At the opening ceremony all 60 qualifiers received a special commemorative gold medallion (courtesy of American Chess Equipment), and a bag of goodies. After the recognition, everyone gathered outside of the beautiful Frazier Pavilion at Texas Tech University for a group photo.
60 girls from 44 states arrived in Lubbock, Texas to vie for a national title at the 6th Susan Polgar National Invitational. Top seeds include defending champion Courtney Jamison and expert Dai Yang.
All qualifiers received six nights of free accommodations at Gordon Hall and daily meals at Fresh Plate, courtesy of Texas Tech University and the Susan Polgar Foundation. Texas Tech University will award a four-year TTU academic scholarship to the highest finishing player who has not graduated from high school by August. Partial scholarships are also awarded to the 2nd and 3rd place finishers.
The mayor of Lubbock welcomed the girls at the opening ceremony.
Play through round 1 game highlights, including the biggest upset, with Mira Ensley-Field of Wisconsin winning over Epiphany Peters of Michigan.
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The top boards of the SPNI
Round four pairings:
04 101. Dai,Yang (3.0,2057) Jamison,Courtney (3.0,1984)
04 102. Bhat,Samyukta (3.0,1740) Jones, Julia E (2.5,1869)
04 103. Diaz, Linda V (2.5,1882) Lelko,Rebecca A (2.5,1689)
04 104. Lam,Fiona V (2.5,1787) Virkud,Apurva (2.5,1668)
04 105. Farell,Michelle (2.5,1536) Foley,Sayaka B (2.5,1707)
04 106. Chen,Michelle Xue (2.0,1821) Hannibal,Dana C (2.5,1517)
04 107. Bian,Victoria (2.0,1534) Bohannon,Angel (2.0,1761)
04 108. Abderhalden,Kathe (2.0,1513) Gologorsky, Rachel (2.0,1704)
04 109. Koong, Joanne (2.0,1683) Newell,Melanie L (2.0,1420)
04 110. Nguyen,Emily Quyn (2.0,862) Wiener,Alexandra (2.0,1659)
04 111. Botez,V Alexandra (2.0,1629) Lasley,Alexa E (2.0,1459)
04 112. Ensley-Field,Mira (2.0,1282) Tallo, Emily (2.0,1602)
04 113. Hua,Margaret M (2.0,1586) Fitch,Ann Marie E (2.0,833)
04 114. Conley,Brianna (1.5,1507) Bryan,Margaret (1.5,1310)
04 115. Munoz,Claudia E (1.5,1474) Warren,Hannah (1.5,1033)
04 116. Roy,Ananya (1.0,1662) Spencer,Nicole An (1.0,1157)
04 117. Chawla,Alisha (1.0,1145) Patterson,Emily N (1.0,1501)
04 118. Sarna,Kristen She (1.0,1425) Cancio,Aiya (1.0,1129)
04 119. Olvera,Georgia (1.0,1139) Chen,Kelly (1.0,1399)
04 120. Wai,Marissa (1.0,1364) Deland,Rebecca (1.0,1100)
04 121. Ma, Jenny (1.0,1033) Douthitt,Autumn N (1.0,1363)
04 122. Barkell,Erica Daw (1.0,1359) Purdy,Hannah (1.0,1030)
04 123. James,Isabel Rebe (1.0,970) Garza,Sarah (1.0,1250)
04 124. Mahowald,Morgan (1.0,1215) Perez, Bernadette (1.0,848)
04 125. Wyzywany,Amelia F (1.0,960) Folz,Caroline C (1.0,1181)
04 126. Peters,Epiphany M (2.0,1797) Puri,Indira (2.0,1537)
04 127. Qureshi,Sadia (0.0,1006) Lopez,Natalia (1.0,551)
04 128. Abdus-Shakoor,Diamond (0.0,987) Alston, Jannette (0.0,492)
04 129. Alston,Jannel (0.0,886) Garvin,Katherine (0.0,207)
04 130. Locker,Sara (0.0,nnnn) Snowdeal,Kristen (0.0,686)
Special thanks to Texas Tech University, the Susan Polgar Foundation, the U.S. Chess Trust, DGT America, ChessCafe, Visit Lubbock, U.S.C.F., and all our other sponsors for supporting this very special tournament. Special thanks, also, to Lubbock Mayor Tom Martin, Ambassador Tibor Nagy, Dr. Jim Brink, and all our volunteers.