There is NO I in TEAM!
by Paul Truong
Happy New Year! As expected, I already read multiple criticisms from various chess websites / blogs about Webster University’s selection of the Final Four team and how unfair it is to have a woman head coach when all the players who will participate in the finale will likely be male.
A) We have not selected our Final Four team yet and what our board order will be. All I know so far is all 8 GMs (Liem Le, Ray Robson, Alex Shimanov, Vasif Durarbayli, Illia Nyzhnyk, Priyadharshan Kannappan, Manuel Leon Hoyos, and Ashwin Jayaram) on Webster A & B team will be invited to travel with the team to NY City. 6 will be on the roster and the other 2 will serve as Assistant Coaches.
B) If people cannot handle having a woman coaching world class players then go play Solitaire. Susan is the only coach to ever win the Coach of the Year (US) and Trainer of the Year (FIDE). She has coached a wide range of students from absolute beginners to World Champions, Olympiad Champions, National Champions, etc. The world is still full of sexists and they need to get some help 🙂
There is NO I in this team. We explained to all the students before the PanAm InterCollegiate Chess Championships our rationale regarding the makeups of the 4 teams. Some players had to put aside their ego to play on lower boards because that would give us the best matchups and some had to suck it up and play up because we needed them there. We spent countless hours scouting our potential opponents before these decisions were made. It was strategically done to give Webster University the best chances to win.
Even though we have incredible support from Webster, we have a much smaller scholarship / operating budget than some other top state funded university chess programs. We also have no billionaire with unlimited resources backing our program. So we have to make do of what we have and train even harder to make up for any deficiencies.
As Susan said, “It is all about team work! We trained as a team, traveled as a team, dined as a team, fought as a team, and won as a team! … Because our students respect our formidable rivals such as UTRGV, UTD, TTU, SLU, and UMBC, etc., they trained extra hard this year. Hard work and discipline does pay off!”
For young people/ the uninitiated just tuning in worldwide…Nowhere present in Sir Paul’s absolutely true ‘no –nonsense allowed’ missive is the REAL unspoken , final murderous harsh reality… (“Tell it like it is “-Aaron Neville!).. A mucho sharp, fast on the phone dial,80 million dollar endowed Webster College president takes a total chance on almost helpless, largely ignored, persecuted beyond words by the US chess federation,,unappreciated ,indeed unwanted/ scholarship begging ,dumped in the dirt, the fraudulently removed-elected by a landslide national chess federation president who… LIKE US ALL is going through real deal personal life changes to boot… ” I don’t know who blinked first but I called her”.. after a shocking brief note in the Wall Street Journal about her ENTIRE national championship college chess program moving OVERNIGHT TO WEBSTER COLLEGE… ‘THE SUSAN” POLGAR stunningly appears on National PBS in the middle of the night on my New Orleans radio…the break of a lifetime-the casual mention in Wall Street Journal, PROBABLY SAVING HER CAREER…. noting her unprecedented fabulously lucky ,gutsy overnight move. Grandmaster Susan Polgar and her WEBSTER COLLEGE multiple national championship chess teams with FANTASTIC, DEEPLY APPRECIATED (UNPRECEDENTED FOR WEBSTER COLLEGE LONG AGO) ATTENDANT PUBLICITY (especially upon her arrival) …is ,believe me, massively known to Webster College..SHE IS THE SUSAN…she is stated simply.. the pyramids, all others- straw huts. This is not a democracy .She stands alone as a certified grandmaster, wondrous promoter and survivor, author , trainer. The seminal PUBLIC FACE OF WEBSTER CHESS/ A Webster College nuclear fundraising force to boot…. and when she goes it all goes. Let us speak frankly now. It is called “aura’.. The straw that stirs the drink. She is also greatly helped by the sheer ruthless protectiveness of people around her as well in her inner circle in Webster college halls… In peril beyond words .. She survived perhaps only by chance and Sir Paul.. But plenty tough,she did. THE POLGAR PROGRAM will run it all… Mistakes or no…live and die with her decisions. She paid in blood for this freedom. As for me.. like Aaron Neville , the multi platinum selling vocalist of The Neville Brothers …who will electrify 200,000 plus people at the ABSOLUTELY FREE 2017 NEW ORLEANS FRENCH QUARTER MUSIC FESTIVAL ( appearing on my birthday April 6, 2017 no less!) I can only “Tell it like it is.” Jude Acers/ New Orleans