Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Congratulations Susan & Tommy

Quote of the day: "I like blogs. I like that the best ones are written in a voice I recognize, the voice my friends and I use when we're sitting around watching a game. Newspapers, magazines, they're in a different voice. There is nothing wrong with them either, and there is no reason they can't co-exist." -- Ryan White, The Oregonian. Congratulations to Women's World Chess Champian Susan Polgar (pictured above) on her 10,000th (!) blog entry. Susan started her blog on May 23, 2005 and has had multiple entries nearly every day since. Her blog was, in part, the inspiration for mine. I am in awe with how much material that she and her husband, Paul Truong, are able to share with chess fans all over the world. In many cases, she has the hot news before anyone else and is the source for media outlets everywhere.

Congrats also to Susan's son, Tommy, for finishing in a tie for first place in the K-3 section at the 2008 National Elementary Chess Championships with a score of 6.5 out of 7. This is already Tommy's second national championship. The more he wins, the less badly I feel about losing to him when he was 5.

To all the moms out there, belated Happy Mother's Day!
Susan & Tommy Polgar-Shutzman. Click here for results. Then click on "K-3 Championship" to see the crosstable for Tommy's section.

Speaking of moms, here's a photo of Susan's mom, Klara Polgar, with Boston Globe chess columnist Harold Dondis, taken in 1985 at the Boylston Chess Club in Boston, where Susan gave a simul on a visit from her native Hungary. The photo was taken by Stephen Stepak and originally appeared in Chess Horizons.Harold B. Dondis and Mrs. Klara Polgar, Boston MA, 1985