Here is a video clip of Tommy’s first ever simul at the Ramirez Charter School in Lubbock, Texas!
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Mother and son
About Author
Here is a video clip of Tommy’s first ever simul at the Ramirez Charter School in Lubbock, Texas!
LOL, that’s funny 🙂 a double simul from mother and son!! :))
(he makes a mess on the boards and the mother solves the mess) 😉 jk
Nice concept/idea, maybe this is the first time something like that happen.
The team won all the games. Now no arguing with success. I say Tommy deserves a big Gold Star.
I wish I had a little boy and we could do a simul together. What an incredible education Tommy is getting. This is wonderful for his self esteem.
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory?id=2894676
Tommy had no problems delivering a few mates – including a nice smothered mate on his own!
I don’t know if my handle will post, but I’m Peter Harris, one of the Texas Tech University chess people (a community member) who helped with the simul. I also met Ms. Polgar and Mr. Truong at a special breakfast the previous day, along with the boys.
Tom did a fine job as far as I could tell. In a tandem event, it’s crucial for the exhibitors to think together. Tom played the first move on most of the boards. He simply played solid chess, nothing flashy and no cheap traps. That’s what Mom taught him to do and he remembered the lesson well. When the opponents didn’t play as solidly, the mom and son took advantage of it, sometimes mating in one and other times executing combinations.
There is no doubt this is the first mother-son simultaneous exhibition ever held in America and almost certainly the world. But I wonder how many times family members have teamed, other than the Polgar sisters? Did the Byrne or Weinstein brothers ever play tandem simuls, for example? I’ve never heard of a parent-and-child duo who were strong enough to play tandem before this. Maybe Susan or Judit could talk their dad into giving a father-and-daughter simul if he’s healthy enought to walk the boards for a long stretch … maybe in Budapest. At any rate, this was a great event and a lot of fun too. I’ll write more on other forums (and yes, Mr. Truong, I WILL contact you about getting a course for chess teachers ASAP).
Peter Harris