Hard times for us Texas Tech alums. First, the Red Raiders suffer their first losing football season since 1992. Then the men’s basketball team may not win a Big 12 game — and is proving it each time the Raiders take the court.

Now this. Tech is suffering the indignation of losing its entire national championship chess club. You read it right. The reigning national collegiate champions, and their coach, former world champion Susan Polgar, are leaving for Webster University in St. Louis.

Somehow I feel like I’ve been rooked.

But last Friday, Webster University smugly announced that the Hungarian-born Polgar is moving her Susan Polgar Institute of Chess Excellence (SPICE to the great uninformed) to Webster, and furthermore, taking the whole darn team with it.

Yes, exactly. Goodbye to eight grandmasters — Georg Meier, Wesley So, Ray Robson, Manuel Leon Hoyos, Elshan Moradiabadi, Anatoly Bykhovsky, Andre Diamant, and Demes Boros, plus international masters Vitaly Neimer and Faik Aleskerov. Gone, just like that. They’re all transferring with Polgar.

This is an outrage. This is like Sul Ross stealing not only Nick Saban, but the rest of the Alabama football team. Call the NCAA. Call Interpol. Call Bobby Fischer (scratch that, he’s dead), but call someone.

It’s bad enough that St. Louis ripped my heart out in the World Series. Now the city is stomping on it. Unbeknownst to me and the rest of America, St. Louis is home to the U.S. Chess Championships, the country’s No. 1 rated player, the World Chess Hall of Fame, and a state-of-the-art chess club.

Retired St. Louis businessman and philanthropist Rex Sinquefield built the multimillion-dollar Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis a few years ago. The club prompted Hikaru Nakamura — the top-rated player in the country and No. 6 in the world — to move to St. Louis.

Mike Wilmering, a chess club spokesman, said the club wasn’t involved in discussions to bring Polgar to St. Louis but was thrilled with the development.

I just bet you are. Why don’t you go ahead and take the iconic Will Rogers statue while you’re at it?

Next year’s Webster team will include those eight ex-Tech grandmasters — something no other collegiate team has ever had, Polgar said. Pouring more salt in Red Raider wounds, the team is expected to be ranked No. 1 in the nation this fall.

Polgar is a five-time Olympic champion. In 1986, she was the first woman to qualify for the Men’s World Championship Cycle. She holds world records for most simultaneous chess games played — 326 — and for most consecutive games played — 1,131.

Polgar said she was grateful for her team’s stint at Tech, where it grow from “literally nothing” in 2007 to its status today. But in the end, she felt that St. Louis was a better home.

I’m not sure we’ve heard the last of this. While many ex-students feel like a pawn in this sordid mess, I wouldn’t expect Tech chancellor Kent Hance to take this lying down. Hance hails from another U.S. chess hotbed, Dimmitt, and may have one or two unexpected moves up his sleeves.

Normally, I would say let’s get Webster on the football schedule and exact some revenge, but the way the 2011 season ended, I’m not so sure that’s a wise move. But, please, Webster, leave our meat judging team and Law School moot court team alone. Right now, that’s about all we got.

Source: http://amarillo.com

Chess daily news from Susan Polgar

“We live like one big, happy family,” said Vitaly Neimer, an International Chess Master and student at Texas Tech University.

Neimer is a member of the TTU chess team, the Knight Raiders. His devotion to this close knit group is the reason he will transfer to Webster University near St. Louis.

“We were all kind of surprised at first but for me it was very important…,” Neimer said.

It’s no surprise that (scholarship) money is the root of the move.

“We felt like we became the victims of our own speedy success. Tech wasn’t able to accommodate the sudden growth of the program,” said Susan Polgar. She established the SPICE program four years ago at Texas Tech.

Polgar said Webster University is a private school and is able to offer her players heftier scholarships than Texas Tech.

“In the best interest of the students we felt like we had no choice but to listen to other offers and opportunities for them so they can graduate,” Polgar said.

There are 21 players on the Knight Raiders team. Polgar said eight of them (from the A team) have already chosen to transfer to Webster.

“Coming to Webster with Susan is very good for us,” Neimer said.

Polgar said it was a tough decision to uproot her championship-winning chess team.

“On one hand we love Lubbock and we love Texas Tech University. We built something historic here, a legacy that nobody can take away regardless of the future,” Polgar said.

Polgar will transfer to Webster on June first. She will leave behind her one regional, two state, and 12 national titles in Tech’s honor.

Source: http://www.myfoxlubbock.com

Chess daily news from Susan Polgar

Polgar, SPICE to leave Tech, cites lack of resources for move
Posted: Sunday, February 5, 2012 5:29 pm
By Summer Chandler
Contributing Writer

Susan Polgar and the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence will relocate from Texas Tech to Webster University in St. Louis, Mo., in June.

Polgar said eight students, all members of the “A” team of the 20-person Tech chess team have transferred or have committed to Webster University for the 2012-2013 academic year.

“One of the big elements and attractions was — obviously beyond the commitment of Webster to support chess and the chess program — is their global aspect,” Polgar, director of SPICE and head coach of the Knight Raiders chess team, said. “They are a global university. They already have numerous campuses worldwide, from Europe to Asia, and plan to expand that even further. And chess, being perhaps the most international game there is, I think it is a perfect match from that perspective. I think it’s a wonderful fit for SPICE.”

Polgar and her husband Paul Truong, coach and director of marketing and public relations for SPICE, said Webster University’s commitment to growing the SPICE program was one of the primary motivators for the move. Truong said he believes the chess program grew faster than officials with either SPICE or Tech anticipated, which led to insufficient resources to grow the program.

“We are, in a way, the enemy of our own success. I don’t think anybody — us or the administrators of the university — could ever expect how fast the program grew,” he said. “And, unfortunately, when you are a state institution, you know, the president, or let’s say the provost or the chancellor, cannot just make a decision that, ‘OK, tomorrow I am going to give you a million dollar budget for chess.’ It doesn’t work that way.”

However, Truong said he believes the unavailability of resources led to an unfortunate situation that limited the program’s ability to recruit players.

“From the previous president, to the provost, to the vice-provost, to the current administration, they are all very supportive,” he said. “The problem is, their hands are tied. When we have a list of so many students that out of all the universities in the world, they want to choose this location — we don’t have enough scholarships to offer everybody.

“And it’s one of those very unfortunate situations. If we like the status quo, if we are OK with, say, 20 players on the team or in the program, or let’s say having a few Grandmasters, it’s OK. But, we get to the point where we are the No. 1 program in America — and probably in the world — and everyone wants to come here. Something has to give.”

While Truong said Tech, as a state university, was limited in scholarships and methods to recruit world-renown chess players, Chris Cook, managing director of communications and marketing said Tech’s chess foundation is fully focused on recruiting excellent chess students.

“We have — and are still going to have a great chess program,” he said, “that will recruit students not just nationally but internationally as well. We’re focused on our future and toward expansion.”

Truong said he and Polgar do not want SPICE to simply cease to exist at Tech.

“We don’t want to leave things behind,” he said. “We don’t want it to collapse and just go away. So we made an offer to Tech that said we offer to keep the SPICE program here and Susan would come back, fly back two or three times a semester to continue training the team and help out the local community. We are still waiting for an answer, but we’re reaching out to the university.”

Cook said the chess program at Tech would not end with Polgar’s transition to another university.

“You have to commend Susan for all she has done for Texas Tech,” he said. “One of the reasons why our chess program is so strong is because of her involvement and we hope to build on that strength.”

Cook said the university will work to hire a new director, a new coach and a new outreach coordinator for the team.

While he did not know if Tech is going to keep the SPICE program in name, keeping a high-quality chess program is a goal for Tech.

“As to a high-quality chess program that is representative of what Susan established is definitely on the radar,” Cook said. “She does leave big shoes to fill, but what she has built here isn’t something we’re going to just let go away. First and foremost, we want the Tech name attached to it, and that’s what were going to do.”

On average, Truong said chess team members maintain between a 3.35 and 3.4 GPA and have a diverse range of backgrounds and majors.

“As a group, it’s a very high score, very high grades,” he said. “Our students are very diversified when it comes to majors, from math, to law, to engineering, to psychology, English, Spanish, finance, business. I mean, you name it, we have it.”

When asked why such a program — a national-champion team with a roster of academically achieving and diverse students — did not receive the resources Polgar and Truong thought necessary to grow SPICE, Cook said the university has to balance the needs of its many successful programs.

“We have a lot of successful programs and they all deserve more, they all do,” he said. “I can’t answer that question on chess accurately without knowing the exact figures. We have other national championships across the board: moot court, livestock judging, meat judging. There are a lot of them. We have a lot successful programs and I think they are all treated very fairly.”

Polgar said announcing the move now does not mean her job at Tech is finished.

“We’re still here and we’re still here until the end of May,” she said. “We still have big challenges ahead of us. Our team will compete in the Southwest Collegiate Championship in two weeks, and then of course we have another big event in Chicago for them gearing all of them up for the (College Chess) Final Four, where we hope to defend our title.

“So, we’re not done yet; we’re still here. Our heart is fully here with Texas Tech and with the students, and to bring more pride to Texas Tech.”

The Tech Division 1 chess team is the current reigning national collegiate chess championship team and will defend the title at the College Chess Final Four, March 31 through April 1 in Washington, D.C.

Source: http://www.dailytoreador.com

Chess daily news from Susan Polgar

Polgar, SPICE to leave Tech, cites lack of resources for move
Posted: Sunday, February 5, 2012 5:29 pm
By Summer Chandler
Contributing Writer

Susan Polgar and the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence will relocate from Texas Tech to Webster University in St. Louis, Mo., in June.

Polgar said eight students, all members of the “A” team of the 20-person Tech chess team have transferred or have committed to Webster University for the 2012-2013 academic year.

“One of the big elements and attractions was — obviously beyond the commitment of Webster to support chess and the chess program — is their global aspect,” Polgar, director of SPICE and head coach of the Knight Raiders chess team, said. “They are a global university. They already have numerous campuses worldwide, from Europe to Asia, and plan to expand that even further. And chess, being perhaps the most international game there is, I think it is a perfect match from that perspective. I think it’s a wonderful fit for SPICE.”

Polgar and her husband Paul Truong, coach and director of marketing and public relations for SPICE, said Webster University’s commitment to growing the SPICE program was one of the primary motivators for the move. Truong said he believes the chess program grew faster than officials with either SPICE or Tech anticipated, which led to insufficient resources to grow the program.

“We are, in a way, the enemy of our own success. I don’t think anybody — us or the administrators of the university — could ever expect how fast the program grew,” he said. “And, unfortunately, when you are a state institution, you know, the president, or let’s say the provost or the chancellor, cannot just make a decision that, ‘OK, tomorrow I am going to give you a million dollar budget for chess.’ It doesn’t work that way.”

However, Truong said he believes the unavailability of resources led to an unfortunate situation that limited the program’s ability to recruit players.

“From the previous president, to the provost, to the vice-provost, to the current administration, they are all very supportive,” he said. “The problem is, their hands are tied. When we have a list of so many students that out of all the universities in the world, they want to choose this location — we don’t have enough scholarships to offer everybody.

“And it’s one of those very unfortunate situations. If we like the status quo, if we are OK with, say, 20 players on the team or in the program, or let’s say having a few Grandmasters, it’s OK. But, we get to the point where we are the No. 1 program in America — and probably in the world — and everyone wants to come here. Something has to give.”

While Truong said Tech, as a state university, was limited in scholarships and methods to recruit world-renown chess players, Chris Cook, managing director of communications and marketing said Tech’s chess foundation is fully focused on recruiting excellent chess students.

“We have — and are still going to have a great chess program,” he said, “that will recruit students not just nationally but internationally as well. We’re focused on our future and toward expansion.”

Truong said he and Polgar do not want SPICE to simply cease to exist at Tech.

“We don’t want to leave things behind,” he said. “We don’t want it to collapse and just go away. So we made an offer to Tech that said we offer to keep the SPICE program here and Susan would come back, fly back two or three times a semester to continue training the team and help out the local community. We are still waiting for an answer, but we’re reaching out to the university.”

Cook said the chess program at Tech would not end with Polgar’s transition to another university.

“You have to commend Susan for all she has done for Texas Tech,” he said. “One of the reasons why our chess program is so strong is because of her involvement and we hope to build on that strength.”

Cook said the university will work to hire a new director, a new coach and a new outreach coordinator for the team.

While he did not know if Tech is going to keep the SPICE program in name, keeping a high-quality chess program is a goal for Tech.

“As to a high-quality chess program that is representative of what Susan established is definitely on the radar,” Cook said. “She does leave big shoes to fill, but what she has built here isn’t something we’re going to just let go away. First and foremost, we want the Tech name attached to it, and that’s what were going to do.”

On average, Truong said chess team members maintain between a 3.35 and 3.4 GPA and have a diverse range of backgrounds and majors.

“As a group, it’s a very high score, very high grades,” he said. “Our students are very diversified when it comes to majors, from math, to law, to engineering, to psychology, English, Spanish, finance, business. I mean, you name it, we have it.”

When asked why such a program — a national-champion team with a roster of academically achieving and diverse students — did not receive the resources Polgar and Truong thought necessary to grow SPICE, Cook said the university has to balance the needs of its many successful programs.

“We have a lot of successful programs and they all deserve more, they all do,” he said. “I can’t answer that question on chess accurately without knowing the exact figures. We have other national championships across the board: moot court, livestock judging, meat judging. There are a lot of them. We have a lot successful programs and I think they are all treated very fairly.”

Polgar said announcing the move now does not mean her job at Tech is finished.

“We’re still here and we’re still here until the end of May,” she said. “We still have big challenges ahead of us. Our team will compete in the Southwest Collegiate Championship in two weeks, and then of course we have another big event in Chicago for them gearing all of them up for the (College Chess) Final Four, where we hope to defend our title.

“So, we’re not done yet; we’re still here. Our heart is fully here with Texas Tech and with the students, and to bring more pride to Texas Tech.”

The Tech Division 1 chess team is the current reigning national collegiate chess championship team and will defend the title at the College Chess Final Four, March 31 through April 1 in Washington, D.C.

Source: http://www.dailytoreador.com

Chess daily news from Susan Polgar

Polgar, a world and Olympic chess champion, will transfer her Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence to Webster University starting June 1.

Posted: February 4, 2012 – 9:34pm
By Adam D. Young
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Source: http://lubbockonline.com

Chess daily news from Susan Polgar

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - Susan Polgar and her national champion chess team are leaving Texas Tech, headed to Webster University in St. Louis.

The Wall Street Journal quotes a Texas Tech representative who says, “We’re disappointed that they’ve chosen to transfer rather than continue their education here but we do wish them the best in that. They’ve represented us well in chess.”

Polgar said her goodbyes in a blog post on Friday, praising Texas Tech for their “incredible support” and offering to help them continue the program.

Polgar brought the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE) to Texas Tech in 2007 and recruited players from all over the world.

Now these A-team players are set to follow her to St. Louis.

The following students have been accepted / committed to Webster University for the Fall 2012 (August):

Grandmaster Georg Meier – Germany – Sophomore
Grandmaster Wesley So – Philippines – Freshman
Grandmaster Ray Robson – USA – Freshman
Grandmaster Manuel Leon Hoyos – Mexico – Freshman
Grandmaster Elshan Moradiabadi – Iran – Graduate student
Grandmaster Anatoly Bykhovsky – Israel – Junior
Grandmaster Andre Diamant – Brazil – Junior
Grandmaster Denes Boros – Hungary – Junior
International Master Vitaly Neimer – Israel – Sophomore
International Master – elect Faik Aleskerov – Azerbaijan – Graduate student

“No team in the long and prestigious history of college chess has had eight Grandmasters before,” Polgar said.

A press release from Webster University describes Polgar as “one of the strongest female chess players in history.”

Polgar is the winner of four world championships and the only world champion in history – male or female – to win the Triple-Crown (Rapid, Blitz and Classical Chess world championships).

She is the first woman to break the gender barrier to qualify for the Men’s World Championship Cycle, earn the Men’s Grandmaster title, and to receive the Grandmaster of the Year Award. In 2011, Polgar became the first female head coach to lead a men’s Division 1 team (Texas Tech University) to the national title.

Source: http://www.kcbd.com

Chess daily news from Susan Polgar

#1 seed Texas Tech
#2 seed UTD
#3 seed UMBC
#4 seed NYU

Texas Tech University Knight Raiders Roster

Board 1: Grandmaster Georg “the German Precision” Meier (Germany)
Freshman – Finance
FIDE rating: 2671 – USCF rating: 2722
2011 European Team Championship Gold medalist, winner of the 19th Pamplona International, 2-time runner up of the SPICE Cup A group, #2 player on the German Olympiad team

Board 2: Grandmaster Elshan “the Knowledge Tree” Moradiabadi (Iran)
Graduate student – Business
FIDE rating: 2538 – USCF rating: 2594
Former National Champion of Iran, World Mind Sports Games Bronze medalist, #2 player on the Iranian Olympiad team

Board 3: Grandmaster Anatoly “the Rocket” Bykhovsky (Israel)
Sophomore – Finance
FIDE rating: 2536 – USCF rating: 2640
3-time National Youth Champion, 2-time Israeli Blitz Champion, 2-time SPICE Cup Champion, key member of the 2011 National Collegiate Chess Championship team

Board 4: Grandmaster Andre “the Shiny” Diamant (Brazil)
Sophomore – Economics
FIDE rating: 2494 – USCF rating: 2538
Former National Champion of Brazil, former top ranked Brazilian junior, member of the Brazilian Olympiad team, key member of the 2011 National Collegiate Championship team

First alternate: Grandmaster Denes “the Entertainer” Boros (Hungary)
Sophomore – Psychology
FIDE rating: 2482 – USCF rating: 2524
Former Hungarian youth rapid champion, former member of the Hungarian Youth Olympiad Gold medalist team

Second alternate: International Master Vitaly “the Diplomat” Neimer (Israel)
Freshman – Finance
FIDE rating: 2381 – USCF rating: 2421
Former Israeli Youth Champion, World under 14 and 16 runner up, Certified Chess Trainer

Head Coach: Grandmaster Susan Polgar
Coach: FIDE Master Paul Truong
Team Assistant: IM-elect Faik Aleskerov

Chess daily news from Susan Polgar

College athletes transferring to another school is common, but an entire program? Webster University announced Friday it had lured the Texas Tech chess team—including coach Susan Polgar and the “A” squad members who won the national title last spring—to the St. Louis-area school. Polgar, who noted a nearby St. Louis chess club as a U.S. “hot spot,” will relocate to Webster in June. The players will enroll there for 2012-13.

“We’re disappointed that they’ve chosen to transfer rather than continue their education here but we do wish them the best in that,” a Texas Tech spokesman said. “They’ve represented us well in chess.”

—R.B.

Chess daily news from Susan Polgar

I would like to thank Texas Tech University for their incredible support for chess and SPICE in the past five years. I would also like to thank all the donors and supporters, without whom, SPICE could have never achieved this kind of success.

Chess will continue at Texas Tech and I will do everything possible to make sure that the transition with the new Director / Coach will be super smooth. My job is not finished yet as we still have a National Championship to defend in the end of March.

I am very proud to be a part of the Texas Tech family for the past 5 years. We have made a lot of history together. It has been an incredible experience and I will never forget all the wonderful memories.

As someone who has constantly looking to raise the bar and breaking through barriers in chess for nearly 40 years, I could not pass up the opportunity to work with Webster University on a global level, and to bring some of the world’s best young talents to SPICE in St. Louis. My goal is to help the next generation of talented young players excel in chess while obtaining a fantastic college education.

There will be more SPICE programs in other universities in the near future. But my base operation will be in St. Louis for many years to come. Once again, thank you for everything. This is not the end of a amazing chapter. It is just the beginning of something even more magnificent.

Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
Director
Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE)

Chess daily news from Susan Polgar