over the years, but they gave a tremendous support for them at all times. At the time in Hungary, it was acceptable for a high-school aged athlete to be home-schooled in order to practice more and travel to competitions, but nobody had ever heard of keeping a child home -from the very beginning, grade one- to improve her chess skills! Then again, the world still had to wait and see how Susan’s hard work and determination would pave the road to her successful future.

Susan has two sisters, Sophia who is five and a half years younger and Judit, who is seven years younger than her. Being the oldest one, Susan often taught her sisters chess throughout the years, but she was also setting a good example for them about her work ethic. She worked extremely hard, some days practiced even six to eight hours! Usually, she played in ten to twelve tournaments per year. These were long competitions that lasted two or three weeks. Starting from age four, Susan studied from books and studied with different chess coaches. From our conversation I found out that her father was an excellent teacher, but she also had other influential coaches in her life. For instance, Eva Karakas gave Susan the love for the game, but she gained a tremendous amount of knowledge from Laszlo Hazai and Lev Psakhis as well. She studied chess in various ways:

* Solved puzzles to improve her tactical and calculation skills
* Studied many grandmasters’ games to understand different strategies
* Memorized master games and played blindfold chess to improve her visualization skills
* Studied many endgames
* Played a lot of practice games with family members and friends
* Regularly played in club tournaments

In 1979, at the age of ten, Susan became a National Woman Master after finishing in sixth place in the Hungarian Women’s Championship. In 1982, she earned her first FIDE Master norm after beating a much higher ranked player –Laszlo Liptay- with black pieces in the last round of the Balatonbereny, Hungary tournament. (FIDE is the World Chess Federation.) Soon after that she earned her other two norms and became a FIDE Master and automatically received her Hungarian National Master title as well, since the FIDE Master title is a higher. I asked Susan how she felt when she was just a child, competing against -very strong- adult players, all the time. She told me that she greatly enjoyed the challenge, and it made her feel big, she wanted to be looked at more than just a little girl, she wanted to be taken seriously.

In 1981 she played abroad for the first time, in the World Under-16 Girls’ Championship in Westergate, England. It was a tough tournament, but after defeating two main rivals of the tourney -the English Teresa Needham and the Polish Jolanta Rojek- she only needed a draw in the last round against the American Baracca Shabbaz to win 1st place. So even though she was up a pawn, she could agree to a draw and with that she captured the World Under-16 Girl Chess Champion title.

Susan, even though she was a top-class player- was left out of many chess tournaments due to being a female chess player. According to Susan, her the most painful experience was when she was denied the chance to compete in the Men’s World Chess Championship, -after qualifying for it from the overall Hungarian Championship- providing her an unreasonable explanation that it was only for men and she could not represent Hungary. The most shocking fact was that she was officially the #1 ranked female player on the July 1984 world rating list, but still FIDE would not allow her to play. I can only imagine the sadness she must have experienced at that time, but she turned her frustration to strength and from then on -because of this unfair treatment-, she tirelessly fought for equality in chess. In the 1986 FIDE Congress she finally achieved that they officially changed the name of this event, leaving the “Men’s” part out of it and making the title the World Chess Championship. So due to Susan’s incredible success in chess and her courage to stand up and fight for her beliefs, today girls and women can compete in chess tournaments among men.

Susan‘s prowess in chess rightfully earned her a place to be in the highest circles of the chess world and this gave her the opportunity to not only meet, but play chess with many of the most elite chess players and world champions of our times. Among them were Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal, Spassky, Fischer, Karpov, Kasparov and Anand.

In 1984, after ten years of hard work and sacrifices, Susan became an International Master. In the summer of 1988, in Royan, France, Susan earned her very first GM (grandmaster) norm. A year later, she earned her second GM norm, in Leon, Spain. Also, in 1988, she was selected with her two sisters –Sophia and Judit- along with Ildiko Madl to represent Hungary in the Olympiad in Thesasaloniki, Greece. Susan played on the first board all the fourteen games -without a break- and scored 10.5 and did not lose a single game! Her sisters and Ildiko also performed well and the Hungarian teenage team won the Olympiads, beating the “unbeatable” Soviet team.

In 1990, the Hungarian team –with the same players- won the gold medal again in Novi Sad. But besides the team’s gold medal, the Polgar sisters also won individual gold medals on board one, two and three. (Ildiko Madl only played two games at this time.) This time, Susan scored 11 points, winning eight games and drawing six. This again, was truly an unbelievable achievement at such a high-class competition.

In January of 1991, Susan earned her final GM norm in Pamplona, Spain and with that she became the first woman ever to earn the highest chess title of International Grandmaster. When I asked her what it meant to her to achieve this great height in chess, she told me that: “It was very special to me. Even when I was a teenager, many professional players doubted me. They simply didn’t believe that it was possible for a woman to meet all the requirements to earn the Men’s Grandmaster title. I was very eager to get there and was working very hard for many years. So when I finally earned the title, it was justification as well as fulfillment of my long-awaited dream.”

In 1992, the Hungarian Chess Federation organized the Blitz (5 min.) and Rapid (30 min.) Women’s World Championship in Budapest. Susan scored 22.5 points out of 25 games and won 1st place. In the fifteen-round rapid tournament, she collected 12 points without losing a single game and again finished ahead of her sisters, at 1st place. Susan repeated these phenomenal performances in later years and in 1996 she won her fourth Women’s World Chess Championships. To add to that, she is the only World Champion, male or female, who ever won the triple crown (blitz, rapid and classical world championships). She is also a five-time Olympic Chess Champion who collected ten overall medals (five gold, four silver, and one bronze). When I asked her about her favorite game, she told me that it was from the 2004 Olympiad, in Calvia, against Maia Chiburdanidze, the former Women's World Champion. I looked at the game. It was truly brilliant, full of tactical ideas and strategic maneuvering. In the endgame, Susan had two passed pawns -supported by her rook- that were unstoppable, so after the 39th move Chiburdanidze resigned.

Susan holds a record for 56 consecutive Olympiad game unbeaten streak and all on board one. In fact, she has never lost a single game. In 2005, Susan played 326 simultaneous games (won 309, drew 14 and lost only 3), and by doing so, she broke four previous world records. In 2006, she became the Woman’s Chess Cup Champion. She won the US Open Blitz Chess Championship three times, in 2003, in 2005 and in 2006, ahead of all the other male participants.

When I asked her how she could become such a strong chess player -in other words, what was her recipe for success- she told me “The love of the game was number one, then discipline, but also, perseverance and motivation were essential too.”

In describing herself as a chess player, I learned that first, she wants to achieve a solid base, so she plays the opening carefully. She always plans ahead, looks at the whole picture and reacts to the needs of the situation at all times. So in order to succeed, one must be a flexible, universal player.

In 2002, Susan founded the Susan Polgar Foundation, a non-profit organization to promote chess as an educational tool –especially among girls-, as well as a social and a competitive activity. She is also the director of SPICE, the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence where she has been coaching the Knight Raiders Chess Team. She expressed to me that she greatly enjoys sharing her knowledge with her students and loves to see them improve and perform well in tournaments.

Her chess team recently had a huge success at the Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship, beating teams like Yale and Stanford. The TTU Knight Raiders made the Final Four in its first try in Division I. They won the Final Four which is the National Division I Championship in the second try, in spite of being the lowest seed. Again, she made history.

In an article called, “Knight Raiders Win National Championship” Paul Truong said that: “Susan became the first female to coach a men’s Division I team to the National Championship. You cannot even imagine, let’s say, a female coaching a men’s basketball team or men’s football team to the national title, but in chess, she showed that it can happen.”

She dominated the coaching scene by coaching 3 different teams with 2 different universities, TTU and Webster University, to win three straight Final Four Championships.

Susan also sponsors and organizes several prominent annual events, such as the Susan Polgar World Open and National Open for Boys and Girls, the Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls Championship and the prestigious SPICE Cup at TTU and Webster University.

Over the years, Susan won many impressive awards for her work. Here are some examples:

* “Coach of the Year” (2013)
* “US Scholastic Chess Ambassador” (2006, again, she was the first recipient ever)
* “Chess Educator of the Year” (2003, she was the first recipient ever)
* Three-time Winner of the Chess Journalists of America Award for Best Magazine Column and Best Endgame Analysis

I asked Susan what her message is to today’s young chess players. This is what she responded: “I believe chess is a great opportunity. Whether you just play for fun or play competitively, you improve your thinking skills and learn many life skills. Also, you can use chess to open doors to a better future. In the United States there are more than thirty colleges that offer chess scholarships. In addition, chess can also help you get job interviews and potentially help you get hired. It truly has countless benefits.” I could not agree with her more.

Susan Polgar truly made a difference in the world. By breaking the gender barrier, she proved that woman can play chess just as well as men or even better. Due to her efforts to achieve equality in chess, today, girls and women do not have to go through any hurdles –that she experienced- but can freely play chess anywhere in the world. In my view, sports must have freedom, so that any athlete/player can reach their full potentials without facing unnecessary obstacles along the way. Susan is one of the purest examples of motivation and perseverance; she showed the world that everything is possible if you set your mind to it and work hard. She is my inspiration and I am certain that there are many others out there who feel the same way.

An unprecedented move

The ‘Queen’ Wants to Turn Chess Into a Spectator Sport 
By Jason Fagone 
02.12.13 6:30 AM 
Wired Magazine

Julian Schuster first heard the rumor a year and a half ago. Susan Polgar, the legendary grand master known to journalists as “the Queen,” was unhappy in her current position as Texas Tech’s chess coach. She was feeling unappreciated. She had made this known to certain people in the tight-knit world of chess, and the news had traveled from one of these confidants, a foreign grand master living in Texas, to the ears of Schuster, a passionate fan of the game, in St. Louis.

He knew her story, of course; it had achieved the status of legend. Her father raised her and her two sisters to be chess prodigies. In the 1980s, the three Polgar sisters began showing up at tournaments and crushing all comers, men and women alike. At age 21, Susan, the eldest of the three, became the first woman to earn the title of grand master in the way men always had, by proving she could hold her own in competition against other grand masters. Once, over the course of 16 hours and 30 minutes, she played 326 chess games simultaneously, winning 309 of them—a world record at the time. She blazed a trail for women in the game.

Beyond her career at the board, Polgar had made a name for herself as a dominant coach—arguably the dominant coach—in the thriving if mostly invisible world of American collegiate chess. In 2007, at the age of 38, she took her first coaching job, at Texas Tech, whose team was then unranked. By 2010 she had led the Knight Raiders’ all-male squad to the President’s Cup, known as “the Final Four of college chess”; the following two years the Raiders won it all, topping not just Yale and Princeton but the two traditional chess powerhouses, the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).

But the conflicts between Polgar and Texas Tech over the kind of issues usually associated with big-time football programs—scholarships, resources, the future of the team—were real, as Schuster, provost of Missouri’s Webster University, would soon learn. A small private school with an unusually dense network of international campuses, Webster lacked a chess team, despite the fact that its main campus was located just outside the city limits of America’s new chess capital. St. Louis is home to the top-ranked player in the US, 25-year-old Hikaru Nakamura, as well as one of the game’s most deep-pocketed benefactors, 68-year-old multimillionaire Rex Sinquefield, who stepped up to build the most opulent chess venue in the country and probably the world, the 6,000-square-foot, $1 million-plus Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis.

In the summer of 2011, Schuster, a native of the former Yugoslavia who grew up hearing tales of the Polgar sisters’ heroics, invited Susan to St. Louis. He gave her a tour of the Webster campus and, later, talked to her about the resources the school could provide if she decided to coach there. Polgar liked what she heard. In February 2012, she announced that she would be transferring to Webster as its new chess coach. But not only that; eight of her players would be transferring too. Webster would be picking up their scholarships. It was unprecedented: A college chess coach was shifting allegiance from one university to another and bringing a significant chunk of her team with her. No volleyball coach, no tennis or baseball coach, had ever done anything close. News of the deal made The New York Times, USA Today, National Public Radio, and even that custodian of the sporting zeitgeist, ESPN.com.

Polgar’s sudden departure from Texas Tech surprised her fellow collegiate chess coaches, but they couldn’t deny that the move made sense for Webster; they knew how useful chess could be for a school looking to boost its intellectual reputation. 

Full 11 page article here.

My Life Through Pictures and Music

Some of the interesting people I met during my chess career:

President Mikhail Gorbachev, President George HW Bush, World Champion Bobby Fischer, World Champion Boris Spassky, World Champion Anatoly Karpov, World Champion Mikhail Tal, World Champion Vishy Anand, World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik, World Champion Vasily Smyslov, World Champion Veselin Topalov, World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, World #1 Magnus Carlsen, World Champion Alexander Khalifman, Oscar winner Jane Fonda, Oscar winner Michael Douglas, Oscar winner Robin Williams, Oscar winner Meryl Streep, Oscar winner Paul Newman, Grammy winner Josh Groban, Tony winner Sutton Foster, Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor George Pataki, Best-selling author Katherine Neville, Grammy nominee Bering Strait, IM Josh Waitzkin, US Champion Lev Alburt, Philanthropist Rex Sinquefield, Grand Slam champion Monica Seles, NBA champion Kareem Abdul Jabbar, World Boxing champion Arthur Abraham, etc.

Hour long discussion on WPR about the benefits of chess

Hour long discussion with Susan Polgar and Lisa Suhay about many benefits of chess, especially for young people. Rob Ferrett hosted the show for Kathleen Dunn.

Rob Ferrett in for Kathleen Dunn



from Thursday, August 2, 2012 at 10:00 PM The Summer Olympics are well under way, but chess is not included in the list of events even though it is an officially-recognized sport. This hour, Rob Ferrett and his guests discuss the benefits, history, and cultural significance of chess.

Guests:

- Susan Polgar, Chess Grandmaster and winner of 4 Women's World Chess Championships and 5 Olympiad Gold Medals. Director, Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (S.P.I.C.E), Webster University.

- Lisa Suhay, journalist and children's book author. Founder, Norfolk Initiative for Chess Excellence (N.I.C.E).

SP Girls' Invitational Final Standings

Final standings

##	Name	ID	Rtng	Post	-1-	-2-	-3-	-4-	-5-	-6-	Tot	TB-M	TB-S	TB-O	TB-C
1	Apurva Virkud	13464694	1967	1987	W21	W20	W7	W8	W2	W6	6	20	23	90	21
2	Mandy Lu	13907446	1761	1778	W34	W13	W3	W9	L1	W10	5	22	24	90½	19
3	Kristen Sarna	13102097	1591	1620	W38	W23	L2	W18	W8	D4	4½	19½	21½	76½	16½
4	Maggie Feng	14105448	1728	1714	L23	W40	W29	W12	W9	D3	4½	18	19½	72	14½
5	Maraani Kamphorst	14521372	1815	1819	Z43	U---	W43	W15	W29	W13	4½	10½	10½	41½	12½
6	Claudia Munoz	13481236	1872	1856	W27	D19	W11	D10	W7	L1	4	21	24	86	16
7	Katherine Davis	14381402	1668	1667	W26	W30	L1	W11	L6	W18	4	20	22½	83	15
8	Clarissa Abella	13528222	1692	1685	W25	W24	W18	L1	L3	W19	4	19½	22½	84	16
9	Savanna Naccarato	14207292	1600	1607	W40	W44	W14	L2	L4	W24	4	19	20½	71	16
10	Evelyn Chen	13547567	1501	1552	D29	W17	W19	D6	W22	L2	4	18½	21	81½	15½
11	Diamond Shakoor	13972728	1293	1393	W36	W16	L6	L7	W28	W20	4	17½	19½	71	14
12	Vanita Young	13835092	1461	1478	W41	L14	W25	L4	W34	W22	4	16	17½	60½	13
13	Rebecca Deland	13470414	1349	1390	W45	L2	W23	D14	W21	L5	3½	19½	20	69	13½
14	Annastasia Wyzywany	13984743	1801	1763	W32	W12	L9	D13	D19	D15	3½	18	20½	74	14
15	Amelia Wyzywany	13984737	1466	1451	L30	W37	W34	L5	W25	D14	3½	16	18	59	11½
16	Sadia Qureshi	14024572	1607	1562	W33	L11	D30	W17	L20	W29	3½	15½	17½	62	12
17	Aiya Cancio	13850035	1255	1265	D31	L10	W33	L16	W40	W21	3½	15	16½	58	10
18	Heather Young	13153973	1345	1368	W39	W22	L8	L3	W23	L7	3	14	20½	75½	13
19	Ashritha Eswaran	14044705	1484	1491	W46	D6	L10	W31	D14	L8	3	14	20	69½	12½
20	Cheryl Liu	12848066	1580	1547	W37	L1	W32	L21	W16	L11	3	13	21	71½	12
21	Mina Takahashi	14333584	1254	1263	L1	W38	W26	W20	L13	L17	3	13	21	69½	12
22	Cristina Pieve Ferrer	14697376	1674	1620	W28	L18	W27	W24	L10	L12	3	13	20	70½	13
23	Logan Schoonover	14163285	1015	1084	W4	L3	L13	W36	L18	W33	3	13	19½	69½	10
24	Joy Chen	13499884	1295	1293	W35	L8	W28	L22	W26	L9	3	13	19	69	12
25	Tori Whatley	13269020	1006	1018	L8	W33	L12	W42	L15	W35	3	11½	16½	55½	9
26	Rea Katarina Chroneos	14431605	921	1031	L7	W35	L21	W27	L24	W34	3	11	17	61	9
27	Anjana Murali	14490650	1179	1178	L6	W46	L22	L26	W32	W30	3	11	17	55½	8
28	Bryn Dolan	14090925	928	938	L22	W39	L24	W35	L11	W37	3	10	16	55	9
29	Elisabeth Gondolo	13236653	593	826	D10	W31	L4	W30	L5	L16	2½	17	22	73	11
30	Isabel James	13435414	1124	1155	W15	L7	D16	L29	W31	L27	2½	15	19	65½	10
31	Sneha Chikkala	13008090	1271	1208	D17	L29	W36	L19	L30	W40	2½	11½	15	56	8
32	Chenyi Zhao	14465305	1082	1052	L14	W41	L20	D40	L27	W36	2½	11	14½	48½	7½
33	Helen Vaughn	13832662	864	838	L16	L25	L17	W39	W42	L23	2	12½	16	50	5
34	Alexandra Mann	14138695	1021	995	L2	W45	L15	W43	L12	L26	2	12	17	59	8
35	Ananya Murali	14692845	Unr.	729	L24	L26	W37	L28	W43	L25	2	12	15	49½	6
36	Marleah Mullen	14417932	101	240	L11	W42	L31	L23	W39	L32	2	11	15	48½	7
37	Sarah Cheatham	14220140	622	625	L20	L15	L35	W45	W38	L28	2	10½	14	43½	5
38	Janna Borg	13284210	645	584	L3	L21	L39	W41	L37	W42	2	9½	14	44½	4
39	Faith Munoz	13999788	320	367	L18	L28	W38	L33	L36	W45	2	9½	12½	39	5
40	Esther Whitney	14084916	823	830	L9	L4	W45	D32	L17	L31	1½	13	17½	57	5½
41	Jade Hibdon	13967740	339	316	L12	L32	L42	L38	D45	W43	1½	7	11	35	2
42	Dyhemia Young		Unr.	111	L44	L36	W41	L25	L33	L38	1	10½	13½	33	4
43	Aksithi Eswaran	14583755	503	445	Z5	H---	L5	L34	L35	L41	1	5½	10½	29	4½
44	Mary Kerr	14437867	179	231	W42	L9	U---	U---	U---	U---	1	1	5	20	6
45	Jenaye Hibdon	13967755	338	297	L13	L34	L40	L37	D41	L39	½	9	12½	39	1
46	Evelyn Kerr	14201134	574	572	L19	L27	U---	U---	U---	U---	0	3	6	20	0

About 400 pictures here: https://picasaweb.google.com/SPICEChess/SPGirlsInvitational2011

Not even a black eye is going to keep me from winning

Students use chess to help them learn skills needed for success

Posted: July 27, 2011 - 12:30am | Updated: July 27, 2011 - 12:34am

By CHANA ELGIN Copyright 2011 . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

If life is a game, two Young girls are on their way to success.

Meet Dyhemia and Vanita Young. Although not related, and besides their last names, the two have more in common than one may think.

Both are charter school students; both have been involved with child services and both are skilled in the game of chess.

“I’ve been playing chess since I was in sixth grade, so probably 12 years old,” Vanita said. “I used to just move the pieces, but one day it clicked and all started making sense.”

The 17-year-old from Philadelphia is in Lubbock this week attending the Texas Tech Susan Polgar Girls Invitational. The top-rated girl from each state is invited to Texas Tech for three days of intensive training and three days of tournament play. Special invitations were also sent to a select group of girls, including Dyhemia.

Opening ceremonies for the eighth annual tournament begin today at 9:30 a.m. Players’ ages range from 5-18 years old.

Vanita is calm, but smiles when her logical skill level is discussed.

“I hope I’m going to win.”

Dyhemia cannot be ignored when she enters a room. Sixteen years old, hair loosely pulled back in a ponytail, the California teen said she is ready to play.

“I look at my life as a chess game,” Dyhemia said. “I need my pieces - my family - to be protected.”

Currently residing in a group home in San Francisco, Dyhemia said her journey to Lubbock was not a normal one.

In a news release sent to local media, it was revealed the help of a missing persons unit was needed to track down Dyhemia for an invitation to be received at all.

“I was just in between homes at the time,” she said. “I am stunned people went to the trouble they did to get me here.”

Dyhemia said Jada Pinkett-Smith’s agent sent her group home’s leader a text explaining an interest on behalf of the celebrity to assist in the trip for Dyhemia financially.

U.S. Sen. Bob Brady of Pennsylvania acted in a similar way offering to send Vanita to the invitational inspired by the aspiring Texas Tech student’s story.

“Scholarships are handed out to the winners of the tournament and I would love to come to Tech one day,” Vanita said. “It’s warm here and people are very friendly.”

Vanita and Dyhemia are both without their biological parents. Dyhemia lives with about 20 other girls in the San Francisco area and Vanita lives with her grandfather in Philadelphia.

Maintaining eye contact and a straight face, as if she had practiced, Vanita said the situation with her parents is something she still thinks about on a daily basis.

“My mom abandoned me and my dad when I was 2 and he died when I was 13,” Vanita said. “I play chess, and I don’t have to think about what’s going on in my personal life.”

Dyhemia smiles and makes large motions with her hands as if they were an outlet for her enthusiasm, explaining her personal situation. She gives little detail, rather a conclusion of sorts for what she said sums up her life.

“I put my trust in very few people and just keep my focus on my goal,” Dyhemia said. “People aren’t always going to like where you’re going, but you do what’s best for you and today that’s chess for me.”

She falls silent as she points to a bruised eye on her otherwise glowing face.

“And only a few days before I was coming to play chess,” she said. “Not even a black eye is going to keep me from winning.”

Paul Truong, the public relations and marketing coordinator for the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence, said he was impressed with the girls’ dedication and spirit throughout the past days of training.

“I came to the United States from Saigon with no money and what seemed like too many obstacles to overcome,” Truong said. “Chess helped me get to where I am today and by hosting these tournaments, we’re giving girls like the ones here the same chance.”

Today, he is an assistant coach to the No. 1 nationally ranked Knight Raiders, fresh off a title win in April.

“Like our team, these girls are good kids,” Truong said. “Chess players aren’t your typical athlete-mold and they aren’t majoring in basket weaving 101. Again, like our team, we are selective who comes to the invitational because we know what we’re looking for- logic, higher analytical thinking and perseverance.”

Vanita said she maintains A’s and B’s in her schoolwork load at Walter D. Palmer Charter School on the East Coast. She said her favorite classes are math and science.

“I’m not so great at the writing stuff,” Vanita said looking over the brim of her thin-framed glasses.

Dyhemia took a proud moment when she said she has a passion for athletics, including track and boxing.

“I guess it’s good to be well rounded,” Dyhemia, a chess player since fifth grade, said. “Smart and athletic is a combo you can’t beat.”

Both said this was their first trip to Lubbock and first time at the invitational.

Truong said all of the girls at the invitational are of a special nature and should be proud of their talents.

“It’s not a matter of if anyone is worthless at playing chess,” Truong said. “It’s the chance that they’re getting an opportunity they might not otherwise have.”

Source: Avalanche Journal

Chess Girls

Susan Polgar Inspires "Chess Girls"

Chess Grandmaster Susan Polgar's life is portrayed in the new BBC radio documentary "Chess Girls."

Written by Melanie Hess

Susan Polgar’s parents defied the government in communist Hungary to school their daughter in a highly unusual way– chess, eight hours a day, every day.

Now a grandmaster, Polgar’s story of ascension to worldwide fame through her childhood as a unique education experiment is portrayed in BBC’s recent production, “Chess Girls.”

Polgar, who is well known for breaking the gender barrier in chess by becoming the first female grandmaster, had anything but a normal upbringing. The BBC radio documentary, which premiered June 16, shares the exceptional progression of Polgar and her two sisters, Judit and Sofia.

“My father had that idea even before I was born. When he had children he’d like to raise them in a special way,” Polgar said, “focusing on a certain area and trying to excel, rather than kind of being mediocre in many things.”

“Chess Girls” dramatized the irregularity of Polgar’s schooling and noted that the media was often surprised to hear the Polgar girls genuinely say they were happy.

Polgar said her family was often criticized, but she never felt negatively about her early days.

“My childhood was good,” Polgar said. “It was certainly very natural because it was the only environment I knew, so that was very normal for me.”

At 15 years old, Polgar was ranked as the number one women’s chess player in the world.

“I was pioneering in open competition,” Polgar said. “At that time, it was simply revolutionary because most women simply admitted that they are not as good as the men, just like in physical sport. Even though, chess is not a physical sport, but a mental exercise. Therefore, that has been a major theme of my career, to fight for gender equality.”

In her current position as the director of the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE) and Knight Raiders coach, Polgar employs many of the same techniques her father used to help her achieve her status today.

“I incorporated all the different knowledge I acquired over the years,” Polgar said. “And I am trying to share the best of it with our chess team members here.”

Source: www.ttu.edu

Polgar family in BBC Radio Documentary

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011vhdc

Afternoon Play

The Chess Girls (Susan, Sofia, and Judit Polgar)

The emergence of the Polgar sisters in the 1970s and 80s rocked the chess world. In a heavily male dominated game, the three Hungarian girls (Susan, Sofia, and Judit Polgar) broke record after record. The youngest, Judit, was talked of as a potential world champion.

The Chess Girls is the story of their parents, Laszlo and Klara Polgar, and how they defied the Communist authorities to conduct a remarkable educational experiment. Laszlo Polgar, convinced that any healthy child can be trained to become a genius, set out to prove his theory with his own children.

This is a drama-documentary with excerpts from an interview with Laszlo and Klara Polgar recorded for the play. The writer, Lavinia Greenlaw, takes their account and re-creates the lives of the young Polgar family in their tiny Budapest flat. The fictional Laszlo is played by Kerry Shale, and Klara by Sally Orrock.

Director: Chris Ledgard.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b011vhdc

Do not violate the Opening Principles of Chess

Do not violate the Opening Principles of Chess
Susan Polgar
Avalanche Journal

Here are my power principles of chess, something which all beginners and novice players should follow:

1. Control the Center!

The center of the board includes the squares e4, d4, e5, and d5. When you start a game, place your pawns in the center to occupy and control as many of these squares as you can. Location, location, location!

2. Develop Your Pieces as Soon as Possible!

Get your Knights and Bishops out right away. This should be done before you try to checkmate your opponent, some time in the first 6 or 7 moves if possible.

3. Castle as Soon as Possible!

Castle at the very first chance you have in order to keep your king safe. Remember, you can’t win if your king isn’t safe and you get checkmated first. So don’t forget to castle! Then after you castle, connect your rooks by developing your queen.

4. Keep Your Pieces Protected!

Don't leave your pieces hanging without protection. Each and every piece you have is very valuable, so don't forget to protect them. Protecting means if your opponent can take your piece, then you can take your opponent's piece.

5. Have Fun and Win with Grace, Lose with Dignity!

This is my motto in chess. First and foremost, chess should be fun. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, it’s all part of the game. When you win, be a good sport and don’t trash talk or make fun of your opponent. When you lose, be an even better sport and not a sore loser. Shake hands and congratulate your opponent. This will go a long way toward making good friends.

Below is an example to demonstrate what can happen when one does not follow the above principles:

Tarrasch, Siegbert - Mieses, Jacques [C10]
Match Game 3, Berlin 1916

1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 This is the French Defense.

3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Bd3 Be7 7.0–0 Nxe4 8.Bxe4 Nf6 9.Bd3 So far, everything seems normal. In this position, Black should castle.

9...b6? This is a critical mistake by Black. One of the key opening rules of thumb is to castle as soon as possible (General Principle #5: Castle Early). Black will pay for this mistake. We shall see how White will take advantage of this.

10.Ne5! Black is facing serious problems. If Black develops the Bishop to b7, White will play Bb5+ and Black will lose the right to castle. Now, Black realizes his mistake and castles immediately. Unfortunately, it is a little too late. Let’s see how White takes advantage of this.

10...0–0 if 10...Bb7 11.Bb5+

11.Nc6 An excellent move! We shall see the purpose of this move shortly.

11...Qd6 if 11...Qd7 12.Qf3 Bb7 13.Nxe7+ Qxe7 14.Qxb7+-; 11...Qe8 This unusual move is probably the best response for Black. 12.Nxe7+ Qxe7 13.Qf3 Rb8 14.Qg3 White has a strong positional advantage with the pair of bishops and the queen aiming at Black's Kingside.

12.Qf3! Another excellent move! White is threatening a winning discovery (Discovered Attack) with Nxe7+ (uncovering the attack by the white queen on f3 against the undefended black rook at a8.)

12...Bd7 The only move. 12...Bb7 13.Nxe7+ Qxe7 14.Qxb7 and Black would be behind a piece.

13.Nxe7+ Why does White exchange a good, active knight for a bad black bishop? This is a very important question since you would not want to trade a good piece for a bad piece without a good reason. In this case, White sees a deadly pin potential in the next move. That is why he is willing to trade.

13...Qxe7 14.Bg5! Threatening 15.Qe4! Nxe4 16.Bxe7. Black has no way of getting out of this pin.

14...Rac8 15.Rfe1 Bringing another important piece into action! Remember, you would need to utilize all your pieces to achieve a winning attack. 15.Qe4 would be less accurate for White. 15...Nxe4 16.Bxe7 Rfe8 17.Bxe4 Rxe7 +=

15...Rfe8 if 15...c5 16.Qh3 h6 17.Bxh6 gxh6 (17...c4 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.Qg3+ Kh8 20.Qh4+ Kg7 21.Qg5+ Kh8 22.Qh6+ Kg8 23.Re5) 18.Qxh6 cxd4 19.Qg5+ (19.Re5? Rc5) 19...Kh8 20.Re4 and Black must give up his queen to avoid the mate.

16.Qh3! This move creates another threat. Because of the pin of the knight, the h7-pawn is now vulnerable. White combines pressure against the h7-pawn from the queen at h3 and the bishop at d3; meanwhile the white bishop at g5 threatens to trade off the only black piece protecting h7, the f6-knight.

16...Qd6? Black's position is very bad. This move just makes it even worse. 16...h6 17.Bxh6 gxh6 18.Qxh6 Qf8 19.Qxf6; 16...g6 17.Qh4 Kg7 18.Re4!; 16...e5 17.Bxf6 Bxh3 (17...Qxf6 18.Qxd7; 17...gxf6 18.Qxh7+ Kf8 19.Qh8#) 18.Bxe7 Rxe7 19.gxh3; 16...c5 17.Bxh7+ Kf8 18.Be4 Kg8

17.Bxf6 Eliminating the piece that protects the h7-pawn.

17...gxf6 18.Qh6! Black is hoping to create an escape for the king to f8 then e7. White wisely cuts the king off. This is another important move to learn. When you are on the offensive, do not let your opponent off the hook.

18...f5 if 18...Qxd4 19.Bxh7+ Kh8 20.Bg6+ Kg8 21.Qh7+ Kf8 22.Qxf7#

19.Re3 Bringing the rook into action and sacrificing the d4-pawn. In the meantime, Black's pieces are not coordinated to defend the king.

19...Qxd4 if 19...f6 20.Rg3+ Kf7 21.Qg7#; 19...Kh8 20.Rh3 Kg8 21.Rg3+

20.c3 Attacking the queen. The black queen will soon run out of squares to stay on from which it can continue to defend the g7 square. I prefer 20.Rg3+ a little more since it attacks the king immediately. 20...Kh8 Now I would play 21.c3 transposing to what would have happened in the game. 21...Qe5 22.f4 The queen now has no squares to move onto to continue defending g7.
Black resigns since the position is completely hopeless.

1-0

SUMMARY:

So what have we learned in this game?

1. Do not violate the Opening Principles of Chess. Make sure to castle as soon as possible; Black did not do so on move nine - and paid the price later on.

2. When you are attacking, make sure to utilize your pieces. By bringing the rook into the action, White created a winning attack.

Chess Summer Camp at Texas Tech University
July 11-15, 2011

Learn chess from world champion Susan Polgar and her team. Beginners to advanced K-12 players welcome. Campers will practice writing and computer skills. Sports and other activities offered.

* Commuter Plan: $295/week
Check-in Monday 8 am – 9 am. Camp hours are 9 am – 5:00 pm daily Monday – Thursday. Camp ends at 3pm on Friday. Lunch and snacks included.

* Residential Plan: $595/week
Arrive Sunday 7/10 between 6pm – 9pm. Dorm lodging and all meals are included, including dinner on Sunday through lunch on Friday.

Camp ends at 3pm on Friday. Residential plan is based on double occupancy. Grades 5 - 12 only. Very limited space!

Residential plan registration closes June 6, 2011.

See http://www.SPICE.ttu.edu, email SPICE@ttu.edu, or call (806) 742-7742.

Queen of the King's game

Queen of the King's game
by Nancy Ruhling
Originally published in Lifestyles Magazine in 2006

Grandmaster Susan Polgar settles herself into the folding chair on the makeshift podium, folds her arms demurely in front of her and trains her enormous coffee-brown eyes on the green and white chessboard before her. She lost the coin toss to her opponent, Hall of Famer Lev Alburt, so he, as white, will be making the first move in the 4th annual Chess-in-the-Parks Rapid Open in New York City's Central Park.

Polgar, the No. 1 ranked player in the United States and the No. 2 player in the world, earned her first checkmate when she was only 41/2 and since then has played against all the big names—Bobby Fischer, Boris Spassky, Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov—but this is no ordinary game and this is certainly no ordinary venue.

As Polgar and Alburt make their moves, the results are bellowed out via microphone and 32 hyper grade-schoolers, posing as chessmen, mimic the players' maneuvers on a life-size chessboard beneath the park's angel-topped Bethesda Fountain. The object of this demonstration is not so much to win or lose but to show children how much fun the game of chess really can be.

As the clock ticks, the gray sky is spitting rain, the security guards are squealing into their squawkers, the live chess pieces are bopping up and down like Mexican jumping beans, the trumpeter is punctuating each move by playing a peppy phrase and the fans are calling out advice—“Take a bishop, why doesn't she take a bishop!” Then someone trips and tips over the empty chair next to Polgar. She doesn't so much as blink. Her rapt concentration wavers only once, when a little voice yells out a big shout of “Mommy! Mommy!” Reflexively, Polgar, the mother of two little sons, glances to the side.

An hour later, amid all the noise, nuisance and nonsense, the game ends: It's a tie. As the live chessmen boogie off the board, Polgar stands tall in her black stilettos and puts her hand on her forehead as if the motion alone will clear her mind and get her to concentrate on her next move, which is right into the crowd to greet all her fans.

“Chess is in many ways like life itself,” she says. “It's all condensed in a playful manner in a game format and it's extremely fascinating because first of all I'm in control of my own destiny, I'm in charge. You have to be responsible for your actions, you make a move, you had better think ahead about what's going to happen, not after it happens, because then it's too late. Chess teaches discipline from a very early age. It teaches you to have a plan and to plan ahead. If you do that, you'll be rewarded; if you break the rules, you will get punished—in life and in chess. You need to learn the rules to break the rules.”

Learning the game of chess, she says, gave her a head start on the game of life, and that's why she has been devoting her life to being an advocate and an ambassador for chess, all with the goal of making chess as all-American as Mom, apple pie and baseball. In addition to participating in events like the live chess game, she has established the Polgar Chess Center in Forest Hills, New York, where she teaches students and hosts major chess events, and has set up the Susan Polgar Foundation, a nonprofit organization to introduce the social, educational and competitive benefits to American youngsters, especially girls.

“Chess is very good to teach children because it's a very playful game,” she says. “Once you understand a little bit about chess, you can really see the beauty in it like in art or in music.”

It is that beauty that taught her to focus, to concentrate and to be disciplined enough to play and win, even when the odds were stacked against her. As a woman and a Jew growing up in Hungary, she faced discrimination on two levels. Chess was, and for the most part still is, a man's game, and it was she who was the first to break through the gender barrier. While her early wins made her a curiosity in her own country, they only brought her awards and acclaim, not acceptance. “The antisemitism was more subtle,” the 35-year-old Polgar says, adding that all of her grandparents are Holocaust survivors. “The woman problem was more open. Even though by 1984, when I was 15, I was the top-ranked woman in the world, my real breakthrough didn't come until 1988, when for the first time ever, my two younger sisters, Sofia and Judit, and I won the gold medal in the World Chess Olympiad for Hungary. This was the first time any country had ever won over the Soviets. The government started applauding us, and we became national heroes.”

The win made her the Michael Jordan of the chess world. Even today she is a household name in Hungary, and when she visits her homeland, fans stop her on the street and ask for her autograph. By the time her reputation was established, she was besting the male masters. “They were disappointed to lose,” she says, “but they weren't disappointed because I was a woman but simply because they lost.”

Polgar went on to win nine other Olympic medals, along with a slew of other honors, including being named Women's World Champion four times, that have allowed her to remain ranked among the top three female players for the last two decades. Her most recent victory took place in October 2004, when she and the U.S. team brought home America's first-ever medal for the women's competition—the silver—in the 36th World Chess Olympiad that was played in Calvia, Spain. In that competition, she further distinguished herself by bringing home two gold medals—one for best overall performance and one for the most points scored in the entire Women's Olympiad —and a silver for racking up the second-best percentage.

Since the birth of her sons—Tom is 5 and Leeam is 4—Polgar has devoted herself to promoting, not playing chess. Indeed, the 2004 Olympiad was her first international tournament in eight years.

“Now I concentrate on revolutionizing the game and bringing it to the next level of popularity,” she says.

(Sofia, who lives in Israel, stopped playing when she was ranked No. 6 in the world but still ranks in the top 20; Judit, who replaced Susan as No. 1, has been inactive recently because she had a baby.)

It was her father who taught Susan chess and it was she who got Judit and Sofia into the game. “He was a chess fan and wanted to have an opponent,” she says. “But he was never a professional player, and he never even owned a book on chess until we started playing together.”

Polgar, who was homeschooled, was introduced to the game at 4 and her first win, a perfect 10-0 score in the girls-under-11 championship in Budapest, turned her into a media sensation. By age 10, she was beating her father at his own game. By age 15, she was the No. 1 female player in the world.

When she was ready to enter college, Polgar could say “Checkmate!” in seven languages—Hungarian, English, German, Russian, Spanish, Hebrew and Esperanto—and decided to major in physical education and sports teaching, taking a special degree in chess at the Academy of Physical Sports and Education in Minsk, Belarussia.

Her victories and “firsts” have been steady throughout her career. The only world champion, male or female, to win the triple crown—rapid, blitz and traditional world championships—she also is the first woman to win the U.S. Open Blitz Championship; the first woman to win the Grandmaster of the Year Award; the first woman to break the gender barrier to earn the Men's Grandmaster title, and the first woman to qualify for the Men's World Championship.

The award-winning, best-selling author and columnist also is a three-time winner of the Chess Oscar.

What is Polgar's winning combination? There is a lot more to it than merely making the right moves at the right time, she says. Before the game even begins, Polgar does extensive study and research on her opponent's previous games and on overall strategies. “I have to set my mind so that I get the proper sleep. I have to be organized and really focused for the hours that it takes to play the game,” she says. “I also work on improving my endurance by going to the gym. It can take seven to eight hours for one game in top competitions, and it's very tense.”

Although chess is popular in Europe, in America it is considered intellectual, difficult and worst of all, boring. “It's not any of those things,” Polgar insists. “In Europe, you can make a living playing chess. In the United States, you can't. I hope to improve the image of chess and the life of professional players. I could teach you in an hour all the basics. You have to understand the rules and the logic. After that, it's all a matter of practice.”

To prove her point, she has written a number of books, including Teach Yourself Chess in 24 Hours and The World Champion's Guide to Chess, which will be published in March 2005.

Some 45 million people in the United States spend time moving black and white kings and queens from square to square on chessboards and some 200,000 children in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have learned to cheerfully declare “Checkmate,” but only a few schools teach it. “In Europe, there are over 30 countries that use it in the school curriculum,” Polgar says. “I'm trying to get U.S. schools to use chess as a tool nationwide. Unlike a lot of other sports like baseball and football, it's very affordable. You can buy a chess set for $10, and two people can play, and it can be used over and over for years.”

What's more, playing chess helps children develop critical thinking that is useful not only in the game but also in academics, social situations and life in general, she adds. “Test scores improved by 17.3% for students regularly engaged in chess classes, compared with only 4.6% for children participating in other forms of enriched activities,” Polgar notes. “Chess has been shown to develop decision-making, critical thinking, logical thinking, evaluating, planning, problem solving and perseverance skills. It improves concentration, memory, intuition and self-control and promotes independence, imagination and creativity. And it inspires self-motivation, self-esteem and self-confidence. And this is why I am working very hard to raise money for my foundation. I want to be able to help all children in America do better in school and life through chess.”

Indeed, Polgar dreams of making chess so popular that it competes with other sports, like tennis, baseball and football. “We hope to get many more colleges to start offering scholarships for chess,” she says. “And we are working to promote chess as a grassroots movement in some of the smaller cities.”

Once the potential of chess is understood, there will be an explosion of interest, Polgar says. “In terms of popularity, it's still in its infancy,” she maintains. “The whole boom in professional chess will create a whole chain reaction that can revolutionize the game and influence society in a positive way.”

That's why Polgar wants to put a chess piece in the hand of every child in America and to bring the game to life just as the Central Park demonstration did. As part of that effort, she is working on a concept for an educational and entertaining television show that would introduce children to chess.

“I found my first chess set when I was looking in the closet at home for a new toy,” Polgar relates. “I originally was attracted to the shape of the figures. Later, it was the logic that fascinated me and the challenge. When I won with my first perfect score, it gave me self-confidence. And I can see the difference in my own sons; they are more focused, they are more disciplined.”

As Polgar is leaving Central Park, yet another young awestruck fan approaches and asks for an autograph. While she's signing, another fan from across the courtyard points her out to a companion, and in an I-can't-believe-it-tone, exclaims, “Wow! That's Susan Polgar!”

Source: http://www.lifestylesmagazine.com