- First woman to earn the GM (International Grandmaster) title in chess, in 1991
- World Women's Chess Championship 1996-1999
- Head of the Susan Polgar Chess Foundation
- Head of SPICE (Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Institute), Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas (a new Institute devoted to the development of chess at the university level across the country as well as cross-disciplinary study of the benefits of chess learning)
- Author/co-author of two semi-biographical books as well as educational books and chess CDs and instructional materials on chess
- Author of many articles for chess publications including the United States Chess Federation's magazine Chess Life and monthly columnist at the popular online chess magazine, Chess Cafe
GM Susan Polgar is one of three sisters who, together with Sofia and Judit, were trained in chessplaying from an early age by their parents. Several books have been written about the achievements of one or more of the chessplaying sisters and scores of articles have been written about their accomplishments.
GM Susan Polgar has been and continues to be a tireles advocate promoting the benefits that are acquired from learning and playing chess, particularly among young people.
With the assistance of the Susan Polgar Chess Foundation and now, SPICE, and through the generosity of many sponsors, GM Polgar has spearheaded the development of several premier chess tournaments and events for girls and boys, including the Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls, SPICE Summer Camp, the World Open Chess Championship for Girls and the World Open Chess Championship for Boys (2008 information).
GM Polgar also has a dynamic international presence on the internet, hosting one of the most popular chess blogs and a hot chess discussion forum.
More about the 2008 U.S. Women's Chess Championship from the USCF website:
The 2008 Frank K. Berry U.S. Chess Championship is now slated for May 13-21 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is sanctioned by the USCF and will be a 9-round Swiss System event with 24 contenders. The 2008 Frank K. Berry U.S. Women's Chess Championship will be held at the same time and location, as a 10-player round robin. International Arbiter Frank K. Berry is again sponsoring this year's events as he did last year in nearby Stillwater. The move to Tulsa is intended to simplify travel for the players. The Frank K. Berry U.S. Women's Chess Championship Prizes -$25,000 Seeding - The 10 contenders for the title will be determined as follows:- U.S. Women's Champion (Irina Krush)·
- 6 Top-Rated Women players on the March Rating List·
- 3 Wild Cards selected by Frank K. Berry (One of these wild cards will be top female finisher at the Qualifier Open).
MonRoi will again be a sponsor, and will carry the official website and host LIVE games from both events for viewing online. In the event of a tie for first place at the championship, in both the events, there will be a playoff for the title similar to previous years. The final announcement of the players will be made in April on Chess Life Online.
The championship organizing committee consists of Frank K. Berry, Jim Berry, and Tom Braunlich; with assistance from Bill Goichberg, Bill Hall, and John Donaldson.
I do wonder why people uncritically publish the standard Polgar trope about Susan Polgar being the first woman to earn the Grandmaster title.
ReplyDeleteSusan Polgar was the first to earn the title by the now-conventional ELO-grading route. Others before her earned the title through the acclamation of their peers.
To imply that those before Susan Polgar did not earn their titles is to disrespect those players. They do not deserve that.
Note that it would be difficult to become a GM by the FIDE ELO route before the FIDE ELO system was introduced in 1970.
Dear anonymous,
ReplyDeleteYou said "Note that it would be difficult to become a GM by the FIDE ELO route before the FIDE ELO system was introduced in 1970."
Isn't that precisely the point? What Susan Polgar did - and shortly after her GM Pia Cramling and GM Judit Polgar - was to achieve their titles playing strictly by the MEN'S RULES. The achievement of every single female who has earned a GM title by meeting the FIDE requirements of GM norms and minimum ELO in no way denigrates or minimizes what women did before them - but the distinction is an important one because you know there will always be those who say "well, yes, those women got GM titles, but they did not EARN them." Well, there are now several women who have EARNED those GM titles and the critics of women chessplayers don't have an answer for that.