Test your chess skills against a champ
Posted by The Star-Ledger
March 17, 2007 7:10AM
Celebrated women’s chess player Susan Polgar, a four-time world champion, will take on 35 challengers simultaneously at Princeton Library’s Chess Day today.
But first, Polgar will deliver a lecture and sign books, including her most recent, “Chess Tactics for Champions,” starting at 12:30 p.m. A native of Hungary, Polgar has remained one of the top three ranked women players for the last 22 years, and won 10 Olympic medals.
Polgar will begin play at 2 p.m.; registration is required to play her, but a spokesman for the library says that often, a few of the challengers don’t show (chicken!). So call (609) 924-9529, ext. 240, to see if there are any slots available.
There also will be pick-up games with fellow chess fanatics throughout the afternoon. The library is inside the Sands Library Building, at 65 Witherspoon St. For more information, go to http://www.princetonlibrary.org/.
Source: The Star Ledger
Welcome to Princeton Susan! I’ll be there for sure!
The woman never rests!
Susan gave a lecture to a full house! She is now giving a 35 board simul. She was awesome!
Princeton Prince
Nice job today at the lecture. You were so cool!
I won! Yay!
Thank you for coming to Princeton.
Nice lecture, by the way.
A quick unofficial recap by an observer — Susan gave a fine lecture and an outstanding simul, not only winning the “winnable” games but also fighting vigorously for wins in some very difficult positions.
Especially tough was her game against Jim Slagle, a “braille” player who plays without the benefit of sight by touching the pieces on a small board. Jim played exceptionally well, weathering a fierce sacrificial attack to reach a winning position, albeit still with attacking chances for White. Susan continued to maximize the pressure until Jim made several less-than-perfect moves. White’s attack then broke through the barricades to finish with a picturesque mate. A fierce battle with a very worthy opponent!
Her final game was against another determined opponent in a difficult rook-and-pawn ending. As far as I could tell, the ending vacillated between “technical win” and “theoretical draw” (per some quick analysis with Paul Truong) but in the end, the opponent had to extend his hand and acknowledge defeat. The moral: study your Rook endings! (Minor editorial comment — why are endings considered to be boring? They are NOT boring. In fact they are the “essence of chess”. Study them with a passion, it will be time very well spent, I guarantee it.)
Recapping — to the best of my knowledge, Susan scored 34 wins and 1 loss (I’m not aware of any draws, but as I mentioned, I was just an observer so this is an unofficial tally.)
All-in-all, a very successful event with a great turnout and excellent chess thorughout the afternoon. Many thanks to Susan (and Paul also) from all of us here in Princeton!
^Hey!
I won too!