Susan Polgar National Open for Girls

The results are in for the 2009 Susan Polgar National Open for Girls. Here are the qualifiers for the SP National Invitational for Girls to be held at Texas Tech University (July 26-31) in Lubbock, Texas:

• Diamond Shakoor (OH) scored a perfect 7-0 to win the SPNO Primary Section, a Dell Laptop, a Digital Clock.
• Rebekah Liu (CA) scored a perfect 7-0 to win the SPNO High School Section, a Dell Laptop and a Digital Clock.
• Sayaka Foley (AZ) scored 6 points to win the SPNO Girls Middle School Section and a Toshiba Laptop.
• Kristen Sarna (TX) tied for 1st in the SPNO Elementary Section with Aiya Cancio (AZ)(in group photo). Kristen won the coin toss in the 5 minute Blitz Playoff for the Dell Laptop. She chose black and won the game. (Both girls qualify for the SP National Invitational for Girls).

In addition, Rebekah Liu and Sayaka Foley are the winners of the scholarships to Texas Tech University (each value at $36,000).

Congratulations to the winners/qualifiers of the 2009 Susan Polgar National Open for Girls. I am very happy to see so many girls playing chess and loving it!

Thanks to Texas Tech University and Texas A&M University-Kingsville for the scholarships! Thanks to sponsors Chess Emporium and the City of Peoria, Arizona! Thanks to the Susan Polgar Foundation for once again putting a wonderful event together. May it be even bigger and better next year.

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.

5th Polgar National Invitational for Girls

Lubbock welcomes top young American female chess talents Lubbock Avalanche-Journal Sunday, July 20, 2008Story last updated at 7/20/2008 - 2:02 am The fifth annual Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls, the most prestigious all-girls national chess championship in the United States, will commence next Sunday right here in Lubbock. This prominent national championship will take place over six days, from July 27 to Aug. 1, at the Frazier Alumni Pavilion on the Texas Tech campus. Each state can nominate one talented young female chess player, the top 18-year-old or younger from the state. Thousands of girls compete annually in local, state, regional, national and world events to earn the esteemed invitations. Tech will host this esteemed event for the next 10 years. In addition, TTU will award a four-year academic scholarship each year to begin the following year to the highest-finishing player who has not graduated from high school by August. The rules and conditions of this event can be found at http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2008/06/rules-and-conditions-for-spni.html. In addition, thanks to the generous sponsorship from the Provost's office, all players will receive free accommodation (based on double occupancy) on TTU's campus, as well as all meals during the six-day national event. Past champions are: • 2007: Julia Kerr (New York) and Eunice Rodriguez (Florida) • 2006: Abby Marshall (Virginia) • 2005: Anya Corke (California), Alisa Melekhina (Pennsylvania), Abby Marshall (Virginia) • 2004: Roza Eynullayeva (Massachusetts) Below are the 50 participants in this year's championship: • Alabama: Hannah Hellwig • Arizona: Sayaka Foley • Arkansas: Crystal Qian • California (Northern): Rebekah Liu • California (Southern): Nisha Deolalikar • Colorado: Alexandra Lasley • Connecticut: Alexandra Wiener • Delaware: Ann Marie Fitch • Florida: Rita Mirchandani • Georgia: Ananya Roy • Hawaii: Ashbea Oyadomari • Idaho: Erica Barkell • Illinois: Sonya Vohra • Indiana: Emily Tallo • Iowa: Dhrooti Vyas • Kansas: Katrina Pritchard • Maine: Sorel Edes • Maryland: Fiona Lam • Massachusetts: Michelle Chen • Michigan: Ashley Carter • Minnesota: Morgan Mahowald • Mississippi: Melanie Newell • Missouri: Joanna Gossell • Nebraska: Elizabeth Oliver • New Jersey: Eve Zhurbinskiy • New Mexico: Rebecca Anne DeLand • New York: Linda Diaz • North Carolina: Amelia Wheeless • Ohio: Rebecca Lelko • Oklahoma: Michelle Farell • Oregon: Taylor Bailey • Pennsylvania: Shinan Jin • South Carolina: Hannah Whatley • South Dakota: Kaitlynn Loos • Tennessee: Autumn Douthitt • Texas: Sylvia Yang • Texas: Rheanna English • Texas Alternate: Sarah Garza • Utah: Jamie Olsen-Mills • Virginia: Susan Brown • Washington: Leanne Hwa • Wisconsin: Mira Ensley-Field • Wild Card: Victoria Bian • Special Invitation: Georgia Olvera • Special Invitation: Courtney Jamison • Special Invitation: Brianna Conley • Special Invitation: Angel Bohannon • SP National Open Qualifier: Claudia E. Munoz • SP World Open Qualifier: Annie Wang • SP World Open Qualifier: Alisha Chawla Here is the tournament schedule: July 26 • 6 p.m.: "Warm-Up" Quads (G/30) in the Lubbock Room of the STU building. July 27 • 1:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m.: Opening ceremony. • 3 p.m.-6:30 p.m.: Round 1 of SPNI. July 28 • 1:30 p.m.-5 p.m.: Round 2 of SPNI and round 1 of Parents/Friends Open. • 7 p.m.: SPNI Chess Puzzle Solving Championship. • 7:30 p.m.: Free chess lecture by Susan Polgar. July 29 • 1:30 p.m.-5 p.m.: Round 3 of SPNI and round 2 of Parents/Friends Open. • 7 p.m.: SPNI Blitz Championship. July 30 • 1:30 p.m.-5 p.m.: Round 4 of SPNI and round 3 of Parents/Friends Open. • 7 p.m.: SPNI Bughouse Championship. July 31 • 1:30 p.m.-5 p.m.: Round 5 of SPNI and final round of Parents/Friends Open. Aug. 1 • 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.: Round 6 of SPNI. • 2:30 p.m.: Closing ceremony. I would like to invite everyone to come by the Frazier Pavilion during the event to check out the exciting championship and meet some of the top young talents of America.

Local Girl Makes the Right Moves

By Janice Fae Mitchell Guard Staff Writer Published: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 The Batesville Daily Guard Her heart tells her she wants to be a cardiac surgeon, but for now she’d be happy to make the right moves and say, “Checkmate.” Twelve-year-old Crystal Qian, a Batesville seventh-grader, is the top performer among female scholastic players in Arkansas. She has qualified for the Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls chess tournament to be held this summer, July 27-Aug. 1, at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. “My dad wants me to place, and personally I’d love it if I place, but I’m practicing because I think it’s fun, and I’m practicing because I think when I go to Texas it’s going to be rewarding,” Crystal said. She said she’s looking forward to some sightseeing as well. The invitational is named after Dr. Susan Polgar, a women’s world champion and holder of a number of world championship and Olympiad titles. The tournament will include the top female scholastic players whose ages are under 19 years old from all 50 states. This will be Crystal’s first time as Arkansas’ representative to the Polgar tournament. “I’m practicing. Every day I do about 100 chess problems. They’re like puzzles, and you determine the best position for the next move,” and then when she’s done she plays against other people on the server, Crystal said. The Arkansas Chess Federation and the Susan Polgar Foundation are supplying some funds, but she has to earn the rest herself. “I have enough saved up for that just in case. When I grow up I want to go to Oxford in England and become a cardiac surgeon so most of the money is saved up for that, but I might take some out and maybe do something at the fair like play the piano.” Crystal started to play chess three years ago when her family moved to Batesville in the summer of 2005. “I’m glad she is going to play against the older girls with more experience. She will probably learn from them,” said her mother, Xiaojie “Sunny” Shang. “We want to thank the chess program which got her started. It was provided by Jack Sanders, the principal at Central Magnet.” Crystal’s father, Dr. Jason Qian, said chess is one of his favorite hobbies. Due to a busy graduate school schedule, he was unable to teach her chess until they moved to Batesville. Qian and Shang work at Life Plus International. With his help, chess club members at Central Magnet learned quickly and became more interested in chess. Within a few months, Crystal was able to defeat all chess club members, including those with a few years of experience. In April 2006, Crystal won the first scholastic tournament in Batesville. She had the only perfect score. That June, she attended her first United States Chess Federation rated tournament and won first place in the unrated chess classification. Two months later, she defeated an experienced adult player at the Arkansas State Championship in Hot Springs. Within two years, Crystal has played in more than 20 USCF rated and unrated scholastic chess tournaments, winning first place in the Mid-South Scholastic chess tournament at Memphis and third place at the Arkansas Blitz Championship. “Passing this talent to my child has long been my dream,” Qian said. As the 2006 Arkansas G/60 State champion and tournament director of Batesville Chess Club, Qian has promoted local interest in chess among scholastic players. “Chess can help and influence life. It’s been known for years that chess is a wonderful tool to enhance the minds of youngsters and prevent or delay Alzheimer’s,” Qian added. “You need to recognize the patterns, calculate following moves and manage the consequences. Chess helps nurture and develop critical thinking skills. It is an outstanding preparation for being able to cope with the real world in our daily lives.” Trophies and plaques line the walls and tables in a room of their home, including a big trophy Crystal won May 3 at the annual Arkansas Scholastic Chess Championship in Bald Knob that won her a slot in the invitational. Crystal also has “hobbies,” and she takes them seriously. She dabbles in artwork, landscaping and tapestries, music practice (piano and French horn) and a chess game with her father — in between homework. “Some kids have played this mind game as early as age 4,” her father said. “It is never too late to start.”