The Goddesschess Scholarship

We are very pleased to announce that Goddesschess has entered into a five-year agreement to fund a scholarship for a female chessplayer or chessplayers enrolled at Texas Tech University, under the auspices of the Susan Polgar Foundation.

The first Goddesschess Scholarship was awarded for the academic year Fall 2010 - Spring 2011. 

The recipient of the very first Goddesschess Scholarship is Maraani Kamphorst. In her own words:

Maraani Kamphorst

I am Maraani Kamphorst, born on October 30, 1990, in Sao Carlos - SC, Brazil. I lived in a small town called Santo Antonio do Sudoeste until I was 16.


I started to play chess at the age of 10. My first tournament was in 6th grade at school when I won my school’s tournament as well as the city championship of my grade. I scored as best 6th grade female in the regional championship.


After that, I played in numerous statewide scholastic tournaments. In 2003 at the U14, I finished in 6th place. In 2004, I was playing board one for my school when we won the City, Regional and State championships. At the State Championship I scored 20 points out of 21 games. It was a big success for our small town (of only about 15,000 people) to represent our city at the Brazilian School Championship. In the same year, I won the Blitz and Rapid individual Middle School championship.


At State championships in 2004, I finished 2nd place in the Girls’ U-14 division, in 2005 and 2006, I won 2nd prize at the Girls’ U-16. In 2006, at the Parana State Women’s championship I finished 3rd.


In 2007, I won the PanAmerican Girls’ U-17 championship, which was held in Rio de Janeiro.


I played many open chess tournaments, getting good results. I represented Hebraica (C team) at the Sao Paulo 2007 team championship, on board one I scored 5 out of 5.


In the 2009 Women’s Championship of Brazil, I finished in the middle of the field.


Playing chess I met my husband, Andre Diamant. He is a Grandmaster and has won the Brazilian Championship in 2008. He also has represented Brazil in the past two Chess Olympiads. We are married and we have a two year old boy, Isaac. Having a baby didn’t stop us from playing and competing. In fact, it motivates us even more.


Now we are studying at Texas Tech, playing for the Knight Raiders. I'm studying physics, planning to finish my degree and then start graduate school. My husband and I are still both working on improving our chess skills while trying to do our best to combine it with our studies and with all the responsibilities of having a family.


Thank you so much for the help from GoddessChess!


Maraani



Maraani Kamphorst Diamant at the 2010 Pan American Collegiate
Team Chess Championships in Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA

The Knight Raiders' most recent team event was at the 2010 Pan American Collegiate Team Chess Championships.  Texas Tech's three teams did very well (see below), and Kamphorst Diamant, playing on the "C" Team, helped bring home a title to Texas Tech:

2010 PanAm Intercollegiate Chess Championships (Milwaukee, WI)

Division II team champion (Watters, Flores, Lelko, Cassidy, Osbourn)
Division IV team champion (Haskin, Kamphorst, James, Roy)
GM Andre Diamant – Top board 2
GM Anatoly Bykhovsky – Top board 3
Texas Tech qualified for College Chess Final Four (Kuljasevic, Diamant, Bykhovsky, Sipos)

Congratulations to Mara.  Here's to good chess!