Friends across the country

Chess is for the girls this week.

The best young female players in the country will spend the next six days competing for an elite title in a tournament being held for the first time at Texas Tech.

The 51 participants earned spots in the Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls by winning state or regional tournaments for players 18 years old and under, or through special invitations.

“I am really excited to bring the invitational to Lubbock,” said Susan Polgar, director of Tech’s Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence and a world championship chess player. “I think it will be a great opportunity for the girls, who come from all over the country.”

Rheanna English said she’s ready to meet her opponents in the fifth annual invitational.

The San Antonio resident – one of two players from Texas – started playing chess at the age of 6. She has won the state’s girls high school championship two years in a row and scored a chess scholarship to the University of Texas at Dallas.

“At first, chess was kind of complicated,” said English, a 16-year-old junior at the International School for the Americas in San Antonio. “But I think I just played and got used to it and it became natural.”

Polgar said chess has many benefits for young people. They can learn about critical and logical thinking, decision making and time management, she said.

Sayaka Foley, 13, arrived in Lubbock last week from Phoenix. She started playing chess in third grade.

She learned from her coach that being physically fit helps you mentally. So to prepare for the tournament, Foley attended a softball camp for a couple of days at Tech.

Her father said chess has done wonders for his daughter’s life.

“She has been able to meet friends across the country,” Jim Foley said. “And it is a good vacation for me. Lubbock is beautiful.”

Source: Avalanche Journal