Susan Polgar celebrates Women in Chess

 

ABOUT SUSAN POLGAR:
 
* Winner of 4 Women’s World Championships (Under 16, Blitz, Rapid, and Classical)

* The only World Chess Champion in history (male or female) to win the triple-crown (Blitz, Rapid and Classical World Championships)

* 5-time Olympic Champion with 10 overall medals (5 Gold, 4 Silver, 1 Bronze)

* 2006 Women’s Chess Cup Champion

* Previously held 5 world chess records (* still unbroken):
 

• 56 consecutive Olympiad game Scoring Streak * (A record of 31 wins, 25 draws, 0 loss [77.7%] over 4 Chess Olympiads from 1988 – 2004, all on board 1)
• Most Simultaneous Games Played (326 players: 309 wins, 14 draws and 3 losses = 96.93% in 16 hours and 30 minutes)
• Most Games Won Simultaneously (309)
• Highest Simultaneous Winning Percentage (96.93%, beating the old record of 95.64%)
• Most Consecutive Games Played * (1,131 games against 551 opponents: 1,112 wins, 16 draws and 3 losses = 99.03% – Previous record: 1,102 games)

 

FIRST WOMAN EVER IN HISTORY TO:

• Break the gender barrier to qualify for the Men’s World Championship Cycle (1986)
• Earn the Men’s Grandmaster title (1991) through traditional FIDE requirements
• Receive the Grandmaster of the Year Award (2003)
• Win the U.S. Open (Men) Blitz Championship (2003, 2005, 2006)
• Coach a Men’s College Division I team to win the National Championship (2011)
• Coach a Men’s College Division I team to win back to back National Championship (2011-2012)

OTHER NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

• Won the Budapest Championship for Girls under 11 at age of 4 with the perfect score of 10-0!
• #1 ranked woman chess player in the world at the age of 15 (remained in the top 3 in the world for approximately 25 straight years)
• Still currently rated as the #1 female in the United States
• Award-winning and best-selling chess author in numerous languages
• Winner of the prestigious Cramer Award for “Best Chess Column of the Year” (2003)
• 3-time winner of the Chess Journalists of America Award for Best Magazine Column and Best Endgame Analysis
• First ever recipient of the “Chess Educator of the Year” award (2003)
• First ever recipient of the “US Scholastic Chess Ambassador” award (2006)
• Ambassador and torch bearer for the Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany in 2008
• Chess for Peace Ambassador with former World Champion Anatoly Karpov and former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev
• A pioneer in women’s chess and a true role model to millions of young people worldwide
• Founder of the Susan Polgar Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization to promote chess, with all its educational, social and competitive benefits throughout the U.S., for young people of all ages, especially girls. The foundation has awarded over $2 million in chess prizes and scholarships to young chess players on behalf of various supporters and sponsors
• Sponsor and organizer of the prestigious annual SPICE Cup, SPICE Spring Invitational, NY City Mayor’s Cup, Susan Polgar Girls’ Invitational Championship, Susan Polgar World Open and Susan Polgar National Open for Girls and Boys, etc.
• Founder and Managing Director of www.ChessDailyNews.com, the world’s most popular chess blog
• Head Coach of the Texas Tech Knight Raiders National Chess Championship Teams (2007-2012), now the Head Coach of Webster University Chess Team, the #1 ranked team in the nation
• Director of SPICE (Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence) at Texas Tech University (2007 – 2012), now the Director of SPICE at Webster University

 

WORLD CHESS FEDERATION – 2013 Rankings

The Women’s World Championship was established by FIDE in 1927 as a single tournament held alongside the Chess Olympiad. The winner of that tournament, Vera Menchik, did not have any special rights as the men’s champion did — instead she had to defend her title by playing as many games as all the challengers. She did this successfully in every other championship in her lifetime (1930, 1931, 1933, 1935, 1937 and 1939). Vera Menchik (Czech: Věra Menčíková; Russian: Ве́ра Фра́нцевна Ме́нчик Vera Frantsevna Menčik; 16 February 1906 – 27 June 1944) was a British-Czech chess player who gained renown as the world’s first women’s chess champion. She also competed in chess tournaments with some of the world’s leading male chess masters, defeating many of them, including future World Champion Max Euwe.

The Women’s World Chess Championship 2013 is an upcoming chess match for the championship. The match be played over ten games and if necessary tie-breaks from 10 to 28 September 2013 in Taizhou, Jiangsu, China. The Women’s World Chess Championship is played to determine the women’s world champion in chess. Like the World Chess Championship, it is administered by FIDE. Unlike most sports, women are able to compete against men in chess, and so some women do not compete for the women’s title. Notably, the world’s top rated female player for the past 20 years, Judit Polgár (and by far the highest FIDE-rated woman in chess history), has never competed for the women’s title.

The match is played between reigning champion Anna Ushenina, winner of the Women’s World Chess Championship 2012, and challenger Hou Yifan, the previous champion and winner of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2011–2012.

 

Rk	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games	B-Year
1	Polgar, Judit	g	HUN	2696	0	1976
2	Koneru, Humpy	g	IND	2597	0	1987
3	Hou, Yifan	g	CHN	2595	11	1994
4	Muzychuk, Anna	g	SLO	2593	11	1990
5	Zhao, Xue	g	CHN	2565	0	1985
6	Dzagnidze, Nana	g	GEO	2550	11	1987
7	Ju, Wenjun	wg	CHN	2544	11	1991
8	Lagno, Kateryna	g	UKR	2542	11	1989
9	Khotenashvili, Bela	m	GEO	2531	11	1988
10	Stefanova, Antoaneta	g	BUL	2531	7	1979
11	Kosintseva, Nadezhda	g	RUS	2531	0	1985
12	Sebag, Marie	g	FRA	2527	0	1986
13	Kosintseva, Tatiana	g	RUS	2526	11	1986
14	Cramling, Pia	g	SWE	2521	9	1963
15	Gunina, Valentina	g	RUS	2514	0	1989
16	Cmilyte, Viktorija	g	LTU	2511	11	1983
17	Ruan, Lufei	wg	CHN	2501	0	1987
18	Ushenina, Anna	g	UKR	2499	11	1985
19	Zhu, Chen	g	QAT	2494	7	1976
20	Harika, Dronavalli	g	IND	2492	0	1991