Interview with GM Kuljasevic

Interview with Knight Raider Captain GM Davorin Kuljasevic shortly before his graduation on May 13, 2011. He will receive an MBA in Finance from Texas Tech University tonight.

No chest-pounding, no cheerleaders, just win quietly

Texas Tech Wins Final Four of Chess
Posted: 04/ 4/11 08:38 PM ET
Lubomir Kavalek
International Chess Grandmaster
www.huffingtonpost.com

You don't see spectacular hoops and dunks and scoring is not done in twos or threes. No chest-pounding, no cheerleaders. The four-corner offense or zone defenses are not parts of the game either. There are brilliant moves, but they are done quietly. And yet, the Final Four in college chess could be a dramatic experience.

Played at the Booz Allen Hamilton building in Herndon, Virginia, over the last weekend, the event - also known as the President's Cup - featured three teams from Texas and the defending champion University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). With students from 20 different countries, this year's Final Four was the strongest: each team had three grandmasters in the line-up. It was also the toughest competition, the final result hinging on a single game.

In the end, the lowest-rated team, Texas Tech (TTU), beat the odds and finished first, scoring 7-5. University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) took second place with 6.5-5.5. The combined team, University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College (UTB/TSC) came third with 6-6. The UMBC lost all three matches and ended with a 4.5- 7.5 score.

More here.

Many more articles about the 2011 College Chess Final Four here: http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/search/label/College%20Final%20Four

Kuljasevic and Naroditsky win 2011 SPICE Spring

235 Photos here: https://picasaweb.google.com/SPICEChess/SPICESpring2011

Final standings

1-2. GM Kuljasevic, IM Naroditsky 6.0 (+3)
3. FM Yang 5.5 (+2) [IM norm and title]
4-6. GM Bykhovsky, GM Diamant, IM Esserman 5.0 (+1)
7-8. IM Altounian, IM Sipos 4.0 (-1)
9. SM Aleskerov 2.5 (-4)
10. IM Kleiman 2.0 (-5)

Texas Tech GM Kuljašević turns 24

GM Davorin Kuljašević (Texas Tech graduate student in finance and Knight Raider chess team top player) turns 24 today! Happy Birthday Davorin!

He is the top seed at the upcoming SPICE Cup B group which will start on October 28.

Texas Tech Knight Raiders in the past 12 months

August 2010

Gergely Antal (Senior Economics Major) finished 2^nd at the College Tournament of Champions, the most prestigious national collegiate individual chess championship in the U.S. He won the same event in 2009.

July 2010

Rebecca Lelko (Freshman Math Major) won the 7^th annual Susan Polgar Girl’s Invitational Rapid Championship, the most prestigious all-girls national event.

July 2010

SPICE and Texas Tech hosted the annual Susan Polgar Girl’s Invitational for the 3^rd straight year. This is the most prestigious all-girls national chess event.

July 2010

Susan Polgar was named the Ambassador for Norway's bid for the 41st Chess Olympiad to be held in 2014.

June 2010 (1^st Knight Raider to earn Grandmaster title)

Davorin Kuljasevic (Graduate Finance Student) became the first Knight Raider in school history to earn the Grandmaster title, the highest title in chess. There are only about 1,000 Grandmasters worldwide.

June 2010

Gabor Papp (Senior Finance Major) earned his 2^nd Grandmaster norm. He needs one more norm to earn the Grandmaster title, the highest title in chess.

May 2010

Davorin Kuljasevic (Graduate Finance Student) won the Croatia Cup as part of the Mladost Zagreb team. This is the most prestigious team championship in Croatia.

April 2010

The 13 active members of the A team, B team, and women's team gained nearly 1,100 rating points in just this short time! That is an average improvement of nearly 90 rating points per player! This success is a direct result of the world class chess training program of SPICE at Texas Tech.

April 2010

The Knight Raiders A team qualified for the Final Four in its first year. In spite of being the lowest seed by quite a big margin, the team finished 3^rd in the country. No school has ever made the Final Four in its first attempt before. Susan Polgar became the first ever female head coach in collegiate chess to lead a men’s team to the Final Four.

March 2010

SPICE and Texas Tech hosted the 2^nd annual SPICE Spring Invitational, the 2^nd highest rated International Invitational Chess Tournament in the U.S. in 2010, only behind the SPICE Cup. Knight Raider Gergely Antal finished in a tie for 2^nd. 13 year old Darwin Yang from Plano, Texas, earned his first International Master norm in this event. This event was covered by many local TV stations, newspaper, and the news reached out to more than 160 countries worldwide.

March 2010 (1 city individual championship)

Members of the Knight Raiders chess teams captured the top 5 places at the annual Lubbock Open Championship, the most important annual local chess tournament in Lubbock. Gergely Antal finished 1^st, Chase Watters and Rebecca Lelko tied for 2^nd and 3^rd, while Joshua Osbourn and Brian Cassidy tied for 4^th.

February 2010

SPICE was featured as a part of the Texas Tech 2010 – 2020 Strategic Plan.

January 2010

Knight Raider Brian Cassidy tied for 1^st at the fourth "Get Smart! Play Chess!" Winter Chess Championship in Lubbock.

December 2009 (2 individual national titles – 1 team national title – Team made the Final Four)

The Knight Raiders A team tied for 2^nd place in Division I competition at the 2009 Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship held Dec. 27-30 on South Padre Island, and therefore qualified for the College Final Four. This is the most prestigious national collegiate team chess event in the U.S. It is the first time that Texas Tech has sent an A team.

Davorin Kuljasevic and Gergely Antal won the national individual honors as top performers on board 1 and 3 respectively. Gabor Papp finished 2^nd for top performers on board 2.

The Knight Raiders B team won 1^st place in Division IV competition at the same Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship.

November 2009 (2 state championships – 1 individual and 1 team title)

The Knight Raiders A Team (Gergely Antal, Davorin Kuljasevic, Gabor Papp and Chase Watters) captured the Texas State Collegiate Chess Championship team title in Houston. This is the first time Texas Tech has sent an A team to the state championship.

The Knight Raiders A Team members Gergely Antal and Davorin Kuljasevic captured 1^st and 2^nd place respectively at the Texas Tech State Collegiate Chess Championship individual competition in Houston.

The Knight Raiders B Team (Zach Haskin, Josh Osbourn, Rebecca Lelko, Brett James, and Ananya Roy) captured 3^rd place at the same Texas State Collegiate Chess Championship.

October 2009

SPICE and Texas Tech hosted the prestigious 3^rd annual SPICE Cup, the highest rated international invitational tournament in U.S. history. The event was held at the Student Union Building. The news of the event reached over 160 countries worldwide.

October 2009

The Knight Raiders and SPICE broke a world record for an officially rated chess tournament at the lowest point on earth, at the bottom of Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. Knight Raiders A Team members Gergely Antal and Gabor Papp tied for 1^st and 2^nd place.

September 2009 (1 regional individual chess championship)

The Knight Raiders A Team member Gergely Antal captured the prestigious 75th Annual Southwest Open title in Fort Worth with 245 players. Teammate Davorin Kuljasevic finished 2^nd in the same event.

August 2009 (1 national individual chess championship)

The Knight Raiders A Team member Gergely Antal captured the 2009 College Tournament of Champions in Indianapolis, the most prestigious national collegiate individual chess championship in the U.S.

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

SPICE player's success

IM Davorin Kuljasevic (plays board 1 for the Texas Tech Knight Raiders Chess Team) just won the Croatian Cup with his team Mladost Zagreb. They finished ahead of teams with very strong players such as Pavasovič, Šarić, Bologan, Ribli, Grachev, Stević, Kurajica, Rogić, etc.

Davorin will try to earn his final GM norm this summer in Europe before returning for his final year at Texas Tech University. Congratulations to Davorin and his team!

Here are the results of his team:

Bo.		Name	RtgI	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	Pts.	Games	RtgAvg	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	GM	Kožul Zdenko	2579	CRO	1	1	½	½	1	1	5,0	6	2524	6	5	3,37	1,63	10	16,3
2	GM	Janković Alojzije	2559	CRO	0	1	½	½	1	1	4,0	6	2419	6	4	3,78	0,22	10	2,2
3	IM	Kuljašević Davorin	2539	CRO	1	1	½	½	1	½	4,5	6	2355	6	4,5	4,18	0,32	10	3,2
4	GM	Hulak Krunoslav	2511	CRO	1	1	½	½	½	½	4,0	6	2289	6	4	4,11	-0,11	10	-1,1

Full results here: http://chess-results.com/tnr34262.aspx?art=1&lan=1&m=-1&wi=1000

Tech Chess Champ fueled by competition

Tech chess champion fueled by competition

By Sherrel Jones, Staff Writer

Published: Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Updated: Tuesday, September 15, 2009

While children his age were learning 4th-grade science, one future Texas Tech student was traveling throughout Europe participating in chess competitions.

Chess has been part of Gergely Antal’s life since he was 4, and he began competing at age 8 or 9 in tournaments around Europe.

“My grandfather was the first to teach me the game,” said Antal, an international master of chess from Hungary. “My father, uncles and my sister play chess. It is like a chess family, but they are not serious chess players. They just play for fun.”

Antal said he likes to compete in chess tournaments rather than playing leisure games because he likes the feeling of being under pressure during a chess tournament.

Hal Karlsson, faculty adviser for Knight Raiders, said he thinks Antal is a strong player.

“I always thought he had potential when he came,” Karlsson said. “He played in our spring tournament and didn’t do so well, but I think it was jitters. He also won the Southwest Open. I think he has done extremely well this year.”

The Southwest Open was hosted in the DFW area and had 160 players in attendance. Antal won first place and took home the $1,500 prize.

“Usually, they rank people by their strength, and he was the fifth-highest-rated player,” Karlsson said. “He was not the highest-rated player, but won it.”

Antal is a talented player, Karlsson said, but he is not the only talented player at Tech.

Antal did not have competition from his own team last year because he was the only international master on the team. This year, Tech has acquired two other strong players who are international masters.

“We have three international masters, and all of them are quite strong,” Karlsson said. “They all just need one more grandmaster norm to become grandmaster.”

Davorin Kuljasevic, who won second place at the Southwest Open, said Antal’s international master status would be the equivalent to master’s degree in college, and a grandmaster would be the equivalent of a doctoral degree.

“He also has two grandmaster norms,” said Kuljasevic, an international master of chess, “which means he is very close to achieving his grandmaster title. He has a grandmaster strength, which makes him probably top 500 chess players in the world.”

Antal has achieved many accomplishments to be an international master, including his most recent victory in the 2009 World Chess Live Tournament of College Champions during the summer.

“It was a collegiate tournament in Indianapolis,” Antal said. “Universities sent their best students to the competition.”

Antal was the only student from Tech to attend the competition.

“I was the strongest player at that time,” Antal said.

Kuljasevic said the upcoming individual tournaments are scheduled Sept. 19 through Sept. 27 and will be hosted in the matador room in the Student Union Building.

The tournament is going to be difficult, Kuljasevic said, because talented international players will be competing. Grandmasters and chess players from different areas of the United States will also gather in the matador room to compete.

Despite all the talented players and tough competition, Kuljasevic said it is possible for Antal to achieve his goal of becoming a grandmaster.

Source: http://www.dailytoreador.com

TTU Students and SPICE Members Earn Chess Titles

TTU Students and SPICE Members Earn Chess Titles

Texas Tech takes top two spots at 75th annual Southwest Open in Fort Worth.
Written by Jessica Benham
September 14, 2009

Texas Tech University’s SPICE members took home top honors at the 75th annual Southwest Open in Fort Worth.
International Master (IM) Gergely Antal, an economics major at Texas Tech and member of SPICE, placed first at the tournament, which took place over the Labor Day weekend and drew 245 players.

Antal, who was fresh off his national collegiate championship title in Indianapolis in August, scored six points in seven games with no losses to clinch the title. He yielded only two draws – both from Texas Tech teammates and roommates, IMs Davorin Kuljasevic and Gabor Papp.

Kuljasevic, a graduate student at Texas Tech, placed second scoring, 5.5 points in seven games.

Grandmasters Timur Gareev, of the University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB); Amon Simutowe, of the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD); IMs Daniel Fernandez, of UTB and Daniel Ludwig of UTD; and Julio Sadorra tied for 3rd with five points.

This is the second straight major championship where Texas Tech players have finished ahead of two of the nation’s most powerful chess teams – UTD and UTB.

Paul Truong, director of marketing at SPICE, said the members of SPICE who played in the Southwest Open went on their own expense because the Student Government Association’s funds cannot be used to fund non-college tournaments.

“This is essential in order to keep the players in good shape by having them play in strong tournaments,” Truong said. “This is quite an accomplishment considering the youth of the chess program at Texas Tech and it is a great advertisement for the university.”

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

Source: http://today.ttu.edu/

Tech chess players take top two places

Tech chess players take top two places in tournament

By Joe Gulick Avalanche-Journal
Monday, September 14, 2009
Story last updated at -

Texas Tech international chess masters Gergely Antal and Davorin Kuljasevic placed first and second, respectively, in chess competition at the recent 75th annual Southwest Open in Fort Worth.

The match drew 245 players, and among them were Antal, Kuljasevic and two other members of Tech's Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE). Paul Truong, marketing director for SPICE, said this is the institute's second full year.

Antal, an economics major, had won the national collegiate championship title at the Tournament of College Champions in Indianapolis in August. In the Fort Worth tournament, he scored six points in seven games with five wins and no losses. He had two draws - against Tech teammates Kuljasevic and Gabor Papp - and the draws counted half a point each.

Because of the nature of chess tournaments, players sometimes have to play against their teammates, Truong said.

Kuljasevic, a Tech graduate student, scored 5.5 points in seven games in finishing second.

This is the second consecutive major championship, following the Tournament of College Champions, where Tech players have finished ahead of players on two of the nation's most powerful chess teams - the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Texas at Brownsville. Truong said the two Texas schools are among the top four universities in the nation in chess competition.

"To beat them in our second year is a phenomenal accomplishment," Truong said. "If we did the same thing in football, there would be a parade."

A five-way tie for third place at the Fort Worth tournament included grandmaster Timur Gareev and international master Daniel Fernandez of the University of Texas at Brownsville and grandmaster Amon Simutowe and international masters Daniel Ludwig and Julio Sadorra of the University of Texas at Dallas. All five scored five points.

Grandmaster is the highest title conferred by the World Chess Federation, and international master is the second-highest, Truong said. Both Antal and Kuljasevic are close to grandmaster status and could reach it at the 2009 SPICE Cup International Invitational Tournament, which will begin at Tech Saturday, he said.

Truong said the SPICE members who played in the Southwest Open went at their own expense because the Student Government Association's funds cannot be used to fund non-college tournaments.

The SPICE members call their chess team the Knight Raiders. Truong said the "knight" in the title referred to the chess piece and joked that it did not have anything to do with former Tech men's basketball coach Bob Knight.

Source: Avalanche Journal