Wednesday, June 30, 2010

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
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Saturday, June 26, 2010

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.
NameFEDRtgIPts. TB1 TB2 TB3 Rpnw-wertg+/-
1GMZelcic RobertCRO25387,552,547,057,0263091,2512,5
2GMJovanic OgnjenCRO25307,550,045,054,5262791,3613,6
3GMDrazic SinisaSRB25317,544,540,548,0252090,282,8
4IMKuljasevic DavorinCRO25397,051,046,055,0258490,848,4 Texas Tech Knight Raider
5GMKovacevic AleksandarSRB25737,050,545,054,0256990,353,5
6GMPredojevic BorkiBIH26287,049,544,554,0256290,090,9
7GMFercec NenadCRO24927,048,544,052,5255190,979,7
8GMFelgaer RubenARG25857,048,543,553,525459-0,07-0,7
9IMRukavina JosipCRO23977,048,543,553,0250691,3713,7
10GMCvitan OgnjenCRO25347,048,044,051,5251890,181,8
11IMMartinovic SasaCRO25157,046,041,550,0248890,020,2
12FMSklyarov Dmitry VRUS23736,551,546,055,0252191,9629,4
13GMSaric IvanCRO25806,550,044,554,525079-0,35-3,5
14
Nordenbaek JanDEN22156,548,544,053,0245492,9444,1
15IMDoric DarkoCRO24526,548,543,552,5248290,686,8
16FMFodor Tamas JrHUN24206,548,043,552,0243790,484,8
17IMBarle JanezSLO24046,547,041,551,0240090,171,7
18FMSandhu MarioAUT23246,545,541,050,0233990,395,8
19IMDoric NenadCRO23206,545,040,547,5232190,171,7
20
Osmanovic FarukGER20936,545,040,047,5233293,3249,8
21IMMolnar BelaHUN23406,544,540,548,0232290,010,1
22IMFranic MilanCRO23906,543,539,047,522969-0,73-7,3
23GMLikavsky TomasSVK24736,542,538,046,522679-1,48-14,8

Full pairings here: http://chess-results.com/Tnr34498.aspx
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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

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.
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Sunday, June 20, 2010

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
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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.
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Sunday, June 6, 2010

Italy wins Mitropa Cup, Papp gets GM norm


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

Final team standings:

Rg.Team12345678910 Wtg1 Wtg2
1Italien * 22323431526,0
2Ungarn2 * 3231421,5
3Schweiz2 * 1119,0
4Kroatien1 * 23321019,0
5Deutschland22 * 222920,0
6Österreich½12 * 2242817,5
7Tschechische Republik1122 * 23716,5
8Slowakei½21½22 * 2614,0
9Frankreich01½01 * 3612,0
10Slowenien122221 * 414,5

Top individual performers:

Nr.
NameEloTeamRpPkt.Anz%Br.
1GMCaruana Fabiano2675Italien27806,5881,31
2GMVocaturo Daniele2493Italien27105,5778,62
3IMPap Gyula2496Ungarn26865,5778,63
4GMJenni Florian2520Schweiz26695,5868,81
5IMPapp Gabor2534Ungarn26236,0966,72
6GMRagger Markus2614Österreich26145,5961,11
7IMRombaldoni Denis2484Italien25964,5675,04
8GMBaramidze David2534Deutschland25946,5972,24
9IMBrunello Sabino2467Italien25826,0966,73
10GMLenic Luka2592Slowenien25805,0955,61
11GMGodena Michele2554Italien25743,5658,31
12GMBindrich Falko2539Deutschland25715,5961,12
13IMNeubauer Martin2458Österreich25574,5856,32
14IMSimacek Pavel2518Tschechische Republik25454,5950,01
15GMGallagher Joseph G2493Schweiz25434,5856,31
16GMJovanovic Zoran2520Kroatien25414,5856,31
17GMRapport Richard2509Ungarn25414,5950,01
18IMMartinovic Sasa2515Kroatien25365,5961,12
19FMPlatzgummer Fabian2340Österreich25083,5570,04
20IMSzabo Krisztian2506Ungarn25014,5856,33

Full results: http://chess-results.com/tnr33539.aspx?art=5&lan=0&flag=30&m=-1&wi=1000
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Tuesday, June 1, 2010

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.
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