Lubbock sees excellent results at the Texas State Championship

Lubbock sees excellent results at the Texas State Championship
Posted: February 19, 2011 - 12:08am

Nearly 1,400 top players across our state came to Houston last weekend to compete in the 2011 Texas State Scholastic and Southwest Regional Collegiate Championships, the largest tournament in Texas this year. In the Collegiate Championship, Texas Tech Knight Raiders Andre Diamant and Anatoly Bykhovsky, both grandmasters, finished in a tie for third place. Andre took third on tiebreak, while Anatoly finished fourth. The Knight Raiders A team finished in second place overall.

Tom Polgar, 11, one of the youngest members of the Texas Tech Knight Raiders Chess Club and a sixth-grader at Evans Middle School, captured the first-ever state chess title for his school. Tom scored five wins and two draws to tie for first place in the middle school championship section.

Since 2006, in addition to the latest victory in Houston, Tom has won or tied for first in 10 other major chess championships, which include two USCF National Championships (2006 second-grade champion, 2008 K-3 champion), three SP National Open Championships (2007 K-2 champion, 2009 K-5 champion, and 2010 K-5 champion), four SP World Open Championships (2007 under 11 champion, 2008 under 11 champion, 2009 under 14 champion, and 2010 under 14 champion), and NY State Scholastic Championship (2006 K-1 champion). He has also been ranked No. 1 in the United States for his age group in the past.

Source: http://lubbockonline.com/

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.

Murfee Elementary students shine

Polgar: Murfee Elementary student wins two world championships

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Story last updated at 8/30/2009 - 2:05 am

On July 29-31, Tom Polgar, 10, and Leeam Polgar, 8, competed in the 2009 Superstar Chess World Youth Championships and Superstar Chess World Championship in Pardubice, Czech Republic. They were the only two players representing the United States.

After three exciting days of international competition, Tom won the Superstar World Under 12 Championship, as well as the World Under 18 Championship, both by a full point margin. He also finished in a tie for second place in the Superstar Chess Overall World Championship, behind Arpad Rusz of Romania.

Leeam finished in fifth place in the Superstar Chess World Under 12 Championship, tied for sixth place in the World Under 18 Championship, and tied for 12th place in the Overall World Championship.

Tom just started fifth grade and Leeam fourth grade at Murfee Elementary School

Source: http://lubbockonline.com/

Local youngster wins National Championship

Lubbock boy wins national chess title
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Story last updated at 5/13/2008 - 1:45 am

Tom Polgar-Shutzman, a third-grader at Ramirez Charter School, won his third national chess title at the National Elementary Chess Championship in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Polgar-Shutzman was among 2,200 young chess players who competed for national titles during the event Friday through Sunday.

He scored 6.5 points in seven games, earning six wins and one draw. He shares the first-place title in the K-3 section with Danny Angermeier of Massachusetts.

Polgar-Shutzman is the eldest son of Susan Polgar, director of Texas Tech's Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence and Knight Raiders head coach.

Two weeks ago, Polgar-Shutzman represented the Ramirez Charter School and captured first place in the first Lubbock Open (third- through fifth-grade section) with a perfect 4-0 score.

He also helped his school team win the third-through fifth-grade first-place team trophy.

Source: Avalanche Journal