Graduate Student Named a Master in the Chess World

June 30, 2010

Graduate Student Named a Master in the Chess World

Davorin Kuljasevic is the first member of Knight Raiders to receive the title of grandmaster, the highest designation in chess.
Written by Cory Chandler

A Knight Raiders chess team member attained the chess world’s highest ranking by earning the final norm for a grandmaster title.

International Master Davorin Kuljasevic scored five wins and four draws at the 2010 Pula Open in Croatia to become the first Knight Raider to enter the elite ranks of the approximately 1,000 grandmasters worldwide.

The graduate finance student from Croatia now has the same ranking as legendary players Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov and Knight Raiders head coach Susan Polgar, noted Paul Truong, director of marketing for Texas Tech’s Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence.

“All the training and hard work by members of the Knight Raiders chess team with Susan Polgar during the year has paid off big time,” Truong said. “These players will also be wonderful ambassadors for Texas Tech and SPICE around the globe for years to come.”

In June, Kuljasevic scored three wins and three draws to help his team, Mladost Zagreb, win the prestigious Croatian Cup Team Championship.

International Master Gabor Papp earned his second grandmaster norm in June at the Mitropa Cup in Switzerland. He needs one more norm to earn the grandmaster title, which Truong said he will try to earn by the end of summer.

Story produced by the Office of Communications and Marketing, (806) 742-2136.

Entering the elite ranks of Grandmaster

Texas Tech Chess Player Earns Grandmaster Title
Released: 6/30/2010 12:45 PM EDT
Source: Texas Tech University

Newswise — A Texas Tech University Knight Raiders chess team member attained the chess world’s highest ranking by earning the final norm for a grandmaster title.

International Master Davorin Kuljasevic scored five wins and four draws at the 2010 Pula Open in Croatia to become the first Knight Raider to enter the elite ranks of the approximately 1,000 grandmasters worldwide.

The graduate finance student from Croatia now has the same ranking as legendary players Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov and Knight Raiders head coach Susan Polgar, noted Paul Truong, director of marketing for Texas Tech’s Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence.

“All the training and hard work by members of the Knight Raiders chess team with Susan Polgar during the year has paid off big time,” Truong said. “These players will also be wonderful ambassadors for Texas Tech and SPICE around the globe for years to come.”

In June, Davorin scored three wins and three draws to help his team, Mladost Zagreb, win the prestigious Croatian Cup Team Championship.

International Master Gabor Papp earned his second grandmaster norm in June at the Mitropa Cup in Switzerland. He needs one more norm to earn the grandmaster title, which Truong said he will try to earn by the end of summer.

Source: http://www.newswise.com

SPICE 1st Grandmaster!

In the 2010 SPICE Spring Invitational, SPICE 1st titled player IM Gergely Antal missed his final GM norm by 1/2 point. At the Mitropa Cup, IM Gabor Papp earned his 2nd GM norm. And now at the 2010 Pula Open, IM Davorin Kuljasevic scored 7 points in 9 games to earn his 3rd and final GM norm! He becomes the 1st SPICE GM! Congratulations to Davorin!

Final top standings:

Rk.		Name	FED	RtgI	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	Rp	n	w-we	rtg+/-
1	GM	Zelcic Robert	CRO	2538	7,5	52,5	47,0	57,0	2630	9	1,25	12,5
2	GM	Jovanic Ognjen	CRO	2530	7,5	50,0	45,0	54,5	2627	9	1,36	13,6
3	GM	Drazic Sinisa	SRB	2531	7,5	44,5	40,5	48,0	2520	9	0,28	2,8
4	IM	Kuljasevic Davorin	CRO	2539	7,0	51,0	46,0	55,0	2584	9	0,84	8,4 Texas Tech Knight Raider
5	GM	Kovacevic Aleksandar	SRB	2573	7,0	50,5	45,0	54,0	2569	9	0,35	3,5
6	GM	Predojevic Borki	BIH	2628	7,0	49,5	44,5	54,0	2562	9	0,09	0,9
7	GM	Fercec Nenad	CRO	2492	7,0	48,5	44,0	52,5	2551	9	0,97	9,7
8	GM	Felgaer Ruben	ARG	2585	7,0	48,5	43,5	53,5	2545	9	-0,07	-0,7
9	IM	Rukavina Josip	CRO	2397	7,0	48,5	43,5	53,0	2506	9	1,37	13,7
10	GM	Cvitan Ognjen	CRO	2534	7,0	48,0	44,0	51,5	2518	9	0,18	1,8
11	IM	Martinovic Sasa	CRO	2515	7,0	46,0	41,5	50,0	2488	9	0,02	0,2
12	FM	Sklyarov Dmitry V	RUS	2373	6,5	51,5	46,0	55,0	2521	9	1,96	29,4
13	GM	Saric Ivan	CRO	2580	6,5	50,0	44,5	54,5	2507	9	-0,35	-3,5
14		Nordenbaek Jan	DEN	2215	6,5	48,5	44,0	53,0	2454	9	2,94	44,1
15	IM	Doric Darko	CRO	2452	6,5	48,5	43,5	52,5	2482	9	0,68	6,8
16	FM	Fodor Tamas Jr	HUN	2420	6,5	48,0	43,5	52,0	2437	9	0,48	4,8
17	IM	Barle Janez	SLO	2404	6,5	47,0	41,5	51,0	2400	9	0,17	1,7
18	FM	Sandhu Mario	AUT	2324	6,5	45,5	41,0	50,0	2339	9	0,39	5,8
19	IM	Doric Nenad	CRO	2320	6,5	45,0	40,5	47,5	2321	9	0,17	1,7
20		Osmanovic Faruk	GER	2093	6,5	45,0	40,0	47,5	2332	9	3,32	49,8
21	IM	Molnar Bela	HUN	2340	6,5	44,5	40,5	48,0	2322	9	0,01	0,1
22	IM	Franic Milan	CRO	2390	6,5	43,5	39,0	47,5	2296	9	-0,73	-7,3
23	GM	Likavsky Tomas	SVK	2473	6,5	42,5	38,0	46,5	2267	9	-1,48	-14,8

Full pairings here: http://chess-results.com/Tnr34498.aspx

1992 Oscar winner Marisa Tomei: Stay focus!

Never afraid to dive into a role on short notice, Oscar winner Marisa Tomei makes it work
Published: Sunday, June 20, 2010, 12:15 AM
Updated: Sunday, June 20, 2010, 1:58 AM
Stephen Whitty/The Star-Ledger

Marisa Tomei has a place in the Village, a busy film career, a solid reputation among theater folk (she's done Shakespeare in the Park and Broadway with Pacino), and even three Oscar nominations -- including a win, for "My Cousin Vinny.

"Still, there's one thing she wishes she had more of: time.

"I always feel like I'm caught with my pants down," she confesses, with a short, staccato laugh.

"I barely ever get a job offer more than a month ahead. I always feel underprepared. I always feel like I'm scrambling."

Stays focused

Apart from her constant drive to do better, and nagging worry that she'll never get another role -- also part of the actor's tool kit -- Tomei looks content. Although she's dated a playwright and a couple of actors over the years (including Downey, back in the day, and Logan Marshall-Green) she seems happy to be single. She never shows up on the gossip pages, staggering into or out of nightclubs.

And she stays focused.

"I just remembered this thing I read (in the paper) when I was, like, 15 and just starting to think I wanted to be an actress," she says. "It was the quote of the day, and one morning it was from this young girl who was a chess champion, Susan Polgar, and it was in response to, you know, what is it, what makes you a champion? And she said 'Concentration. Dedication. Imagination. Meaning.'

"I tore that out of the paper and kept it for a really long time," Tomei says. "I made it my goal then. And it's become my mantra since."

Here is the full article.

Texas Tech Chess Summer Camp

The 1st Texas Tech Chess Summer Camp just started today. In the picture above are some of the campers. Some came as far as Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, New Mexico, Florida, and even Argentina!

In addition to learning and improving chess, the campers will have a blast with swimming, rock climbing, chess writing, and many more fun activities.

The next camp will take place on July 18-23 on campus at Texas Tech University.

http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2010/04/texas-tech-chess-summer-camp-2010.html

Murfee fifth-grader wins fourth straight SP World Open for boys

Murfee fifth-grader wins fourth straight SP World Open for boys
Posted: June 20, 2010 - 1:01am

The fourth annual SP World Open for Boys and fifth annual SP World Open for Girls took place in Las Vegas on June 12 and 13 at the South Point Resort. Nearly 300 young boys and girls from across the country and as far as Mongolia and the Philippines competed for approximately $150,000 in chess scholarships and chess prizes.

The event was organized by the Las Vegas International Chess Festival and sponsored by Texas Tech SPICE, ChessOnDVD.com, Chess4Less.com, World Chess Live, and the Susan Polgar Foundation.

Murfee fifth-grader Tom Polgar, 11, won his fourth straight SP World Open for Boys title by scoring a perfect 5/5 in the boys' younger than 14 section. Tom also scored 5/5 in the same section last year and 5/5 in the boys' younger than 11 section in 2008. In 2007, he tied for first with two other players in the same younger than 11 section.

Below are the winners of the eight sections. Each winner received a state-of-the-art netbook computer with more than $600 in chess software installed.

Sean Manross (California), Randel Eng (Arizona), Anu Bayar (Mongolia), and Maria Roselle Vicencio (Philippines) were the winners of the Texas Tech $1,000 competitive chess scholarships (each has a value of more than $36,000 for out-of-state students).

Here is the full article.

Italy wins Mitropa Cup, Papp gets GM norm

IM Gabor Papp of Texas Tech University earns his 2nd GM norm.

Final team standings:

Rg.	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Wtg1	Wtg2
1	Italien	*	2	2	3	2	3½	3	3½	4	3	15	26,0
2	Ungarn	2	*	1½	2½	2½	2½	3	2	3	2½	14	21,5
3	Schweiz	2	2½	*	1½	2½	1½	2½	2½	1½	2½	11	19,0
4	Kroatien	1	1½	2½	*	2	3	2½	3	1½	2	10	19,0
5	Deutschland	2	1½	1½	2	*	2	2	3½	3½	2	9	20,0
6	Österreich	½	1½	2½	1	2	*	2	2	4	2	8	17,5
7	Tschechische Republik	1	1	1½	1½	2	2	*	2	3	2½	7	16,5
8	Slowakei	½	2	1½	1	½	2	2	*	2½	2	6	14,0
9	Frankreich	0	1	2½	2½	½	0	1	1½	*	3	6	12,0
10	Slowenien	1	1½	1½	2	2	2	1½	2	1	*	4	14,5

Top individual performers:

Nr.		Name	Elo	Team	Rp	Pkt.	Anz	%	Br.
1	GM	Caruana Fabiano	2675	Italien	2780	6,5	8	81,3	1
2	GM	Vocaturo Daniele	2493	Italien	2710	5,5	7	78,6	2
3	IM	Pap Gyula	2496	Ungarn	2686	5,5	7	78,6	3
4	GM	Jenni Florian	2520	Schweiz	2669	5,5	8	68,8	1
5	IM	Papp Gabor	2534	Ungarn	2623	6,0	9	66,7	2
6	GM	Ragger Markus	2614	Österreich	2614	5,5	9	61,1	1
7	IM	Rombaldoni Denis	2484	Italien	2596	4,5	6	75,0	4
8	GM	Baramidze David	2534	Deutschland	2594	6,5	9	72,2	4
9	IM	Brunello Sabino	2467	Italien	2582	6,0	9	66,7	3
10	GM	Lenic Luka	2592	Slowenien	2580	5,0	9	55,6	1
11	GM	Godena Michele	2554	Italien	2574	3,5	6	58,3	1
12	GM	Bindrich Falko	2539	Deutschland	2571	5,5	9	61,1	2
13	IM	Neubauer Martin	2458	Österreich	2557	4,5	8	56,3	2
14	IM	Simacek Pavel	2518	Tschechische Republik	2545	4,5	9	50,0	1
15	GM	Gallagher Joseph G	2493	Schweiz	2543	4,5	8	56,3	1
16	GM	Jovanovic Zoran	2520	Kroatien	2541	4,5	8	56,3	1
17	GM	Rapport Richard	2509	Ungarn	2541	4,5	9	50,0	1
18	IM	Martinovic Sasa	2515	Kroatien	2536	5,5	9	61,1	2
19	FM	Platzgummer Fabian	2340	Österreich	2508	3,5	5	70,0	4
20	IM	Szabo Krisztian	2506	Ungarn	2501	4,5	8	56,3	3

Full results: http://chess-results.com/tnr33539.aspx?art=5&lan=0&flag=30&m=-1&wi=1000

The incredible difference one man can make

The incredible difference one man can make
May 30, 2010 - 1:02am

The 2010 U.S. Championship just concluded in St. Louis a few days ago. The 24 qualified players competed for nearly $200,000 in prizes over 10 days. After the smoke cleared, two former U.S. Champions, Gata Kamsky of New York and Yury Shulman of Barrington (a suburb of Chicago), tied for first. Gata clinched the title after a playoff.

The tournament was sponsored by Rex Sinquefield, a wealthy politically conservative businessman, co-founder and past co-chairman of Dimensional Fund Advisors Inc. This is the second year that Sinquefield sponsored the U.S. Chess Championship and U.S. Women's Chess Championship.

St. Louis, known as a sports town with the St. Louis Cardinals (baseball), St. Louis Rams (football), and St. Louis Blues (hockey), has now become a one of the chess capitals in the United States within a few short years, thanks to the generosity and vision of Sinquefield. Through Internet technology, millions of people nationwide and worldwide are able to follow the action live.

Sinquefield did not just sponsor these major chess events. He also invested a few million dollars to buy and renovate a three-story building in the heart of the central West End to open the nonprofit Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis. This instantly provided chess access to countless kids in that area. Maybe one day something similar can happen in Lubbock, which would greatly help so many of our young people. In the meantime, SPICE will continue to make a positive impact through chess locally, one school at a time.

One thing I can promise is a number of hard-working local volunteers and I will continue to work hard every day to try to make this a reality. Young people in West Texas do need our help. Chess changed my life in so many ways and I would like to give these young people the same opportunity I had.

If you want to help or if you know people who can help, please do not hesitate to contact me. We would welcome any support we can get.

Here is the full article.