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Susan Polgar Captures Women’s World Chess Cup for the US

Ten Players Vie For Title of 2006 U.S. Junior Chess Champion

Talented Youngsters Meet In Dallas For The 2006 U.S. Cadet Chess Championship

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National News

Susan Polgar Captures Women’s World Chess Cup for the US

Grandmaster Susan Polgar, the #1 rated female player in the United States, winner of 4 Women’s World Championships and 5 Olympic Gold Medals captured the Women’s World Chess Cup in Dresden, Germany on Saturday, July 8, 2006, which was the final weekend of the World Soccer Championship. In fact, the Women’s World Chess Cup mirrored the FIFA event.

There were eight groups (A to H) with four countries in each group. The top 2 from each group advanced to the final knockout stage. Group E included Italy, the Czech Republic, Ghana and the United States. The United States National Soccer Team never made it out of the preliminaries and failed to win a single match. It was a different picture for the United States in the Women’s World Chess Cup.

After advancing through the preliminaries, Susan defeated:

- WIM Vlasta Macek of Croatia (2-0) in the round of 16
- WGM Anna Ushenina (2006 Olympic Gold Medalist) of Ukraine (2-0) in the quarterfinal<
- WGM Carolina Lujan of Argentina (1.5 - .5) in the semifinal
- IM Elizabeth Pahtz (World Junior Champion) of host country Germany (1.5 - .5) in the final

Susan Polgar's performance was very impressive. She was the only player in the event not to lose a single game. In match play, Susan scored 7/8 points, winning 6 and drawing 2. She won all 4 games with the white pieces and two games with black.

This was the first ever Women’s World Chess Cup for the United States. The coach for the United States was FM Paul Truong, Captain and Manager of the 2004 US Women’s Olympiad Silver Medalist team. Pictures of the event can be found at http://www.SusanPolgar.blogspot.com and http://www.WomenChessCup.blogspot.com.

Ten Players Vie For Title of 2006 U.S. Junior Chess Champion

Grandmasters Aleks Wojtkiewicz, Lubomir Ftacnik, Varuzhan Akobian, Nikola Mitkov and Merab Gagunashvili tied for first with 5 points each at the 2006 National Open, part of the Las Vegas International Chess Festival held at the Riviera Hotel & Casino on the Strip in Las Vegas.

Going into the final round there were no less than 13 players tied at the top of the standings. This ensured that there was a lot of fighting and aggressive chess played in the final round as a draw assured nobody of a big payday. Six of the top seven boards ended in decisive results, an unusual feat in such a tournament, and hence we had a five way split at the top. Aleks Wojtkiewicz was awarded the Edmondson Cup on tie-breaks.

695 players participated in the main National Open tournament, which contained sections from the Open down to the Under 1200. Only Santiago Lunas (Under 1600), Robert Clarke (Under 1400) and Aaron Asay (Under 1200) were able to go through the entire tournament with perfect scores.

There were other events going on as part of the Las Vegas International Chess Festival, including the prestigious Susan Polgar World Open Championship for Girls. This event was run in cooperation with the Susan Polgar Foundation. Winner of the Under Age 21 section was none other than Batchimeg Tuvshintugs, famously remembered for her upsets over various Grandmasters at the recent US Championships. All the section winners were awarded computer systems for their efforts.

The National Open Blitz Championship was won by Grandmaster Merab Gagunashvili, who scored 11½ points to secure the title from last year’s joint winner Varuzhan Akobian, who finished just a point behind in second.

Grandmasters Walter Browne and Susan Polgar both gave simultaneous exhibitions on the Thursday before the tournaments. Walter Browne conceded just 3 draws out of 23 boards and did not lose a game, while Susan Polgar gave up just one loss, to Allan Crow, and four draws from the 33 games that she played.

As usual, the tournament was very well organized by Fred Gruenberg and Al Losoff, with Chief Tournament Director Bill Snead at the helm of a great directing staff.

For complete results and standings from all the events, please visit the Las Vegas International Chess Festival website at www.lvchessfestival.com.

Talented Youngsters Meet In Dallas For The 2006 U.S. Cadet Chess Championship

Eight players will arrive in Dallas, Texas on July 15, 2006 at the Marriott Dallas/Addison Quorum to see who will become the 2006 U.S. Cadet Champion. Besides the prize fund for second and third prize, there is a fantastic grand prize that one of these young men will win - a four-year tuition scholarship to the University of Maryland at Baltimore County which is currently valued at approximately $62,480. Dr. Alan Sherman, Director of the UMBC Chess Program, has put together a talented chess team at UMBC which won the Final Four of College Chess earlier this year.

The eight players qualified based on being the highest rated players under age 16 (as of January 1, 2006) according to the February 2006 rating list. These players will play in an eight-player round robin event to determine the title of 2006 U.S. Cadet Champion: Marc Arnold (2202) from New York, Ray Robson (2195) from Florida, Parker Zhao (2186) from New York, Vaishnav Aradhyula (2131) from Arizona, Michael Thaler (2123) from New York, Deepyaman Datta (2119) from Texas, Thomas Riccardi (2112) from New York, and Jeffrey Haskel (2106) from Florida.

USCF Seeks Endorsements, Sponsorships and Strategic Partnerships

If you have chess related products or services, please contact us with your proposal.

The USCF is seeking endorsements, sponsorships and strategic partnerships from the chess community.

Over the next few weeks please email, Joan DuBois, at the USCF office in Crossville, TN.