SPICE - Knight Raiders Accomplishments

Here are the final accomplishments of the SPICE in four years (2008-2012) at Texas Tech (15 national, 2 state, and 2 regional titles):

National titles

2012 College Chess Final Four (Herndon, VA)

Division I National Team Champion (GM Meier, GM Moradiabadi, GM Bykhovsky, GM Diamant, GM Boros, IM Neimer)

2012 United States g15 Open Championship (Albuquerque, NM)

National Individual Champion - GM Georg Meier

2012 United States g15 Open Championship (Albuquerque, NM)

National under 2000 Individual Co-Champions - Zachary Haskin & Trey Modlin

2011 College Chess Final Four (Herndon, VA)

Division I National Team Champion (GM Bykhovsky, GM Kuljasevic, IM Sipos, GM Diamant, SM Aleskerov)

2011 PanAm Intercollegiate Chess Championships (Fort Worth, TX)

Board 3 Division I National Co-Champion - GM Denes Boros

Board 4 Division I National Champion - GM Andre Diamant

Texas Tech qualified for the College Chess Final Four for 3rd consecutive year (Meier, Bykhovksy, Boros, Diamant)

2010 PanAm Intercollegiate Chess Championships (Milwaukee, WI)

Division II National Team Champion (Watters, Flores, Lelko, Cassidy, Osbourn)
Division IV National Team Champion (Haskin, Kamphorst, James, Roy)
Board 2 Division I National Champion – GM Andre Diamant
Board 3 Division I National Champion – GM Anatoly Bykhovsky
Texas Tech qualified for the College Chess Final Four for 2nd consecutive year (Kuljasevic, Diamant, Bykhovsky, Sipos)

2009 PanAm Intercollegiate Chess Championships (South Padre Island, TX)

Board 1 Division I National Champion – IM Davorin Kuljasevic
Board 3 Division I National Champion – IM Gergely Antal
Division IV National Team Champion (Osbourn, Haskin, James, Parkhomenko, Shah)
Texas Tech A qualified for the College Chess Final Four in its first try in Division I (Kuljasevic, Papp, Antal, Watters)

2009 Tournament of College Champions (Irvine, CA)

National Division I Individual Champion – IM Gergely Antal

2008 PanAm Intercollegiate Chess Championships (Fort Worth, TX)

Board 1 Division I National Champion – IM Gergely Antal

Regional titles

2011 Southwest Collegiate Championship - Regional (Dallas, TX)

Division I team champion (GM Bykhovsky, GM Moradiabadi, GM Diamant, GM Boros, IM Neimer, IM-elect Aleskerov)

2009 Southwest Open – Regional (Fort Worth, TX)
Regional Division I Individual Champion – IM Gergely Antal

State titles

2009 Texas State Collegiate Championships (Houston, TX)
State Division I Individual Champion – IM Gergely Antal
State Division I Team Champion – Texas Tech

Head Coach: GM Susan Polgar
Coach: FM Paul Truong

Starting in July 2012, Texas Tech will have a new Director for Chess, Mr. Al Lawrence, and Head Coach, GM Alex Onischuk. I wish the Knight Raiders the best of luck in future. It has been a wonderful tenure at Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas.

The SPICE program is now at Webster University in St. Louis, MO (www.websterchess.com) 

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.

Adding and subtracting chess excellence

Webster University adding chess excellence

May 2, 2012

ST. LOUIS – Susan Polgar introduced the possibility of change shortly after her chess team's achievement, the choice either to stay or leave each player's decision alone.

On Dec. 30, the grandmaster and Texas Tech coach addressed her 18-member squad in a conference room at a hotel in Fort Worth, Texas. It was minutes after they had competed at the Pan American Intercollegiate Chess Championships and clinched their third consecutive appearance in the college chess Final Four.

An opportunity was available. Webster University, a small private school in suburban St. Louis, had offered Polgar a position to start a chess program. Scholarship funding for her team at Texas Tech was limited, so in recent months she had explored options elsewhere.

During the meeting at the hotel, Polgar stressed the importance of self-evaluation. She told her students there was a chance to create at Webster, but she also advised them to choose what was best for their own futures. As in preparation for a chess game, she told her players to approach the options with logic before making a decision.

More than four months later, Polgar and nine students who were present in that room – including each member of the two-time defending national champion Division I team – are preparing for their transition to St. Louis. With it, they will face challenges involved with change as they attempt to build a program together. With it, they will face opportunity as they grow through shared anticipation and struggle.

Polgar likes to say that change is the only constant in life. Soon, she and the rest of her team will discover what their new chapter will teach them.

"Sometimes, change is good," Polgar, who plans to move to St. Louis in early June, told FOXSports.com. "Sometimes, life creates circumstances that you have to be proactive and look for the change and just go with it. … Circumstances change, and you have to be ready to adapt to the changes. As long as the changes are not going in a negative direction – it's at least comparable or better – there's no reason to feel bad about it. You have to accept it as part of life."

Change has been part of Polgar's life, and it has made her one of the world's most recognized figures in chess. She was born and raised in Budapest, Hungary, and she quickly became one of the game's rising stars. At age 12, she earned her first world title by claiming the World Chess Championship for girls under 16. At age 15, she became the world's top-rated female player. And at age 16, she became the first woman to qualify for the World Chess Championship.

Polgar, 43, moved to New York City in 1994, and she continued to build her reputation within the game. In 2003, the United States Chess Federation named her "Grandmaster of the Year," the first woman to receive the honor. And in 2007, Texas Tech hired her to lead a chess program within a region more known for its passions of oil and football.

With time, though, Texas Tech became a power under her guidance. Her Division I team captured its second consecutive national championship in early April in suburban Washington, D.C., making Polgar the first woman to lead a men's Division I team to consecutive titles.

By that point, though, Polgar knew more change would come for her and her squad. The previous year, shortly after Texas Tech had claimed its first national championship, Polgar had hoped the university would promise more funding for scholarships for her students, some of whom she had recruited from countries such as Brazil, Israel and Azerbaijan. The program had survived with the help of a private donor, but assistance was running out.

As months passed, little changed with the situation. She grew less optimistic that they money would come. So early last summer, Polgar began looking. She spoke to about six schools, with Webster being the last one, about making a switch.

"We love Texas Tech, and we appreciate the opportunity the university gave us here," Polgar said. "We just feel they weren't able to commit timely for the scholarships for our students. I personally thought at least a moral obligation to my students, whom I recruited personally from all around the world. … It seemed about a year ago, it clearly seemed the funding was not there toward their scholarships."

Meanwhile, Julian Schuster, Webster's provost and senior vice president, sensed an opportunity. Last summer, he learned through a grandmaster in Texas that Polgar was considering a move. A former chess player, Schuster became interested in the game's value as a tool to sharpen students' critical and creative thinking skills. He wanted to start a program at Webster.

Late last year, Schuster approached Polgar with an offer to make the 47-acre campus in Webster Groves, Mo., her new home. Her background had intrigued him: He considered her an "educated chess player" and "arguably one of the strongest female players in the history of the game." He promised ample funding for her students, an environment within an urban setting with a strong chess culture and a global reach with international campuses in countries such as Austria, China, Thailand, Switzerland, Great Britain and the Netherlands.

Polgar was pleased with the pitch presented by Webster leadership. By January, an agreement was made: She would lead the school's program.

"Change is never easy," Schuster said. "You go from known to unknown. You know with the unknown there is always an anxiety. … The biggest challenge is with great power comes great possibility. They have repeated as champions in the last two years. We at Webster would expect that they continue the winning streak. It is not easy being first. … The challenge is to continue on the trajectory of success."

There also is a challenge knowing what will be left behind at Texas Tech. Polgar and Paul Truong, an assistant coach, have bittersweet feelings about the move. They are eager for the opportunity at Webster.

But they also realize they created a recognized program in west Texas that made an impact through outreach chess events and by hosting numerous local, regional and national competitions. New routines must be made with their move to St. Louis.

But they also understand change presents a chance for growth. Polgar views the transition as no different than any other life cycle: Visions, like the people who carry them, mature with time. And on occasion, a move is necessary to allow a dream to reach its full potential.

"We can adapt to this very easily, because we are all chess players," Truong said. "As chess players, you have to adapt to constant changes. It doesn't matter how much preparation you put into a game – you can guess your opponent will play a certain opening or prepare something for you and you prepare something to counter that – but when you get to the board, things can change rapidly.

"There are big surprises. You don't have time to go back to the drawing board – you have to make decisions on the board instantly. … For chess players, it's like, OK, you see a problem in front of you, and you have to find a solution."

Polgar anticipates some time will be required to grow comfortable at Webster. There will be small adjustments, like finding new friends and new doctors and even a new hairdresser. But there will be a larger transition as well: She will work to maintain the success her program enjoyed at Texas Tech, all while shaping a new legacy.

After all, anticipation will follow her to the Midwest. The New York Times compared her move to a school previously without basketball hiring Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. Truong has likened the team's depth to having eight Tom Bradys or Michael Jordans on the roster. Polgar will work to meet a standard of her own creation, and observers will anticipate results fast.

But in the process, she will receive help from students who trust her. They value their connection. The Webster announcement surprised some, but others were eager to join what U.S. News & World Report has ranked as a Tier 1 institution.

Both Polgar and her team – she estimates she will have at least 14 players when most students report to campus in mid-August – will live the transition together. Change has taught them to be flexible. Change has taught them to move forward with an open mind.

"It wasn't a tough decision, exactly," said grandmaster Anatoly Bykhovsky, a sophomore from Israel who will join Polgar at Webster this fall. "I just love my coach, and it was pretty much my decision. It didn't take me too long."

Source: http://www.foxsportsmidwest.com

Knight Raiders address rumors, issues regarding move to Webster University

Knight Raiders address rumors, issues regarding move to Webster University
Posted: Monday, April 23, 2012 8:48 pm
By Nicole Molter
Staff Writer
Daily Toreador - Dept. of Student Media, Texas Tech University

Nine of the current Knight Raiders will transfer to Webster University in St. Louis with Susan Polgar, director of Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence, and Paul Truong, director of marketing for SPICE, in June.

The players staying behind said they are sad to see these members go, but are optimistic about the future of chess at Texas Tech.

“I’ve spoken to the group on several occasions,” said Juan Muñoz, vice provost for undergraduate education. “I’ve assured them that chess is going to continue at Texas Tech. We plan to hire very, very highly accomplished people, and we plan to be competitive. We plan to continue to recruit students to play and to attend Texas Tech and to be exceptional students and equally accomplished players.”

There has been some confusion about the continuation of the chess at Tech and funds available to the program, said Brett James, a junior from Richmond with a concentration in pre-med.

“A lot of the papers that have been coming out lately – it got picked up by over 500 ones across the U.S., like ESPN, Yahoo, Associated Press, NPR News, New York Times, Wall Street (Journal), all these big newspaper articles, some even foreign – basically they’re saying the wrong thing,” James said.

There will be a team for the fall, he said. More than half of the current team is staying. A new director, coach and outreach coordinator will be hired. An outreach coordinator is a full-time position the team has never had before.

“I have formed a search committee,” Muñoz said, “which is comprised of staff and students. It’s chaired by our vice provost, former U.S. ambassador, Tibor Nagy. They’ve been meeting for weeks and have already identified three finalists (for coach).”

The team will have more scholarship funds than ever before, Muñoz said. A recent private pledge of approximately $280,000 will be divided during the course of four years. The program also has about $50,000 in annual permanent institutional dollars for scholarships.

The team has a separate operational budget he said, which will be used for transportation, food and hotel expenses.

“The money we have right now is good enough to fill the team that has already won the title twice,” James said. “It’s just not enough for maybe twice the size and more Grandmasters to keep coming, like the team was becoming. So Webster wants to have that, and that’s great but, you know, they’re a private school. They can have a little bit more money than Tech can, but Tech definitely has enough support here to have a championship team just like they did the last two years.”

Trey Modlin, a freshman undeclared major from Shaker Heights, Ohio, is confident about the Knight Raiders growing as a team. People are attracted to the school as much as they are to the chess program, he said.

Modlin visited the campus and the chess team before making the decision to come to Tech.

“I didn’t feel overwhelmed by being there,” he said, “and (the chess team) even let me get in on some training, so I wasn’t just being an observer.”

The interest in the chess program is growing in schools, James said. The Knight Raiders hosted the fifth annual Lubbock Open at the Science Spectrum in January.

“We used rooms that we’ve never had before with like 100 students in there by itself,” he said. “All the tournaments are over 100 students now. When I first got here there were like 70 to 80.”

The team may not be as competitive with the loss of the top players, James said.

“It’s definitely going to be a transition year,” he said, “kind of like the football team where we switched from Mike Leach. Now we have (head football coach Tommy) Tuberville.”

Replacing such a good coach is hard, James said. A lot of people are doubtful right now, but the team has a lot to look forward to in the next year starting with our practices in early September.

“(Susan) has incredible knowledge of chess,” he said. “She’s a good coach, but everybody has their own perspective. There’s all kinds of great coaches out there. We’re going to have another strong coach in the fall and we plan to keep winning titles, too. Basically, we want the campus to be confident and support us, just realize that we’re here.”

Source: http://www.dailytoreador.com

Texas Tech Repeats at Final Four of College Chess

Texas Tech Repeats at Final Four of College Chess
By Jamaal Abdul-Alim
April 3, 2012

Herndon, Va. – Under any other circumstances, GM Andrew Diamant of Texas Tech would have given up in a lost position such as the one he found himself playing against GM Conrad Holt of UT Dallas here over the weekend.

But when Diamant learned that the only way the Texas Tech Knight Raiders could defend their title as America’s top college chess team was to win or draw, Diamant decided to fight it out for what proved to be an exciting duel that lasted until only seconds remained on both players’ clocks.

“In a normal game, I would resign because my position was terrible,” Diamant said of his Round 3 game against Holt in a three-round tournament known as the Final Four of Chess.

“But when I figured out it was the last game to decide who will be the champion, I knew the pressure was on him, not only me,” Diamant said.

Their hands literally shook as they made their final moves. Diamant’s decision to battle it out under pressure ultimately paid off for Texas Tech, the only team to score a victory against Holt, who was the only player to enter Round 3 with 2 points.

“Sometimes what happens is I start to blunder almost every move,” explained Holt, who had what he described as a “totally winning position” against Diamant.

“I made many mistakes and eventually it’s a draw,” said Holt -- who counted 36. …. Rb2, enabling Diamant to follow with 37. Rxe6 -- as his first in a series of mistakes.

The draw – along with several other factors – ultimately enabled the Red Raiders to emerge with 8 points as the 2012 winners of the President’s Cup, which is awarded to the victor of the Final Four of Chess.

UMBC and UT Dallas, both longstanding contenders in the Final Four, each tied for second with 7.5 points, and NYU came in fourth.

“I’m very proud of my team and it’s a result of hard work throughout the year, the effort that we’ve done,” Texas Tech Head Coach GM Susan Polgar said of her team’s successful defense of her teams back-to-back championships.

“It’s very fulfilling, of course,” said Polgar, who is moving her chess program, known as the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence, or SPICE, to Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, this fall.

The President’s Cup, however, will remain at Texas Tech until whichever team wins it next.

As happened last year, Texas Tech’s victory hinged on another last-round game, this time between NM Evan Rosenberg of NYU and IM Sasha Kaplan of UMBC.

Observers noted that in many ways, the tournament was decided by a team’s ability to sweep NYU, whose collective strength, at least based on ratings and titles, did not rival that of the three other teams.

Consider, for instance, that NYU was the only team that made it to the Final Four with only one IM and without any GMs, while the other teams were able to put GMs on just about every board.

Still, UMBC and UT Dallas yielded a draw each to NYU while Texas Tech swept NYU.

“When Texas Tech swept NYU and the others couldn’t, that was the delta,” said Mark Herman, executive vice president of Booz Allen Hamilton, a strategy and technology consulting firm that hosted and sponsored the Final Four of Chess, using “delta” as a mathematical term for difference.

As it did last year, Booz Allen Hamilton hosted the Final Four not only to support and advance the game of chess, but rather to recruit talent from among the best players in the world of collegiate chess.

Indeed, the firm extended an invitation to members of all four teams to explore internship opportunities with Booz Allen Hamilton – a significant development given the fact that last year the firm only offered internships to members of the team that won the Final Four.

Several players indicated a serious interest in taking the firm up on its offer.

Among them was IM Vitaly Neimer, 24, a freshman majoring in finance at Texas Tech. Neimer noted the similarities between the mathematical and analytical skills used in the game of chess and those required in finance, one of the areas in which Booz Allen Hamilton offers services.

“Many times in a game, you need to change the plan of the game,” Neimer said. “Also in finance, you need to change how you react.”

Herman, the Booz Allen Hamilton executive, said the nation’s top collegiate chess players represent a rich pool of talent.

“I’ve got a room full of the best critical thinkers that you’re going to find anywhere,” Herman said. “Why wouldn’t I want to recruit them?”

Jamaal Abdul-Alim will also be writing an article for Chess Life Magazine on the Final Four.

www.uschess.org

Tech Knight Raiders win second national championship

Tech Knight Raiders win second national championship, prep for move to St. Louis
By Nicole Molter
Staff WriterDaily Toreador - Dept. of Student Media, Texas Tech University
Posted: Tuesday, April 3, 2012 10:01 pm

Susan Polgar, head coach of the Knight Raiders and director of the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence, led the Texas Tech chess team to a second win at the Final Four national competition in Washington D.C.

Polgar is the first woman in history to lead a men’s Division I team to two straight national championships.

“It feels really good,” Polgar said. “We proved ourselves that last year was not an accident.”

The competition began Friday and concluded Sunday, with the Knight Raiders claiming the title of the country’s top intercollegiate team at the President’s Cup, the main Final Four of College Chess event.

“It was a really close competition between UT Dallas and UMBC,” Polgar said. “We scored eight points and UT and UMBC tied second with seven-and-a-half. We just won by half a point.”

Anatoly Bykhovsky, a sophomore finance major from Israel, said UT Dallas and UMBC were tough competitors, but it felt great to have finished in first place, despite the closeness of the competition.

Andre Diamant, a sophomore economics major from Brazil, competed at nationals with the team last year, as well.

“This year was harder,” he said. “I played the last game and I had a worse position. I needed to draw this game so the team gets to be a champion.”

Bykhovsky, Diamant, Georg Meier, a freshman finance major from Germany, and Elshan Mordiabadi, a business graduate student from Iran, participated in the tournament. Denes Boros, a sophomore psychology major from Hungary, and Vitaly Neimer, a freshman finance major from Israel, were two alternates who also attended.

After this year, all eight members of the “A” team, including Diamant and Bykhovsky, will be transferring with Polgar to Webster University in St. Louis this fall.

“The SPICE team, as you know, many of them are transferring to Webster University, along with the SPICE program,” Polgar said, “but the SPICE team is trying to win, of course, in the future as well. I know we have many competitors in the future.”

According to the Webster University Chess website, the university previously has never had a chess team on campus. Better funding provides opportunities to maintain the high level of the SPICE program and recruitment of student players.

“For the first four years of the program, we basically relied on a large donation from one generous donor to fund a little bit more than four full scholarships which is equivalent to $80,000 per year,” Polgar said.

The money was divided between 21 students currently in the SPICE program, she said. The donation was running out, which would prevent many of the Division I National Championship team members from graduating.

“My family and I are very fond of Lubbock and Texas Tech and we would have loved to have the opportunity to remain with Tech for years to come,” Polgar said. “But the welfare of my students comes first and that is why I had to look for various alternatives for them. They played their hearts out for me and I had to make sure that they all can graduate from school.”

SPICE would have preferred to stay at Tech, Polgar said.

“Only after SPICE and the entire Division I national championship team made a commitment to move to Webster University, we got the news that the donor agreed to continue the funding,” she said. “In addition, Texas Tech also decided to allocate a substantial amount of money for annual chess scholarships. If this would have happened timely, the entire team and the SPICE program would have remained at Texas Tech.”

Polgar said the Knight Raiders would have no trouble securing funding after her leave. She said she currently does not know who will take her place.

“The new director of the Texas Tech chess program and the new head coach will have more institutional scholarship dollars next year than what I had in the entire first four years,” she said. “I hope that with the abundant scholarship budget starting next year, the Knight Raiders will continue to thrive and make the Final Four next year to defend its title and for many more years after that.”

Webster University is located in St. Louis, home to the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis, the World Chess Hall of Fame and U.S. Championship Chess. St. Louis is an area rich in chess history, which will provide a welcoming atmosphere for the SPICE program.

Under the coaching of Polgar, the chess team won a total of 15 national, two state and two regional titles in four years, qualifying for the Final Four each year when competing in Division I and winning back-to-back Final Four titles.

“Texas Tech now has a serious reputation of excellence in the chess community,” Polgar said. “This should make the recruiting process of chess stars and superstars much easier than when we began from scratch in the fall of 2007. I am very thankful for the opportunity to be a part of this wonderful institution in the past five years. It has been an incredible experience and we made a lot of history together.”

Source: http://www.dailytoreador.com

Knight Raiders Win Second Straight National Championship

Knight Raiders Win Second Straight National Championship
The Texas Tech chess team claims the President's Cup event in Washington, D.C.
Written by Karin Slyker
April 1, 2012

The Texas Tech University Knight Raiders are national champions – again.

For the second straight year the Knight Raiders won the President’s Cup, a premier event that is known as the Final Four of College Chess and determines the country’s top intercollegiate team.

The three-day event in Washington, D.C. began Friday and concluded Sunday with the Knight Raiders repeating as national champions with eight points. The University of Texas at Dallas and University of Maryland Baltimore County finished second with 7.5 points each, and New York University finished fourth.

Susan Polgar, Knight Raiders head coach and director of the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE), is the first woman in history to lead a men’s Division I team to two straight national championships.

“It was total teamwork. Nothing was decided until the final second,” Polgar said. “We are very proud and happy to bring another Final Four Championship to Texas Tech.”

Knight Raiders who participated in the tournament are GM Georg Meier, a freshman finance major from Germany; GM Elshan Mordiabadi, a business graduate student from Iran; GM Anatoly Bykhovsky, a sophomore finance major from Israel; and GM Andre Diamant, a sophomore economics major from Brazil. Also in accompaniment are two alternates: GM Denes Boros, a sophomore psychology major from Hungary; and IM Vitaly Neimer, a freshman finance major from Israel.

The SPICE program is a unit of the Division of Institutional Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement.

Over 125 pictures here: https://picasaweb.google.com/116302832360230031699/2012FinalFour

Tech chess wins Final Four second straight year

Tech chess wins national title second straight year

April 1, 2012 - 8:40pm

By Adam D. Younglubbockonline.com Copyright 2012 Lubbock Online. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

April 1, 2012 - 09:40pm

Tech chess wins national title second straight year

AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Texas Tech University’s Knight Raiders can boast a national championship for a second year in a row, even as its head coach and top players prepare to leave the university.

The team won the President’s Cup, an annual competition known as the Final Four of College Chess to determine the country’s top intercollegiate team, according to a Texas Tech news release and coach Susan Polgar.

The three-day event in Washington D.C. began Friday and concluded Sunday with the Knight Raiders repeating as national champions with an eight-point victory after Tech members played four games against each of the three teams also competing in the tournament.

The University of Texas at Dallas and University of Maryland Baltimore County finished second with 7.5 points each, and New York University finished fourth.

Polgar, Knight Raiders head coach and director of the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence, is the first woman in history to lead a men’s Division I team to two straight national championships.

“It was total teamwork. Nothing was decided until the final second,” Polgar said in the Tech release. “We are very proud and happy to bring another Final Four Championship to Texas Tech.”

In February, Polgar announced she plans to transfer her SPICE center along with highly recruited Grand Master-level players to Webster University in St. Louis starting June 1.

Both Polgar and Tech officials said the move came on good terms. Polgar added she wanted to pursue greater opportunities to create a global center for chess excellence in St. Louis.

On Sunday, Polgar, a Hungarian native, said she is proud of the five years she spent working with Tech officials to create the chess program focusing on nationwide team competitions and local outreach programs for area youth.

“I think it certainly created a legacy and history for Texas Tech in chess,” she said.

Knight Raiders who participated in this weekend’s tournament are chess grandmasters Georg Meier, a freshman finance major from Germany; Elshan Mordiabadi, a business graduate student from Iran; Anatoly Bykhovsky, a sophomore finance major from Israel; and Andre Diamant, a sophomore economics major from Brazil.

Also in accompaniment were two alternates: Grandmaster Denes Boros, a sophomore psychology major from Hungary; and International Master Vitaly Neimer, a freshman finance major from Israel.

Tech’s news release said Polgar’s move likely will end her institute’s five years in Lubbock.

In addition, all members of the reigning national collegiate champion Texas Tech “A” chess team will transfer to Webster and be enrolled at the university in the 2012-2013 academic year, Polgar said.

Source: http://lubbockonline.com

Knight Raiders to Defend National Title at Final Four

Knight Raiders to Defend National Title at Final Four
Players will compete to be the top intercollegiate team at the President’s Cup in Washington, D.C.
Written by Karin Slyker

Texas Tech’s Knight Raiders will defend their national title March 30-April 1 at the 2012 President’s Cup in Washington, D.C. Often known as the Final Four of College Chess, this premier event will determine the country’s top intercollegiate team.

Susan Polgar, head coach and director of the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE), said the team has prepared many months for this trip.

“We are looking forward to the difficult challenge from the other three universities,” Polgar said. “It will not be easy, but we will do our best to make Texas Tech proud.”

This is Texas Tech’s third consecutive appearance at the President’s Cup. Its opponents in this round-robin tournament are the University of Texas at Dallas, the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and New York University. The team that accrues the highest number of points will win the championship.

“We already know who we play,” said Paul Truong, director of marketing for SPICE. “The only thing we do not know is who will be black and who will be white.”

The competition is sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton, a leading provider of management and technology consulting services to the US government in defense, intelligence and civil markets.

Because the skills of a great chess player are also among the characteristics for success in business, the Booz Allen Hamilton is offering summer internships to the nation’s top players. The positions will be in Cloud Analytics, in the firm’s Washington, D.C. area offices.

The Texas Tech Chess program is a unit of the Division of Institutional Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement.

Source: http://today.ttu.edu/2012/03/knight-raider-to-defend-national-title-at-final-

The heavy underdog of the Final Four

L to R: GM Bykhovsky, GM Boros, GM Moradiabadi, GM Meier, GM Diamant, IM Neimer, IM-elect Aleskerov

The College Chess Final Four will take place this weekend in Washington, DC. The four teams which will compete in the most prestigious National Collegiate Chess title are:

TTU - SPICE (defending champion)
UTD
UMBC
NYU

Even though the SPICE warriors are the defending champion, we are the underdog for several reasons. Teams like UTD and UMBC are heavily supported by their respective universities with scholarships while the Knight Raiders relied on donations in the past to even exist.

A pro-chess university like UTD threw a big pep rally with VIPs attending to send their team off to the Final Four. On the other hand, very few administrators at Texas Tech are even aware that that we are trying to defend our National Championship title this weekend.

Most importantly, while the other three teams were busy preparing for this very important event, the SPICE warriors were busy helping me pack the SPICE office to move to a new location on campus. This directly took away our valuable time for preparation. The school administrators decided that right before the Final Four is the "right" time to move instead of waiting after the Final Four.

What our players have is sheer determination and strong faith in each other. It may be a big mountain to climb but they will give it everything they have. Win, lose, or draw, I am very proud of my players.

College Chess Final Four Set

The College Chess Final Four will take place on March 30 - April 1 in Herndon, Virginia. It is sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton.

The defending champion and #1 ranked team in the nation is Texas Tech - SPICE Knight Raiders.

No. 1-Ranked Chess Institute in the Nation Moving to Webster Groves

No. 1-Ranked Chess Institute in the Nation Moving to Webster Groves

The Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence will make Webster University its new home after five years at Texas Tech University.

By Carlos Restrepo
Email the author
5:55 am

Susan Polgar, world and Olympiad champion of chess, will move her Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE) from Texas Tech University to Webster University, effective June 1.

Polgar was recruited by Texas Tech in 2007 to lead the new SPICE chess institute. However, Polgar said the university there did not have the resources to sustain the fast-growing chess program.

“The program grew very fast,” said Polgar, who is a winner of four world chess championships and five Olympic gold medals. “We are very thankful for our partnership with Texas Tech. We had many great accomplishments there, but it was time to move on.”

Julian Schuster, provost of Webster University, said he has been playing chess for most of his life and has befriended several professional chess players throughout his career in academia. Schuster said a friend had told him that Polgar was planning on leaving Texas Tech, so he saw an opportunity for Webster.

“All my life I’ve thought chess is a great educational tool,” Schuster said. “I always have had an idea to form a chess club, but never sought the opportunity. When one my friends told me Susan Polgar was contemplating leaving Texas, I put two and two together and moved the initiative forward with the university.”

In addition to Polgar, 10 students from Texas Tech, who are part of the chess institute’s “A” team, will also relocate to Webster. At least six of them will receive full-ride scholarships to attend their new home campus, Schuster said.

Schuster said he is not sure of the total cost to the university for bringing the SPICE institute, Polgar and the 10 students to Webster. Schuster said he sees it as a good investment.

“Everyone — the New York Times, the other newspapers — ask me this question, ‘How much will it cost?’” Schuster said. “This is not important. What’s more important is how many direct and indirect benefits this will have for Webster University, Webster Groves, St. Louis, Missouri and even the United States. We are convinced that we will emerge as one of the best universities and we will become an attractive place for the best students to come and to join us. In that regard, it will put Webster Groves on the world map.”

Polgar said it may be difficult to adapt from being at a large university such as Texas Tech, with a population of about 32,000, to Webster University, which has an enrollment of about 4,500 students. However, Polgar said Webster’s campuses abroad and its global mission are a perfect fit for her program.

“Chess is an international game, and anyone can play it,” Polgar said. “We hope to attract students from other countries to come to Webster.”

Both Polgar and Schuster said the institute will serve not only students at the university, but also residents of Webster Groves and surrounding areas.

“We still have to iron-out the details, but there will be opportunities to make it accessible to anyone interested in chess,” Polgar said. “That’s the beauty of chess; it is available to everyone. It doesn’t matter how tall you are, how old you are, how fast you are, what background you come from, it’s available and accessible to everybody. And it will be that way at Webster, too.”

Source: http://webstergroves.patch.com

United States g/15 Open Championship

Final standings
United States g/15 Open Championship
Albuquerque, New Mexico

1 | GM GEORG MEIER |6.0 TX | 14508324 / Q: 2646P23 - 2691 (SPICE - Knight Raider)

2 | BENJAMIN CORARETTI |5.0 NM | 12705539 / Q: 2018 - 2079

3 | GM ALEX YERMOLINSKY |4.5 SD | 12534917 / Q: 2670 - 2658

4 | GM MELIKSET KHACHIYAN |4.5 CA | 12827326 / Q: 2548 - 2542

5 | IM JUSTIN SARKAR |4.5 NY | 12561884 / Q: 2321 - 2316

6 | IM - elect FAIK ALESKEROV |4.0 TX | 13669090 / Q: 2300 - 2303 (SPICE - Knight Raider)

7 | STEPHEN M SANDAGER |4.0 NM | 10424101 / Q: 2181 - 2176

8 | LIOR LAPID |4.0 NM | 12563733 / Q: 2140 - 2135

9 | MARK W DEJMEK |4.0 TX | 12350320 / Q: 2071 - 2063

10 | BRYON DOYLE |4.0 UT | 12905977 / Q: 1895 - 1903

11 | TREY MODLIN |4.0 OH | 12803731 / Q: 1855 - 1881 (SPICE - Knight Raider)

12 | ZACHARY JOHN HASKIN |4.0 TX | 12827624 / Q: 1865 - 1876 (SPICE - Knight Raider)

13 | CURTIS COOPER |4.0 NM | 12485868 / Q: 1747 - 1832

14 | OSWALDO LUIS OLIVO |4.0 TX | 14243006 / Q: 1754 - 1831

Full standings here: http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?201202269462

SPICE - Knight Raiders win US g/15 Open Championship

Grandmaster Georg Meier went 6-0 to win the 2012 US g/15 Championship! The event was held on the campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

In October 2011, Meier won the SPICE Cup Blitz Championship and finished 2nd in the SPICE Cup A group, the highest rated International Invitational round robin tournament in U.S. history.

In November 2011, he helped his German National Team win their first ever European Team Championship. In December 2011, Meier helped the Knight Raiders qualify for their third straight Final Four appearance.

On March 30 - April 1, he will lead the Knight Raiders in their Final Four title defense in Washington, DC.

Tech senior Zachary Haskin (Wichita Falls, TX) and freshman Trey Modlin (Ohio) tied for first in the United States g/15 Championship, under 2000 section. They both scored 4 points in 6 games.

Congratulations to Georg, Zach, and Trey!

SPICE wins 2012 Southwest Collegiate Championship

SPICE wins 2012 Southwest Collegiate Championship

Posted: February 21, 2012 - 9:06am

February 21, 2012 - 10:06am

SPICE wins 2012 Southwest Collegiate Championship

The Texas Tech Knight Raiders clinched another first-place chess victory Sunday at the 2012 Southwest Collegiate Championship in Fort Worth.

Team members include Grandmaster Anatoly Bykhovsk of Israel, Grandmaster Elshan Moradiabad of Iran, Grandmaster Andre Diamant of Brazil, Grandmaster Denes Boros of Hungary, International Master-elect Faik Aleskerov of Azerbaijan and International Master Vitaly Neimer of Israel.

The University of Texas at Dallas finished second, followed by UT Brownsville and Texas A&M, respectively.

Source: http://lubbockonline.com

Knight Raiders earned top spot at Southwest Collegiate

Chess team earns first place in Southwest tourney
Posted: Monday, February 20, 2012 11:51 pm
dailytoreador.com

The Texas Tech Knight Raiders, under the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence, claimed the top spot at the 2012 Southwest Collegiate Championship on Sunday in Dallas.

The University of Texas at Dallas placed second, with the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas A&M following.



This was the teams first Southwest Collegiate Team Championship title.

Participating team members included Faik Aleskerov, international master-elect, of Azerbaijan; Denes Boros, grandmaster, of Hungary; Anatoly Bykhovsky, grandmaster, of Israel; Andre Diamant, grandmaster, of Brazil; Elshan Moradiabadi, grandmaster, of Iran; and Vitaly Neimer, grandmaster, of Israel.

Bykhovsky scored two wins and three draws to earn second place on tiebreaks for individual honor. Moradiabadi finished in third place on tiebreaks, Diamant in fourth and Boros in seventh. Overall, none of the grandmasters were defeated, helping the Knight Raiders earn first place.

Source: http://www.dailytoreador.com

The SPICE warriors win SW Collegiate Championship

L to R: GM Elshan Moradiabadi, GM Denes Boros, IM-elect Faik Aleskerov, GM Andre Diamant, IM Vitaly Neimer, GM Anatoly Bykhovsky at Dallas Love Airport

The Texas Tech SPICE - Knight Raiders have just captured the 2012 SW Collegiate Championship in Dallas, Texas. Hometown team and top seed UT Dallas finished second while UT Brownsville finished third. Texas A&M finished in a distance fourth.

This is a surprise victory for the Knight Raiders as two of the team members (Grandmasters Andre Diamant and Denes Boros) were in emergency care Friday morning shortly before leaving for Dallas. This was not the end of the story. After arriving to the event on Friday evening, another Knight Raider, Grandmaster Elshan Moradiabadi did not feel well.


At Lubbock Airport

In spite of the serious health issue, the players fought very hard as true warriors for the prestigious title. At the end, they topped all their rivals to earn another major title for the Texas Tech and SPICE.

This is the chess equivalent of the entire championship University of Alabama football team and coaching staff up and transferring

Sinquefield should focus on chess, not public school, boards
By BARB SHELLY
The Kansas City Star

Before Rex Sinquefield became a multimillionaire and a political kingmaker, he was a chess player.

And whatever you think of Sinquefield’s libertarian views and shameless flaunting of his fortune to influence Missouri government, know this: He is revered as a chess patriarch.

The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis, a sparkling chess palace that Sinquefield renovated out of a 1897 building, has 700 active members and is host to the nation’s top tournaments. It has a grandmaster in residence and it helped persuade the nation’s top-rated player, Hikaru Nakamura, to move to St. Louis.

Sinquefield, a retired investment fund manager, engineered the move of the World Chess Hall of Fame from Miami to St. Louis. He and his wife, Jeanne, purchased the chess library of the brilliant recluse, Bobby Fischer, which includes notebooks Fischer used to prepare for his legendary match against Russian Boris Spassky.

Because of Sinquefield, dozens of schoolchildren in the St. Louis area play chess. And now the nation’s top-rated chess team has announced it is moving from Texas Tech University in Lubbock to Webster University in St. Louis.

This is the chess equivalent of the entire championship University of Alabama football team and coaching staff up and transferring to Creighton University in Omaha.

Hungarian-born chess champ Susan Polgar, who coaches at Texas Tech, says she is bringing five grandmasters and two international chess masters with her, and an additional three grandmasters are expected to join the team next year as freshmen.

I emailed a news clipping about this to my son, who plays on a chess team at a university that happens to be where Sinquefield did his graduate work.

“Wow,” he emailed back. “That is huge news.”

It’s rare that I am able to tell my son something he doesn’t know, much less get a “wow” out of him. So I thank Sinquefield for that.

Polgar told me Sinquefield wasn’t instrumental in arranging the move, but he was a factor. “We felt it was a nice coincidence,” she said. “We will be in the Mecca of chess in America that grew out of nowhere thanks to the generosity of Mr. Rex Sinquefield.”

Julian Schuster, the provost at Webster, a private, non-profit university, said the school aspired to become a “truly international university,” and chess, being an international sport, fits with that mission.

The school will at first provide scholarship aid for chess players out of its merit scholarship pool, Schuster said.

“We will also approach donors and other interested organizations and foundations,” he added.

Source: http://www.kansascity.com

Chess Institute To Transfer To Webster University In June

Chess Institute To Transfer To Webster University In June
February 17, 2012

Building on St. Louis' growing reputation as a world-class chess center, Webster University is making some chess moves of its own.

The university announced that chess Grandmaster Susan Polgar, World and Olympiad Champion, and her Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE), will relocate to Webster from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, on June 1, 2012.

In addition, all members of the reigning national collegiate champion Texas Tech "A" chess team will transfer to Webster and be enrolled at the University in the 2012-2013 academic year.

The chess players who will either transfer to Webster from Texas Tech or enroll as incoming freshmen include eight Grandmasters and two International Masters, and the team is expected to rank No. 1 in the nation in Fall 2012.

Polgar is the winner of four world championships and the only world champion in history - male or female - to win the Triple-Crown (Rapid, Blitz and Classical Chess world championships).

She is the first woman to qualify for the Men's World Championship Cycle, earn the Men's Grandmaster title, and to receive the Grandmaster of the Year Award. In 2011, Polgar became the first female head coach to lead a men's Division 1 team (Texas Tech University) to the national title.

For more information on SPICE at Webster University, go to www.webster.edu/spice.

Source: http://www.websterkirkwoodtimes.com

Webster’s new chess clubbers get New York Times nod

Webster’s new chess clubbers get New York Times nod
St. Louis Business Journal by Matthew Hibbard, Reporter
Date: Wednesday, February 15, 2012, 5:49pm CST

An article from The New York Times The New York TimesLatest from The Business JournalsCEO Tim Cook defends Apple's record on suppliersBuffalo News reports lowest profits in decadesYou can own a piece of the Empire State BuildingFollow this company yesterday mentioned the relocation of Texas Tech University Texas Tech UniversityLatest from The Business JournalsGolf school tees up in DFWChampion college chess team moves to Webster UUNT student housing community gets MFollow this company’s chess club in Lubbock, Texas to Webster University Webster UniversityLatest from The Business JournalsPHOTOS: 40 Under 40 event at the Chase Park PlazaIntroducing a new list: Wealth ManagementChampion college chess team moves to Webster UFollow this company in St. Louis.

The move will bring Susan Polgar, head of the Texas Tech chess program, her Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence and its top 10 chess players — eight grandmasters and two international masters, to the city. The students as well as Polgar will join Webster, with Polgar beginning June 1 and the students starting classes in the fall.

Paul Truong, Polgar’s husband, told Lubbock’s NBC affiliate KCBD that the move northward was due to a lack of resources available at Texas Tech. Webster University, on the other hand, has enough resources to fund its chess program due to an $80 million endowment, according to the article.

Polgar is the winner of four world championships and the only world champion in history to win the Triple-Crown (Rapid, Blitz and Classical chess world championships).

Sounds like a well-played move for Webster.

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com

Webster University attracts Susan Polgar, top ranked chess coach

Webster University attracts Susan Polgar, top ranked chess coach
9:50 PM, Feb 15, 2012
By Ann Rubin
NBC TV - St. Louis (KSDK)

Webster Groves, MO (KSDK) - They've never had a team before. But next year, Webster University will have the top ranked chess team in the nation.

So how did they pull it off?

Texas Tech had that top ranked team, but apparently not the funding to keep them.

So Webster University offered the head of the program, the manager, and many of the players a new home.

"Imagine if you would have like 8 Michael Jordan's or 8 Tom Bradys on a team. It would be insane. But unfortunately there's no funding. And if we don't have funding they would go elsewhere," said manager Paul Truong.

And now that's exactly what's happening.

The head of the Texas Tech chess team is moving to Webster University and taking her best players with her.

Susan Polgar, a grandmaster and former women's world champion, says Webster provided not only the right funding, but the right fit.

"Because they are a global university, because of the location, that it's in the Midwest right in the middle of the country and also, not less importantly that St. Louis is the chess center of America today," said Polgar.

The city is home to both the World Chess Hall of Fame, and the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis, places which have already attracted international attention.

"They said it's the Mecca of chess. So for us it was really exciting to hear that international players from half a world away have already heard about the club and St. Louis," explained Tony Rich, Executive Director of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis.

Call it a strategic move. They're counting on the fact that having top level players will attract more top level players to the area.

In fact, Lindenwood University announced it too will be starting a chess team in the fall, complete with scholarships.

They're recruiting from Iceland to India and are looking forward to some stiff collegiate competition.

"We're really glad Webster is starting a chess program so we can make us work harder to make ours stronger. And the players know each other so there will be some friendly competition in the area. If it can be friendly," said Grandmaster and new Lindenwood coach Ben Finegold.

The top ten players from Texas Tech will all be starting at Webster in the fall. Susan Polgar will start June 1st, in time for a summer tournament.

Source: NBC TV - St. Louis KSDK

CBC Radio Interview

COLLEGE CHESS TURMOIL. All's fair in love and war... and chess. A Texas chess coach moves to a St. Louis university. And takes her star players with her.

Time:

Interview starts at 17:30:01 and ends at 23:49:00

Move the lever to the right toward the 17:30 mark to skip other parts of radio show.

Listen to Part Three: (Pop-up)



Show:	AS_IT_HAPPENS
Date:	2012/02/15

Could chess become the hottest collegiate sport?

Dastardly Doings in Chess World: Webster U. Poaches Texas Tech's Coach, Team
By Aimee Levitt
Thu., Feb. 16 2012 at 1:40 PM

Since we know now that chess is a sport, maybe it shouldn't be surprising that the chess community is resorting to sports-like behavior: boosterism, trash-talking and now wholesale poaching of the best collegiate players.

Case in point: This school year, Webster University has no chess team. Next year it will have the number-one ranked team in the country, thanks to its recruitment of Susan Polgar, former women's world champion and current chess coach at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. Nearly half of the Texas Tech team has decided to follow its coach: Eight grandmasters and two international masters have already committed to study at Webster starting this fall.

Polgar cites Texas Tech's lack of financial support as her reason for leaving. When she arrived in Lubbock in the fall of 2007 to start up the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (known as SPICE), the university allotted her $15,000 for scholarships. When the chess team won the national championship last year, that amount was doubled, but, as Paul Truong, Polgar's husband and team manager, told KCBD News in Lubbock, many top-tier chess schools offer $30,000 per player.

"A grandmaster is the highest title in chess, and around the world there is maybe 1,200. Tech could potentially have eight grandmasters next year if we would have enough funding," he said. "Imagine having eight Michael Jordans or eight Tom Bradys...it would be insane. Unfortunately we don't have funding, and if we don't have funding they go elsewhere."

The exact terms of the deal haven't been worked out yet, says Webster spokeswoman Susan Kerth, but all the money will be coming out of the university's operating budget and each of the ten players transferring from Texas Tech will be receiving a scholarship.

There are other attractions, of course, notably the St. Louis Chess Club, which lured Hikaru Nakamura, one of the world's top-ranked players to relocate here and which helped get us named the United States Chess Federation's Chess City of the Year for 2011. Not to mention the deep pockets and generosity of local chess-loving billionaire Rex Sinquefield. Lindenwood University, meanwhile, has announced it will be starting up its own team, but from scratch, coached by Ben Finegold, the Chess Club's grandmaster-in-residence and chess correspondent for the St. Louis Beacon.

Polgar was never officially on the hiring block. Webster's provost, Julian Z. Schuster, learned through mutual friends that Polgar was considering leaving Texas Tech and initiated an e-mail conversation; eventually Polgar came to St. Louis for a visit and the deal was done.

Texas Tech is trying to put on a brave face. "With the most recent rounds of budget cuts, we're all experiencing a little tightening in the purse strings so to speak," Chris Cook, a university spokesman. "We have other national championship programs. We did see the importance of the chess program, but you have to meet the needs of all programs while staying in the overall budget."

Webster, solidly in the NCAA's Division III, has no such conflicts. (Quick, do you know the team nickname?) Could chess become the hottest collegiate sport in Webster Groves? (It's the Gorlocks, after Gore and Lockwood Avenues, two streets that border the university.)

Source: http://riverfronttimes.com

New York Times on SPICE Chess Move to Webster

New York Times on SPICE Chess Move to Webster
Feb 15, 2012

Webster University recently announced that champion chess Grandmaster Susan Polgar and her Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE) are relocating to Webster University along with a champion chess team.

The St. Louis Beacon called it “a major coup” for Webster, and now The New York Times has covered the move.

The Times talked with Webster Provost and senior vice president Julian Schuster, who helped recruit and hire Polgar:

Mentioning that Webster has campuses in more than 100 places around the world, Mr. Schuster, who grew up in the former Yugoslavia, where chess is popular, said: “I did not grow up in this country. I do not play football. I do not have this connection from the old country. Chess is a global game, and we live in global times. And Webster is a global university.”

The coverage on the National page of the Times also drew the notice of Deb Peterson in her gossip column at stltoday.com, the website for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Chess grandmaster Susan Polgar bringing her all-star chess team to Webster

Chess grandmaster Susan Polgar bringing her all-star chess team to Webster
by Andrea Sisney
February 15, 2012

Webster University will advance into a new competitive field next year with the help of a game-changing legend.

In June, chess Grandmaster Susan Polgar will transfer her collegiate program, the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE) and all members of her Division I team from Texas Tech University to Webster.

“We started the SPICE program at Texas Tech five years ago, and the program grew very rapidly,” Polgar said. “We felt it would be a good match to expand and grow our program better at Webster for several reasons.”

Polgar was the first woman in history to qualify for the Men’s World Chess Championship, eventually leading the World Chess Federation to change the tournament’s name. She won a gold medal in the 2004 Chess Olympiad (10 overall with 5 gold in her career), and is the only chess player to have won a Triple Crown — besting competitors at rapid, blitz and classical (women's) chess world championships.

In a press release, President Elizabeth Stroble said Polgar’s move to Webster would improve the university’s global reputation and academic standards, as chess is being recognized worldwide for its benefits. Chess can teach important values like strategic problem solving and the consequences of actions.

“I believe chess is an exciting educational tool,” Polgar said. “That’s probably the most important for me. It is growing by the day around the country, around the world. More and more superintendents, school districts or governments recognize the value chess can give to young people in the skills they develop.”

St. Louis has become a chess center in the United States in recent years. In 2007, the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis (CCSCSL) was established in the Central West End. The club, now recognized as one of the premier chess facilities in America, boasts two grandmasters and hosts the U.S. Championship Chess tournament. Its efforts in school programs and national competitions have earned St. Louis a ranking of “Chess City of the Year” by the United States Chess Federation for two consecutive years.

Mike Wilmering, CCSCSL communications specialist, said he’s excited that St. Louis is starting to draw major attention from the chess world.

“We’ve demonstrated a real commitment to promote chess at a national level by hosting tournaments each year,” Wilmering said. “When (players) look around the country and see who’s putting focus and energy into promoting chess, St. Louis is the first thing that comes to mind. We’re working really hard to foster great chess culture all across the greater St. Louis area, and it’s really resonating with other chess communities.”

Wilmering said CCSCSL was not involved in Polgar and Webster’s collaboration. The club has recently worked with Lindenwood University to launch a collegiate chess program. Wilmering said the school came to them last year looking for a chess table, and the beginnings of a team took off from there.

“They (Lindenwood) kind of approached us; we said there is a collegiate chess scene, and we think St. Louis is a fit for it,” Wilmering said. “We’re glad other universities recognize that as well. I hope it creates a positive competitive environment.”

Admissions counselor for Lindenwood, Lauren Nystrom, said the team is only starting to come together.

“We’re just in our recruitment stages right now for chess players,” Nystrom said. “We’ve launched a news release and gotten really positive feedback. We have hired (CCSCSL’s grandmaster-in-residence) Ben Finegold to start a chess team here. We’re excited about this new opportunity. We’re still kind of in the works.”

Polgar is bringing her “A” team from Texas Tech with her to Webster. Chris Cook, managing director of Texas Tech’s office of communications and marketing, said the school will continue having a chess pro.

Source: http://websterjournal.com

Webster U. Snags Texas Tech’s Chess Coach and 10 Top Players

Webster U. Snags Texas Tech’s Chess Coach and 10 Top Players
February 15, 2012, 11:09 am

Big-time college sports teams routinely pluck coaches from smaller programs with fewer resources. Today The New York Times reported on a different sort of coaching raid: Webster University, a private institution in suburban St. Louis, has hired away the head of Texas Tech University’s elite chess program. Susan Polgar, a grandmaster and former women’s world champion, has been at Texas Tech since 2007. Last April her team won the Final Four of Chess. Now she is taking her husband, who manages the team, along with Texas Tech’s top 10 players to Webster, which previously had no chess program. Ms. Polgar told the NBC television affiliate in Lubbock, Tex., that Texas Tech’s chess program had grown too quickly for the university to accommodate it, but a university spokesman disputed that characterization. Webster will finance the new program from its endowment.

Source: http://chronicle.com

Költözik Polgár Zsuzsa sakkiskolája

Költözik Polgár Zsuzsa sakkiskolája
WL
Forrás: MTI
2012. február 10., péntek 12:36

Idén júniusban új helyre költözik a Polgár Zsuzsa nevével fémjelzett, egyesült államokbeli egyetemi sakkiskola: a lubbocki Texas Tech University után a következő tanévtől a St. Louis-i Webster University lesz az intézmény székhelye.

A Chess.com internetes szaklap beszámolója szerint a költözést bejelentő legidősebb Polgár nővér azt is közölte, hogy a csapat nyolc vezető tagja is vele tart. A honlap megjegyzi, hogy St. Louis egyre inkább az Egyesült Államok sakk-központjává válik, s ez a mostani lépés is ezt támasztja alá.

Az olimpiai és világbajnok Polgár Zsuzsa azzal indokolta a költözést, hogy a Websteren szélesebb eszköztár áll majd rendelkezésre oktatásai programja, a SPICE (Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence) fejlesztéséhez.

A Texas Tech csapata egyébként címvédő az amerikai egyetemi bajnokságban, s még a költözés előtt – március elején, április végén – megpróbálja megvédeni elsőségét Washingtonban.

„Köszönöm az elmúlt öt évet a Texas Tech Egyetemnek. Olyan valaki vagyok, aki folyamatosan, lassan negyven éve próbálja emelni a lécet, és áttörni a korlátokat a sakkban, így nem mehettem el a Webster egyetemen kínálkozó lehetőség mellett” – írta Polgár Zsuzsa, hozzátéve hogy a közeljövőben több oktatási intézményben is beindítják a SPICE-programot.

Címkék

Source: http://mno.hu/sport

Making the right move

GM Bykhovsky, GM Meier, IM Neimer, IM-elect Aleskerov, GM Boros, GM Diamant, GM Moradiabadi (missing is GMs So, Robson, and Hoyos)

Chess Coach to Leave Texas Tech With Her Team’s Best in Tow
By DYLAN LOEB McCLAIN
Published: February 14, 2012

Imagine if a university without a basketball program recruited Mike Krzyzewski, the legendary coach at Duke University, and not only managed to hire him but also persuaded most of his team to switch with him. In essence, that is what Webster University in St. Louis has done by hiring Susan Polgar, the head of the Texas Tech chess program.

Ms. Polgar, a grandmaster and a former women’s world champion, was hired by Texas Tech University in 2007 to create an elite chess program. The university even named the program after her, calling it the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence, or Spice.

Last April, Texas Tech won the Final Four of Chess, a competition in Herndon, Va., among the top collegiate teams in the country. It was Texas Tech’s first championship since Ms. Polgar arrived at the university.

Now Ms. Polgar and her husband, Paul Truong, the manager of the chess team, are leaving Texas Tech, which is spread over more than 1,800 acres in Lubbock and has more than 32,000 students. They are heading to Webster, a university mostly geared toward postgraduate students around the world, whose main campus in St. Louis is 47 acres. The chess program at Webster will be called Spice.

The top 10 players at Texas Tech — eight grandmasters and two international masters, some of whom had just committed to the university — are also switching. They are scheduled to start in the fall; Ms. Polgar is to begin on June 1. On paper, Webster will have the No. 1 ranked team in the country.

In an interview with KCBD, NBC’s local affiliate in Lubbock, Mr. Truong said the switch was caused by a lack of financial resources at Texas Tech. Ms. Polgar told KCBD that the program grew too quickly for the university to accommodate it.

Chris Cook, a spokesman for Texas Tech, said that budget cuts had affected several teams but that they were still adequately financed. “We are giving the programs what they need to compete,” Mr. Cook said. He said the university intended to hire a new coach and a new manager to succeed Ms. Polgar and Mr. Truong.

Julian Z. Schuster, the provost of Webster University, said he was responsible for recruiting and hiring Ms. Polgar and establishing the team. Mr. Schuster said that he and Ms. Polgar had mutual friends and that he had learned she was thinking about leaving Texas Tech. They exchanged e-mails, and Ms. Polgar went to visit.

“Technically, I don’t know who winked first,” Mr. Schuster said. “You know the old expression: it takes two to tango.”

Mr. Schuster said Webster had an endowment of about $80 million and was financing the new program, including the cost of scholarships, entirely on its own. The financial commitment would run at least long enough for the students who are matriculating, some of whom are freshmen, to graduate. Mr. Schuster said that having a top team would eventually more than pay for itself by raising Webster’s profile and stimulating interest in the university.

Mentioning that Webster has campuses in more than 100 places around the world, Mr. Schuster, who grew up in the former Yugoslavia, where chess is popular, said: “I did not grow up in this country. I do not play football. I do not have this connection from the old country. Chess is a global game, and we live in global times. And Webster is a global university.”

Distinguishing itself from other universities was one of the primary reasons Texas Tech created its chess program five years ago. Other universities — including the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County — have made similar decisions.

James A. Stallings, the director of the Dallas chess program, said Webster’s recruitment of such a top team was “unprecedented,” pointing out that most programs start from scratch.

(Coincidentally, just three days before Webster made its announcement on Feb. 3, Lindenwood University, a liberal arts institution just outside of St. Louis that has 17,000 students, said it was starting a chess program and had hired a local grandmaster named Ben Finegold as its coach.)

Mr. Stallings said he was a little concerned from a fairness standpoint about Webster recruiting so many of Texas Tech’s players as well as its coaching staff, but he welcomed the creation of another top program.

“It validates the concept,” Mr. Stallings said. “It is a good thing for scholastic youth in this country.”

Mr. Schuster at Webster said simply, “To use the chess analogy, I think we made the right move.”

Source: http://www.nytimes.com