A University in Motion

In physics, momentum is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. At Texas Tech University, momentum results from talented faculty working with some of the nation's top students. It results from outreach programs to attract a new generation of students to college and research to answer some of the world's most pressing needs.

When an object is in motion, it stays in motion. Our accomplishments in 2009 show that Texas Tech is making quantum leaps in pursuit of Tier One research status: our record-breaking enrollment, strategic leadership and unprecedented fundraising.

• The Knight Raiders chess team raked in national and state honors, ultimately qualifying for the President's Cup to determine the U.S. college chess team champion. They also won the Texas Chess Association's Texas Collegiate Championship, and International Master (IM) Gergely Antal, an economics major, won the 2009 U.S. Tournament of College Champions.

http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2010/03/incredible-growth-in-college-chess.html

Welcome

Texas Tech University is moving into the most exciting era in our history, and 2009 proved to be a catalyst for the journey that will take us to the next level.

Thanks to the foresight of the Texas Legislature, Texas Tech began this journey to National Research University status with seven other state universities. Our team of alumni and supporters – among the most generous in the nation – responded by helping us raise more private research donations than all six other universities combined.

Fall enrollment numbers put us over the 30,000 mark for the first time in the university's history. And, while quality undergraduate enrollment growth is essential, we are also developing new programs to attract the best and brightest graduate students. We've dedicated $2 million to a new Doctoral Fellowship Initiative to increase our doctoral student enrollment.

We are in the enviable position of having several well-funded endowed chairs and professorships open at this time, including two $7.5 million chairs in energy-related fields and another $1.5 million chair in nuclear engineering, and our state-of-the-art Experimental Sciences Building has space we can configure to suit specific needs as we recruit new research faculty.

Our research activities continued to flourish in 2009 as we expanded work in wind engineering research, contributed to the world's largest particle collider project in Switzerland, and discovered the meteorite strike that may have wiped out the dinosaurs. Our acquisition of a high-performance computing cluster places us among the top 28 U.S. academic institutions for computer power.

The road to National Research University status is not a short one. Yet our objectives are clear and our focus is sharp. We will get there, sooner rather than later, I believe. Read on. Discover for yourself why we say, "From here, it's possible."

Guy Bailey
President
Texas Tech University

The benefits of chess: a CBS TV report

Click here http://wcbstv.com/video/?id=79985@wcbs.dayport.com or on the image to see the CBS TV clip.

Dream comes true for 13 year old

Polgar: Dream comes true for 13-year-old chess phenom at tournament
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Story last updated at 3/28/2010 - 12:48 am

Last week 13-year-old Darwin Yang of Plano came to Texas Tech to pursue his dream at the prestigious 2010 SPICE Spring Chess Invitational, a 10-player round robin tournament.

Being the lowest seed in the tournament, Yang had to battle more experienced and higher rated competitors in pursuit of an international chess master norm.

In chess, grandmaster is the highest title, followed by international master. In order to become an international master, one typically has to achieve three international master norms and an international rating of 2400 and above. To become a grandmaster, one typically has to achieve three grandmaster norms, which is much more difficult than an international master norm, and a rating of 2500 and above.

There are more than 45 million chess players in the United States and more than 700 million worldwide. However, there are currently about 1,200 grandmasters worldwide, out of which only 21 are women. That is to illustrate how difficult it is to become a grandmaster.

The Texas Tech Knight Raiders chess team has three international masters, Gergely Antal, Davorin Kuljasevic and Gabor Papp. All three have ratings that exceed 2500, which is half of the requirement imposed by the world chess federation (FIDE). Two of them have two grandmaster norms while the third has one.

All three Knight Raiders fought valiantly for nine rounds. International master Gergely Antal was in contention the entire way. He had to beat grandmaster Jesse Kraai of California in the final round to earn his final grandmaster norm and title. At the end, he only managed to draw and therefore came up just short. He finished in second place with 5.5 points, a mere half point short for his final grandmaster norm. His two teammates tied for fifth and sixth with 4.5 points, 1.5 point shy of the grandmaster norm. I have no doubt that all three will eventually become grandmasters. But for now, it is back to the drawing board to prepare for the College Chess Final Four in Brownsville in two weeks.

Yang started out with a bang. He shocked the world by leading the tournament with three points after four rounds. He earned his first international master norm after only seven rounds. Unfortunately, he lost his final two games and had to settle for seventh place.

Grandmaster Julio Becerra of Miami won the 2010 SPICE Spring Chess Invitational with 6.5 points in nine games. He last competed in Lubbock in the 2008 SPICE Cup, where he finished a half point out of first. After the tournament, grandmaster Becerra told Matthew McGowan of The A-J the following: "If they invite me, I'll be here for sure," he said. "I love to be here." This is the greatest compliment for SPICE, Texas Tech and Lubbock.

Overall it was a very exciting tournament with high level of energy and fighting spirit. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their time here and they cannot wait to have a chance to come back to compete in future battles. The chess games were broadcast live for chess enthusiasts around the world to follow. The tournament was covered by many global chess sources, including FIDE, which has more than 160 member nations and millions of readers.

Here are the winners:

1. Julio Becerra, g, USA, 2538, 61/2.

2-3. Gergely Angal, m, Hungary, 2511, 51/2.

2-3. Benjamin Finegold, m, USA, 2534, 51/2.

4. Dean Ippolito, m, USA, 2466, 5.

5-6. Davorin Kuljasevic, m, Croatia, 2552, 41/2.

5-6. Gabor Papp, m, Hungary, 2542, 41/2.

7. Darwin Yang, f, USA 2378, 4.

8. Irina Krush, m, USA, 2461, 31/2.

9-10. Jesse Kraai, g, USA, 2508, 3.

9-10. Eric Hansen, f, Canada, 2415, 3.

More than 460 pictures from the SPICE Spring Chess Invitational can be viewed here: http://picasaweb.google.com/SPICEChess/SPICESpringSelect.

As a tradition of all SPICE invitational events, I invited all players, SPICE groups and volunteers for a dinner celebration at my home after round eight.

One of the fun activities for the night was a chess quiz.

Here are some of the questions that were posed. How many can you answer? I will provide the answers next week.

1. When did William Steinitz become the first official world champion?

2. What is grandmaster Pal Benko's birth country?

3. What year did the Polgar sisters win their first Olympic Gold medal for Hungary?

4. Which country finished second at the 1966 Chess Olympiad?

5. Who won the men's individual gold on board 1 at the 1970 Chess Olympiad?

6. What was Bobby Fischer's highest chess rating?

7. In which country does world champion Vishy Anand have his second home?

8. What was Topalov's highest ever rating?

9. Who won the 1957 world championship match between Botvinnik and Smyslov?

10. What year did Kasparov lose his match against Deep Blue?

11. Who said "When you see a good move, look for a better one"?

12. Who said "I don't believe in psychology. I believe in good moves"?

13. Who said "It is not enough to be a good player... you must also play well"?

14. Who said "There are two types of sacrifices: correct ones and mine"?

15. Who said "Life is a kind of chess, with struggle, competition, good and ill events."?

16. Who said "Chess is a test of wills"?

17. Where was grandmaster Walter Browne born?

18. Who was England's first grandmaster?

19. Why are the Melody Amber events called as such?

20. Which currently married chess couple has the highest combined average rating?

SPICE on FOX TV

Click on the chess box / image to view the clip with Darwin Yang and his father.


Tech chess tourney draws world's best, including 13-year-old
Reported by: Jaime Gerik
Last Update: 10:35 am

On most any nice day you can catch some of Texas Tech's finest chess players near the Student Union Building perfecting their skills. All the practice came in handy during the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence Tournament, when the Red Raiders took on competitors from places like Canada, Brazil and Hungary.

Even among all the international talent, everyone had their eye on a young competitor from Plano.

Darwin Yang sat in the competitor's seat against someone three times his age too many times for him to count.

"I practice by playing games on the Internet, and also read books and take lessons from my coach," says Yang. The 13-year-old sees a coach once a week to help perfect his chess skills. That is, when he's not traveling long distances to compete. He's been to tournaments in Turkey and Vietnam.

"It's a good opportunity to go out, other places across the country, because you can play strong players you can't find in Plano," says Yang.

A taxing but worthwhile experience for Darwin's parents, who go above and beyond the normal call of duty.

"Five years, we just go to the things and build up a very good relationship between him and me," says Darwin's father Tujiu Yang.

He says Darwin's passion was sparked on a cruise ship. At one point during the trip he went looking for Darwin and found him naturally drawn to the game.

"He was standing by the chess board, there's a big chess board on a cruise ship and he was standing there for an hour to watch people play chess," says the elder Yang.

That was many moves ago. Now Darwin is trying to reach International Grandmaster, a title held by only a thousand players in the world. This tournament was one step in the right direction. He received hi first International Norm in nine games.

http://www.myfoxlubbock.com/news/local/story/Chess-SPICE-Texas-Tech/2nYCD_u4nEqArxAvx48OIg.cspx

The final numbers

Final crosstable from TWIC:

1.	Becerra Rivero, Julio	g	USA	2538	*	½	½	½	0	1	1	1	1	1	6½	2651
2.	Antal, Gergely	m	HUN	2511	½	*	½	1	1	½	½	0	½	1	5½	2568
3.	Finegold, Benjamin	m	USA	2534	½	½	*	½	½	½	1	½	½	1	5½	2565
4.	Ippolito, Dean	m	USA	2466	½	0	½	*	½	½	1	½	½	1	5	2536
5.	Kuljasevic, Davorin	m	CRO	2552	1	0	½	½	*	1	0	1	½	0	4½	2483
6.	Papp, Gabor	m	HUN	2542	0	½	½	½	0	*	½	1	1	½	4½	2484
7.	Yang, Darwin	f	USA	2378	0	½	0	0	1	½	*	0	1	1	4	2460
8.	Krush, Irina	m	USA	2461	0	1	½	½	0	0	1	*	½	0	3½	2413
9.	Kraai, Jesse	g	USA	2508	0	½	½	½	½	0	0	½	*	½	3	2363
10.	Hansen, Eric	f	CAN	2415	0	0	0	0	1	½	0	1	½	*	3	2373

Here is the link to more than 460 pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/SPICEChess/SPICESpringSelect

Here is the link to many videos during the SPICE Spring Invitational: http://www.youtube.com/user/chessmarketing#p/u

Games can be download here: http://chess.co.uk/twic/chessnews/events/spice-spring-international-2010

Special thanks to Texas Tech and the Susan Polgar Foundation for sponsoring this event; the Texas Tech English Department for hosting the tournament; Dr. Hal Karlssson, Dr. Rich Rice, and Bill Snead for TD'ing; Brett James for running the LIVE coverage; MonRoi for all the technical assistance; DGT North America and Jeff Smith for the equipment; Lucia Barbato, Peggy Flores, and Jerry Perez for their assistance; Visit Lubbock, FOX TV, CBS TV, Avalanche Journal, Lubbock Chess Club, the Knight Raiders, Dr. Juan Munoz, Dr. Tibor Nagy, Dr. Sheryl Santos, and Cory Chander for their support...

The hunt for the elusive chess norm

The hunt for the elusive international grandmaster chess norm
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Story last updated at 3/21/2010 - 12:26 am

This week, Dr. Rich Rice and Dr. Hal Karlsson, are contributing to this column. Both are associate professors at Texas Tech and they are also assistant tournament directors at the 2010 SPICE Spring International Invitational.

Thousands of years ago, Native Americans hunted buffalo and bison on the southern High Plains. Today, a different hunt is taking place in the same region.

Ten chess players have come to Texas Tech to compete in the 2010 SPICE Spring Invitational. They hail from four different countries (USA, Canada, Hungary, Croatia) and six different states (Texas, New York, New Jersey, Missouri, California, Florida). Seven of these players are aiming for their international master or grandmaster chess norms: three for a final norm, two for a second norm, and two for a first norm.

The battle for cerebral fitness is taking place in the English department at a university. These chess players compete for the love of the game, for bragging rights, and for personal satisfaction as they hunt for that elusive chess norm.

Chess is the most popular game on the planet, with more than 45 million people playing chess in America and more than 700 million players worldwide. Millions of kids who learn and play chess each year in the states develop life skills that benefit them the rest of their lives.

As the popular saying goes, chess is easy to learn, but hard to master. The 10 players who are in Lubbock this week are working to master the game. They are some of the best chess players in their respective countries with some of the top chess ratings according to the United States Chess Federation and the World Chess Federation (FIDE).

The average FIDE rating at this tournament is 2490.5, which is equivalent to a category 10 event. A Grandmaster norm at this tournament is 6 points (out of nine games) and an International Master norm is 4 points (out of nine games).

Many online spectators have tried to predict who will earn their norms at this tournament. There are so many variables that impact each player's final tournament score.

At the time of this article, 13-year-old Texan Darwin Yang just defeated grandmaster Jesse Kraai to earn his first international master norm. Four players, including Texas Tech's own international master Gergely Antal, are still in contention for various norms. This certainly will be an exciting finish.

Chess is a game that requires mental toughness, physical fitness, strong nerves, diligent preparation, strenuous calculation, superb memory, pinpoint intuition and some plain old luck. Each player faces ups and downs during each grueling round. This is why chess is so challenging.

During this tournament, simultaneously at another tournament, one of the world's best players opened with a3, which is moving a pawn located on the side of the board rather than in the middle. This move is typically considered a beginner's mistake. His game was still going on in France while the players in Lubbock loaded up on coffee and tea discussing it before their next round.

Who will win the 2010 SPICE Spring Invitational? No one knows. Chess is live, varied, and exciting. After each game is completed, I, and others, deconstruct the language and nuances of each game. It is fitting we are doing so in the English department lounge, where words and phrases and books surround them. Analysis has shown missed checkmates, missed wins, and miracle comebacks.

Source: Avalanche Journal

World's chess warriors descend on Lubbock in fight for titles

Battle of Wits: World's chess warriors descend on Lubbock in fight for titles

By Matthew Mcgowan AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Story last updated at 3/20/2010 - 12:31 am

It all came down to silent blows on miniature battlefields.

Some of the world's top chess minds convened in a second floor room of Texas Tech's English building this week.

The thick and heavy silence almost betrayed the scale of the showdown.

In the motionless minutes between moves, the 10 chess wizards at five tables tunnelled their vision into the board. Some waited for their opponents to move by pacing the room, pausing to watch or consider other games.

On the surface, there's not much action here.

But look a little closer.

Each move carries with it surgical precision and intellectual moxie. The players' eyes said it all: This is no insouciant day of board games.
It's war.

They came to the tournament, the SPICE Spring Invitational, from four countries and seven states only after receiving a special invitation from Tech's Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence.

Now in its second year, the tournament brings some of the world's brightest chess stars together to battle for a better title. Each move is broadcast via Internet in real time to many thousands of enthusiasts across the planet.

"(The tournament) gives us visibility and recognition worldwide," Polgar said after Friday's final round. "It gives us visibility not only for the program, but also for the university."

Paul Truong, the institute's spokesman, said the invitational tournament caters to some of the younger, less-experienced players by giving them a chance to duel grandmasters. It is only through doing so that they can bump their own titles up - for instance, from the World Chess Federation's FIDE master title to international master, the level just below the highest distinction of grandmaster.

"This is more like a launching pad for the younger hopefuls who want to be a top-tier player," said Truong. "It's not about the (approximately $1,500) prize. It's about getting their title. That, for them, is way more valuable than just a paycheck from here."

This plight of the younger players makes for less cautious chess, he added.

"They really have to fight," Truong said. "It's just the fighting spirit, every game, grinding it out."

Among those at this year's tournament were grandmasters Julio Becerra of Miami, Ben Finegold of St. Louis and Jesse Kraai of San Francisco.

Becerra won after the tournament's nine rounds of play. Finegold tied for second with SPICE's own Gergely Antal, originally from Hungary.

The youngest among the players, 13-year-old phenomenon Darwin Yang sat across from renowned chess titans many times his age, holding his own, calculating his next move.

Now in his fifth year of playing, the seventh-grader from Plano hopes to soon earn the distinction of international master. He spent more than a week at the SPICE tournament going head-to-head against opponents of all types.

Intimidating?

No, he said. Not anymore.

"Now, it's just life," Yang shrugged. "Just business as usual."

Yang finished seventh at this week's nine-round tournament. He could have done better, he said.

"I'm going to go home and spend lots of time working on those (mistakes) so next time I can win the tournament," he said.

International master and two-time U.S. women's champion Irina Krush finished eighth. She, like Yang, was disappointed in her overall performance.

"I won my first game. I won my last game," the New York City native smiled. "I try to forget everything in between."

Becerra, the tournament's winner, said the tournament's competitors all had similar ratings going into the competitions. He appreciated the high level of competition and plans to return to Lubbock this fall for the institute's next major invitational.

"If they invite me, I'll be here for sure," he said. "I love to be here."

Source: Avalanche Journal

Young Chess Player Shows His Skills

Young Chess Player Shows His Skills

Reported by: Mitch Carr

Friday, March 19 2010

Chess players from all over the state and the world were in town Friday competing in an elite-level tournament.

Texas tech is hosting the SPICE Spring Invitational' Chess Tournament.

Among the players was 13-year-old Darwin Yang. Darwin is a middle-schooler from Plano who is just a few matches short of becoming an International Master.

He lost his match today but he says he's still young and he'll keep playing until he's a chess Grand Master. He also said right now, his age can be an advantage.

"It's not only that I'm young it's usually that these people i play against are usually stronger than me I'd say. So they underestimate me sometimes," Darwin said.

Texas tech chess player Gergely Antal could have become a Grand Master with a win today, but his match ended in a draw, so he'll have to keep trying

Click on this link to view the video by local CBS station: Young Chess Player Shows His Skills