Susan Polgar On Chess

Here is her latest column from Lubbock Online: Polgar: Many winners, great success for chess tourney held on Tech campus Lubbock Avalanche-Journal Sunday, August 10, 2008 Story last updated at 8/10/2008 - 3:31 am A record 52 players from across the country participated in the fifth annual Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls held at the Frazier Alumni Pavilion, which ended Aug. 1. This is the first year this prestigious event was held at Texas Tech University. In past years, it was held in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (2004), Phoenix (2005), Oak Brook, Ill. (2006), and Cherry Hill, N.J. (2007). The winner of the 2008 SPNI is Courtney Jamison of Texas. Even though she had come close before, she was not able to capture this elusive title. However, this was her year. After starting out on fire with five straight wins, she took a quick draw in the final round against a dangerous Linda Diaz of New York to clinch the title. 2008 SPNI Final Top 10 Standings The winners are listed below by name, rating, state and final score: 1. Courtney Jamison, 2,046, Texas, 5.5 2-3. Linda Diaz, 1,726, N.Y., 5.0 2-3. Ashley Carter, 1,877, Michigan, 5.0 4-6. Rebekah Liu, 1,699, California, 4.5 4-6. Angel Bohannon, 1,700, Texas, 4.5 4-6. Nisha Deolalikar, 1,726, California, 4.5 7-13. Brianna Conley, 1,573, Ohio, 4.0 7-13. Michelle Xue Chen, 1,762, Massachusetts, 4.0 7-13. Amelia Wheeless, 1,711, North Carolina, 4.0 7-13. Rita Mirchandani, 1,813, Florida, 4.0 7-13. Sylvia S Yang, 1,911, Texas, 4.0 7-13. Michelle Farell, 1,506, Oklahoma, 4.0 7-13. Fiona Lam, 1,727, Maryland, 4.0 • Nisha Deolalikar (California) was the winner of the Texas Tech four-year academic scholarship as the highest-finishing player who has not graduated from high school by August. The scholarship must begin the following year at Texas Tech in Lubbock. • Linda Diaz (N.Y.) was the winner of the $500 Ursula Foster award as the highest-finishing player younger than 14. • Crystal Qian (Arkansas) won the 2008 SPNI Miss Congeniality award. She received the highest total of votes from her fellow players. • Faith Munoz (Texas) was the winner of the SPNI Sportsmanship Award. • Morgan Mahowald (Minnesota) won the biggest upset award. She is rated 994 and defeated a player with a rating of 1,683 in the first round. For her effort, she received a $100 cash scholarship, sponsored by Dewain Barber and American Chess Equipment. Melanie Newell (Mississippi) scored the biggest cumulative upset. • Randy Wheeless, father of Amelia Wheeless, president of the N.C. Chess Association, was the co-winner of the SPNI Parents & Friends Open. He tied for first with my elder son Tommy Polgar. Chess Dad Greg Gossell won the Parents & Friends Unrated Section. Congratulations to all. Special thanks to Jerry Perez, Dr. Hal Karlsson, Dr. Rich Rice, Chase Watters, Peggy Flores, Paul Truong, Mr. and Mrs. Grimaud, Randy Wheeless, and all other volunteers for transporting the players and their families from and to the airport. Also special thanks to Chief TD Frank K. Berry of Stillwater, Okla., for running the tournament and chess dad Matt Mahowald for running the Parents & Friends and Bughouse events. This was truly a team effort to make the tournament a big success. More than $150,000 in scholarships and prizes were awarded in this event and an additional $25,000 was budgeted for housing, meals and organizational costs, etc. This level of support for chess from a university is unprecedented. Once again, special thanks to Texas Tech, the Susan Polgar Foundation, American Chess Equipment, Internet Chess Club, Lubbock Convention and Visitor's Bureau, U.S. Chess Trust, and others for sponsoring this fantastic event. I am looking forward to an even bigger and better 2009 SPNI. Prior to this tournament, only one of the 52 players had visited the magnificent Texas Tech campus. At the end of the tournament, I asked the players to fill out a tournament survey. After spending a week on campus, approximately 40 of the 52 players expressed interest in attending TTU in the future. In fact, some have started the process to apply. Thank you for sending in many wonderful comments. Please keep questions and comments coming by e-mailing me at susan.polgar@ttu.edu. You can also find a lot of information at http://www.SPICE.ttu.edu or through my daily chess blog, http://www.susanpolgar.blogspot.com.