Volume 59, Issue 11  - October 30, 2006

Campus to host collegiate chess tournament
By Hugo Rodriguez
Staff Writer

Courtesy PhotO

World Chess Federation Master Paul Truong and Grand Master Susan Polgar hold polos they received from the UTB/TSC Chess Team during a clinic in Corpus Christi. Also shown are team members Vince Flores (from left), Nelly Estrada, Luis Roy Gomez, Alejandro Nieto and Coach Gilberto Hernandez.

UTB/TSC will host the collegiate section of the 2006 Texas Grade and Collegiate Championship Friday and Saturday in the Education and Business Complex’s Cassia Room.

At press time, the university had received 25 individual entries: 12 from UTB/TSC, eight from Cypress-Fairbanks Community College, and five from UT-Dallas.

The kindergarten through 12^th grade competition will be held at Americo Paredes Elementary. The winner of the 12^th grade contest will win a four-year scholarship to the university.

In other chess news, Chess Coach Gilberto Hernandez took part in the Festival de Ajedrez held Oct. 22 in Mexico City, where 13,388 simultaneous chess matches were played, breaking the previous Guinness record of 12,388.

 Four members of the UTB/TSC Chess Team tutored in clinics hosted by Grand Master Susan Polgar on Oct. 20 in Corpus Christi.

“It was a great honor to be asked to present the clinic with Susan Polgar,” said Russell Harwood, UTB/TSC chess program director. “She’s probably one of the most well-known women chess players in the world.”

Polgar, a grand master, is a four-time world and five-time Olympic chess champion, and one of the best-selling chess authors in the world.

The clinic was held in Central Catholic Elementary and in the new Susan Polgar South Texas Chess Center, located in Corpus Christi’s Sunrise Mall.

About 65 students took part in the clinics.

 “The atmosphere was great,” said Vince Flores, a graduate accounting student and team member. “The kids behaved and participated well.”

Other members of the team who tutored were Luis Roy Gomez, Javier A. Nieto and Nelly Estrada.