Abby Marshall repeats as Polgar National Invitational Girls Champion! Margaret Bryan wins her second game in a row to finish the tournament with 2.5 out of 6. Lots of news and images in this big illustrated final report.
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Defending Champion Abby Marshall of Virgina continues to lead the tournament going into the last round needing only a draw to clinch a repeat. Margaret Bryan celebrates her first win of the tournament with a lively annotated game. Have a look and check out the leader board and last round match-ups.
Round 4 is in the books. We're treated to another one of Margaret annotated games and a complete list of the standings after four rounds. The girls have two more rounds to go before the closing ceremony--stay tuned!
Round 3 coverage with analysis that lets you get inside the head of a chessplayer: hope, fear, dissapointment and a spectrum of human emotions. As Bobby Fischer once said, "Chess is Life". Also in this report images of the winners of the Polgar Blitz Tournament and Puzzle Solving Championship and Round 4 pairings.
After two rounds a pack of eight girls are leading the tournament with 2.0 points. This report brings you another annotated game, Round 2 crosstable and a side-event update.
This is the first in a series of reports from the Susan Polgar National Invitational tournament in Oak Brook, Illinois. Maine representative Margaret Bryan shares with us her thoughts at the outset of the tournament and annotates her first round game vs Emily Chu (1536).
The Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls is taking place August 6th - August 13th alongside the U. S. Open in Oak Brook, Illinois. Forty-six participants qualified for this prestigious tournament either by being the highest rated female player under the age of 19 in their home state, or by winning their state's girls championship. Representing the State of Maine is Margaret Bryan of Holden.
Looking for information on a particular Maine chess player? We've updated our Players page to make this search a whole lot easier. Now all 375 USCF-rated Maine players each have their own individual link to the USCF Member Services Area with information including: current regular rating, quick and correspondence ratings, rating history, tournament history, tournament director history and more!
Harlow B. Daly won the Maine State Championship an unprecedented seven consecutive times from 1959 to 1965. He also chalked up another two wins in 1969 (sole first) and 1970 (shared with Stanley Elowitch). During his long chess career, Mr. Daly played in numerous simultaneous exhibitions against a cadre of chess paragons including the likes of Alexander Alekhine, Emanuel Lasker, Harry Nelson Pillsbury, Jacques Mieses, Frank J. Marshall, Ruben Fine, Carlos Torre and Arthur Dake.
Ray Routhier, a features writer with The Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram, examines the central question: What draws people to chess? Particularly in this age of multiple competing demands on our time, how is it that chess has remained popular? Mr. Routhier's story appeared in this week's Maine Sunday Telegram.