Susan Polgar Foundation

Susan Polgar, Delilah Rene and Kraig Kitchin at a pre-opening walk-through of Delilah's new Port Orchard, Washington, restaurant in 2008.

I have been privileged to be a board member of the Susan Polgar Foundation since late 2003. In 2006, I invited radio personality Delilah Rene to join the SPF Board. In exchange, Susan agreed to serve on the board of Delilah's charity, Point Hope.

The Susan Polgar Foundation (“Susan Polgar Foundation”) was formed as a Florida nonprofit corporation on November 4, 2002 to promote chess as an educational tool for children and to raise self-esteem and confidence in young children especially young girls. Susan Polgar is the winner of four World Chess Championships, 6 Chess Olympic medals (3 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze), and she is considered as the pioneer in modern women’s chess.

Susan Polgar was the first woman ever to break the gender barrier to earn the Men’s Chess Grandmaster title (the highest title award in professional chess) and the first to qualify for the Men’s World Chess Championship cycle. She has recently become the first woman in history to be named “Grandmaster of the Year” by the United States Chess Federation.

In order to achieve her mission as the founder of the Susan Polgar Foundation, Susan Polgar Foundation plans to engage in 2 primary activities: (1) serve as the catalyst to popularize chess nationwide and to introduce chess as an important part of children’s education; (2) use chess as a vehicle to raise self-esteem and self-confidence to children across the country. The goal is to give every child in America an opportunity to learn and play chess in a safe and structured environment, regardless of age, gender, race or physical ability. Specifically, Susan Polgar Foundation will focus on encouraging young women and minorities to fully participate in various chess activities.

Susan Polgar Foundation intends to develop specific programs and opportunities to attract these groups. Susan Polgar Foundation also plans to partner with organizations such as the United States Chess Federation and the United States Chess Trust to promote chess and its educational benefits to children nationwide.

Some Useful Web Sites

Chicago at Night, courtesy of Nasa.
See the web site Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth for more.

Other useful web sites:
Last minute travel deals
Charity Navigator
Global Warming
Overstock.comAdjunct Professor Advocate
Art Therapy for Seniors
2008 Tour de France Coverage (begins July 5, 2008)
Fanatasy Blog Stock MarketChicago at Night again...this time from street level. Frank, Tash, Paul and delilah, after seeing Wicked, January 2007.

Abebooks.com
History of the Flaherty Surname
2008 Summer Olympic Coverage
2008 World Series of Poker

Turnaround Hospital Administrator

NOTE: One of the sociopaths on an Internet newsgroup, despite being a convicted felon, has a lot of people believing what he says (or at least they are willing to raise questions on his behalf). Some fact checkers for my book may ultimately be looking for verification of certain details that have been questioned on such a public forum. That's the reason for this post. Feel free to ignore it if you could care less. I won't be offended.

The following article appeared in the trade publication HealthWeek on February 21, 1989. Click on images to enlarge the text.

"Action Dan" Harrington

When I first attended Boston’s Boylston Chess Club in 1971, Harry Lyman, Dan Harrington, Bill Robertie and Steve Frymer were among the regulars there. I admit that Dan Harrington is more of an acquaintance than a friend (and a friend of many friends) but his inspirational impact on my life has been significant. Our first face-to-face conversation (1972) and our more recent (2004) were 32 years apart. During the intervening period, he has inspired many people.

Dan Harrington’s accomplishments include successful bankruptcy attorney, 1971 Massachusetts State Chess Champion, Backgammon World Cup winner, and 1995 World Champion of Poker (WSOP). His tournament winnings of $4,400,000 make him the 16th all-time money winner in the sport of tournament poker(as of this writing: early 2006).

Remarkably, more than half his winnings have come since the age of 55! He was the only player at the WSOP main event final tables in both 2003 (839 entrants) and 2004 (over 2500 entrants). He also finished 6th at the WSOP main event in 1987. He now has the distinction of finishing at the final table of the Big One in three different decades. This is a truly remarkable feat considering that he has always been a part-time poker player.

Dan has recently published two popular books on the game of No Limit Texas Hold’Em (considered the ‘Cadillac of Poker’, a phrase coined by Doyle Brunson):

His books can be purchased directly from the publisher here:

http://www.twoplustwo.com/

Further biographical information and poker tournament results for Dan Harrington can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Harrington

http://www.poker-babes.com/bio/dan-harrington/

http://www.worldpokertour.com/players/?x=profile&id=2280

http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=110

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/02/poker.html

Dan Harrington is still going strong as evidenced by his $50,000 tournament win at the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) San Jose event February 27, 2006. He finished second at the televised WPT Las Vegas tournament in October 2005, earning $620,730.

Then there is this: http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/event.php?a=r&n=27383