Meet the star players

Polgar: Meet the star players of the second annual Texas Tech SPICE Cup
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Story last updated at 9/21/2008 – 2:48 am

The question of the week is who are the players participating in the second annual SPICE Cup International Invitational?

I invited 10 world-class players. Five represent the United States. The other five represent India, Germany, Poland, Israel and Iceland.

Here are the 10 players and some information about them:

Grandmaster Alexander Onischuk (USA)

Grandmaster Onischuk is one of the top Grandmasters in the United States. Born in 1975 in Sevastopol, Ukraine, he earned his Grandmaster title in 1994. In 1995, he tied for first at the World Youth Championship. In 2000, he won the Ukrainian Championship. He won the 2001, 2002, and 2003 World Open; and in 2001 and 2002 he was the National Open Co-Champion. In 2006, he captured the prestigious U.S. Champion title. He was formally the top-rated player in this country.

Grandmaster Harikrishna Pentala (India)

Born in the village Vinjanam Padu in India in 1986, Grandmaster Pentala started playing chess at the age of 41/2. He is one of the top three players in India, which is a well-recognized powerhouse. In 2000, he broke legendary Indian Grandmaster Anand’s record of being the youngest International Master and again in 2001 for being the youngest Grandmaster from India. He has won many impressive titles in his career already.

On Monday, Pentala, sponsored by the Sun Group, will conduct a 20-board simultaneous exhibition at the Texas Tech Student Union Building after his fourth-round game. It is expected to start at approximately 7:30 p.m. Half of the proceeds raised from this event will be used to help victims of the recent Hurricane Ike in Texas.

Here is the full story.

A new treat for Lubbock International Airport

The Susan Polgar Foundation and the Lubbock Convention and Visitors Bureau donated two giant chess sets and boards to the Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport.

They were placed inside the passenger terminal (one on each side of the airport) on Wednesday. These giant chess sets are for the passengers to enjoy.

I have yet to verify this but I was told that our airport is the first in the world to have giant chess sets. It is very fitting as Lubbock was just named last month by the National Chess Federation as the 2008 Co-Chess City of the Year (with Tulsa) and Texas Tech University the Co-Chess College of the Year (with UTD).

Special thanks to the Lubbock Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Susan Polgar Foundation for donating the giant sets and boards. Many thanks to Marcy Jarrett, James Loomis, Dr. Rich Rice and everyone else for making this happen.