Josh Waitzkin pitted against Judit Polgár

Inaugural Gold Coast International Film Festival Sets Lineup

7:00 AM 5/10/2011 by Philiana Ng

The Gold Coast International Film Festival, which takes place June 1-5 on Long Island, has announced its first-ever lineup.

Programming ranges from comedy to music and the economy to the Middle East, with films like Chasing Madoff, The Best and the Brightest with Neil Patrick Harris, Lucky with Colin Hanks, Holy Rollers with Jesse Eisenberg and Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times screening.

“I'm so proud to be associated with this lineup, which represents the kind of quality only found at top festivals,” said Sean McPhillips, senior programmer and festival director. “Programming for year one focused on creating a varied set of experiences for the Gold Coast audience. It is my hope that people will not only find films that fit their taste but that they’ll join in the festival spirit and try new things. Each film — drama, comedy, documentary or short — was selected for its unique value, story, and reason to be seen.”

Chess Kids, directed by Lynn Hamrick, (USA) – World Premiere. Chess prodigies compete in a World Youth Tournament. Featuring Josh Waitzkin (the real-life subject of the film, Searching for Bobby Fischer) pitted against Judit Polgár (the best female player of all time), Chess Kids gives audiences a gender bender look at the sport. A companion follow-up piece revisits these former prodigies two decades later. With Morgan Pehme, Judit Polgár, Josh Waitzkin.

Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com

Game analysis

Click on image above to view the full analysis

A new Open International in Italy, 10,000 prize fund

A new Open International in Italy, 10,000 prize fund
Wednesday, 22 December 2010 07:51

A new Open in Lido Adriano (Ravenna), Italy will take place form 2-10 April, 2011. A €10,000 Prize Fund (first prize €2,500), 10 invited GMs and a highlight of the tournament – Judit Polgar, the Queen of Chess, will be present and will give a simultaneous on 9 April.



Lido Adriano is a small town and a beach resort in the northern Adriatic coast between Venice and Rimini. It belongs to the Province of Ravenna, ‘the city of mosaics’, in the region Emilia Romagna.

For further information and an Entry Form, please visit the website: www.ravennachessinternational.com

The Polgar family in 1989

I just received some old pictures of the my family back in 1989 in Rome from a friend of the family, Mr. Gabor Zilahi. This was taken during the famous Rome tournament where Sofia made history.

Another video from Aquaprofit Polgar Chess Day

Video by Timea with nice music and pictures

Aquaprofit - Polgár Sakknap 2010

Another video from Aquaprofit - Polgár Chess Day 2010 in Budapest, Hungary

Aquaprofit - Polgár Chess Day 2010 in Budapest

Video by Timea with nice music and pictures


A short summary about Saturday:

The 4^th Annual Aquaprofit - PolgárChess Day was held this past Saturday. It was a great success as usual, despite the major snow storm that hit Budapest the night before. Around 500 chess fans weathered the snow storm to celebrate the now traditional “Day of Celebration of Chess and its Queens”.

I am impressed by the tremendous interest for chess and this event year after year. There was a huge amount of mainstream media interest (which is not typical for chess) including most major TV stations, before, during and after the actual event. Of course it was great timing for the publicity of the event that Judit just came back a few days earlier from Mexico City with a spectacular victory over Ivanchuk and Topalov to win the UNAM Invitational.

There was one major change from previous years. The Aquaprofit – Polgár Chess Day got extended to a full day event instead of only an afternoon spectacle. Therefore, numerous new colorful activities were added to the program.

Some of them include the two exhibition games Judit and I played in front of the live audience. In the first one, we played while sharing our thoughts by explaining our though-process during our game with the enthusiastic audience in separate rooms (I won that game). The moves were transmitted by cell phones and then we met up to play face to face in the latter part of the game. The second game was a “Trust-Chess” blitz game, (where all the pieces were silver looking, packaged in foil-paper), in which Judit swindled me at the end and balanced the score 1-1.

Sofia gave an hour-long well-attended lecture for beginners, which served also as an introduction to my sisters’ new book: Chess Playground http://polgarchess.com.

The book is aimed to introduce chess to the youngest audience, and is full of chess drawing, rhymes and puzzles. The book, which is already available in Hungarian as well as in English, is being used as the manual in one of the elite Kindergartens in Budapest where chess became part of the curriculum since this Fall. Pre-K students have one hour long chess session weekly, while K, has it twice a week.

The co-authors Sofia and Judit had a book-signing of their first book together. Volume two is already on its way.

The highlight of the event (which also included a press-conference, Q/A, autograph and photo sessions with the fans) was the usual 100 board simul by the three sisters. Among our opponents were numerous celebrities such as Andrea Temesvari, Ivan Fischer, and Marci Eszterhazy, just to mention a few. Also many GMs supported the event with their presence, such as the currently top-ranked Hungarian Zoltan Almasi, chess-legend Pal Benko (82) or the nation’s newest GM and Texas Tech Knight Raider Gergely Antal, etc.

I also went on a chess show, hosted by GM Gabor Kallai, on a major Hungarian Sports TV station (similar to ESPN in the United States). We discussed the Aquaprofit – Polgár Chess Day, Judit’s spectacular success in Mexico, including her final game victory over Topalov, as well as Texas Tech Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence, the Knight Raiders, and the unprecedented success of the program, etc.

Another video from Aquaprofit - Polgár Chess Day 2010 in Budapest, Hungary

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the sponsors and organizers of this wonderful day of “Chess Celebration”, and specifically the main sponsor Aquaprofit and its director Mr. Tamas Nadasi. And of course the initiative of my sister Judit whose brainchild project became a wonderful tradition.

Aquaprofit-Polgár Sakknap 2010

Aquaprofit-Polgár Sakknap 2010
http://www.aquaprofit.hu/index.php?ujusernyelv=en&login=ok

EGÉSZ NAPOS SAKKÜNNEP A POLGÁR LÁNYOKKAL

IV. Aquaprofit-Polgár Sakknap

A hagyomány folytatódik! 2010. november 27-én ismét megrendezzük az Aquaprofit-Polgár Sakknapot - immáron negyedik alkalommal. Egész napon keresztül különleges programok, játéklehetőségek és könyvbemutató várja az érdeklődőket a Magyar Telekom Székházban.

A korábbi évek legsikeresebb sakk eseménye folytatódik! A három különböző kontinensen élő Polgár testvér kizárólag ezen a napon lép fel együtt, mégpedig Magyarországon, az Aquaprofit-Polgár Sakknapon. Polgár Judit, Zsuzsa és Zsófi idén is 100 táblás szimultánt tart, de ebben az évben a játékosok segítséget is igénybe vehetnek játszmájuk közben.

A szimultán mellett Polgár Judit és Polgár Zsuzsa egymás ellen játszik, két külön teremben, és minden egyes lépést hangosan kommentálnak, így a nézők könnyedén követhetik játszmájukat és betekintést nyerhetnek a sakkozói gondolkodás világába. A játszmával párhuzamosan Polgár Zsófi tart sakkoktatást kezdő játékosok számára, ahol Judittal írt közös könyvüket is bemutatják. A könyv címe: Sakkjátszótér, és fiatal, kezdő játékosoknak szól.

Az eseményen neves közéleti szereplők is megmutatják, mire képesek a sakktábla mellett, ellenük Judit bekötött szemmel is sakkozik. Továbbá meglepetés játék, az úgynevezett Bizalom sakk várja még az érdeklődőket!

Az esemény minden programja ingyenes.

További információ: Szurmai-Palotai Piroska, tel.: 30/631 46 12

PROGRAM

IV. Aquaprofit-Polgár Sakknap

9: 45 - 10:00 Kiállítás megnyitó
Ring Szakképző Iskola pályaművei a „Készíts sakkot az újrahasznosítás jegyében!"
című pályázatra

10:00 - 10:45 Beszélgetés a Polgár lányokkal
Kötetlen beszélgetés a három Polgár lánnyal,
illetve rövid értékelés a beérkezett pályamunkákról

10:00 - 18:00 Feladványfejtő verseny
Két óránként új feladvány, értékes nyereményekért

10:50 - 11:45 Polgár Zsófi sakkórája
Polgár Zsófi edzése kezdő játékosok számára

10:50 - 11:45 Polgár Zsuzsa és Polgár Judit játszmája
Polgár Judit és Polgár Zsuzsa külön teremben játszik
egymás ellen, kommentálva saját és testvére lépését

11:45 - 12:15 Dedikálás

13:00 - 14:00 Sajtótájékoztató
Benne: vaksakk: Polgár Judit bekötött szemmel játszik
VIP ellenfelek ellen
Ring Szakképző Iskola pályázatának díjátadása

14:00 - 14:30 Bizalomsakk
Meglepetés játék, a három Polgár testvérrel

14:30 - 18:30 Szimultán
Judit, Zsuzsa és Zsófi 33-33 táblán adnak szimultánt
kihívóiknak

18:30 - 19:00 Dedikálás

19:00 - Fényképezés
közös fényképek készítése a Polgár nővérekkel

AQUAPOFIT ZRT.

http://www.aquaprofit.com/sakknap/index.php?oldal=sakknap2010.php