Friday, 8-1-08 North Carolina's representative to the Polgar Invitational Amelia Wheeless (1806) finished up with a draw Friday with Florida’s Rita Mirchandani (1814) to finish 4.0/6.0 in the Polgar National Invitational for Girls in Lubbock, Texas. She finished =6th-7th,  but 9th on tiebreaks – out of 52 girls. Five of her six opponents finished in the Top 20. Her only loss was to Linda Diaz of New York, who ended up second overall. In her three years representing North Carolina at the Polgar, Amelia never finished lower than 10th. Her overall record at the event was 10 wins, 3 losses and 5 draws. She starts at UNC Charlotte in a few weeks, so the state will have a new rep in 2009. I am wrapping up my last article for the US Chess Web site. You can also check out Susan Polgar’s Blog for final standings and photos. http://www.susanpolgar.blogspot.com/ Here is one of Amelia's best games of the event: (See Game 0747) *********************************************************** Thursday, 7-31-08 The magic finally ran out for Amelia at the Polgar Thursday as she lost to Linda Diaz (1726) of New York. It was exactly one year ago that Amelia had beaten her at the Polgar, but today was a different story. Amelia now stands at 3.5-1.5 and has a very tough pairing tomorrow in the last round with the rep from Florida, who lost on Board 1 today. Amelia will be lower-rated in this one. She and Ananya Roy of Georgia placed fourth among 24 teams in the event’s Bughouse tourney Wednesday night. In the Parents and Friends tourney, I posted three wins and a draw to tie for first – gaining some of the rating points I lost last Saturday. I tied with Tommy Polgar, Susan Polgar’s son who was a national elementary champ this past spring. Luckily, I did not have to play him – but we both drew the tourney’s highest-rated player. ********************************************************** Wednesday, 7-30-08 Amelia Wheeless came through again on Wednesday as she posted a win over Rebecca Lelko (1613) of Ohio (I mistakenly said Indiana in yesterday’s note). She now stands at 3.5-.5. Lelko won the Susan Polgar Open in Las Vegas earlier this year and had beaten two higher-ranked opponents going into today. The win puts Amelia at the No. 2 board for the fifth round against the New York rep, who Amelia beat at last year’s Polgar. However, this girl travels with her own chess coach, so I’m sure he’ll be cooking up something special for this game. There is one 4-0 player, and Amelia is one of three players at 3.5. Make sure to catch my articles on the U.S. Chess Web site. I should have one more story after the tournament ends. http://main.uschess.org/content/view/8597/141 *********************************************************** Tuesday 7-29-08 Amelia got back on the winning track Tuesday at the Polgar National Invitational for Girls as she defeated Jamie Olsen-Mills of Utah. Olsen-Mills (1617) had been Utah’s Denker rep last year – scoring four draws in that elite field. Amelia now stands at 2.5-.5. She faces the rep from Indiana on Wednesday in the fourth round. Except for the top seed, there are a lot of upsets going on – so she is pleased with her score. There are a total of six rounds. Amelia placed fifth in the puzzle-solving contest on Monday night. In the contest, girls are timed on solving 10 chess puzzles. I think this was the first time she had ever gotten all of the puzzles correct. She is staying in a dorm with other girls on the Texas Tech campus during the tournament (I’m in a nearby hotel). Her roommate is friend Ananya Roy from Georgia. Rita Mirchandani of Florida and Erica Birkell of Idaho are her suitemates. They must be having fun because two other girls have moved in with them (somehow, girls like to move their mattresses around). I’m getting the picture of a late-night pajama party going on. They are rolling out of bed about noon. Luckily, the rounds are at 1:30 p.m. I should have another article about the tourney on the U.S. Chess web site Wednesday. www.uschess.org *********************************************************** Monday 7-28-08 Amelia Wheeless earned a draw Monday at the Polgar Invitational at Texas Tech. She drew with Michelle Farell (1506) of Oklahoma. Amelia was down a pawn in a rook and pawns endgame. She figured a draw was the best she could get. She stands at 1.5/.5 after two rounds. There were a number of unexpected results today, with some high-rated players going down to defeat. On Tuesday, she is paired against the rep from Utah – who was that state’s Denker rep last year. So we expect another tough game. My article from the first day of the Polgar was on the U.S. Chess web site. Expect to see one on Wed. and after the tournament ends – maybe online Saturday or Monday. It’s fun to do a little reporting. I got a big thanks from the girl from Minnesota since I featured her upset win in the first round. http://main.uschess.org/content/view/8578/468 A piece of great news to report: Amelia broke through the 1800 rating barrier with her performance at the quads on Saturday night. She gained almost 100 ratings points at the tourney. (Don’t look at the drubbing I got in the second section.) http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?200807261631.0-12806981 Randy *********************************************************** Sunday, 7-27-08 Dear CCC Members: I am spending the week at the 2008 Polgar Invitational at Texas Tech, so I thought people would like to know what is going on. Amelia Wheeless (1711) won her first game today against Autumn Douthitt (1188) from Tennessee. It was a well-played game with Amelia holding a pawn advantage at the end; securing the win from there. Things will get a lot tougher tomorrow. There is one round daily through Friday. We got into Lubbock early Saturday, so we decided to play in the G/30 quads on Saturday night; open to everyone. Amelia has not played that much this summer, so we both thought it would shake the rust off. While I was being clobbered by three Polgar girls in the second quad, Amelia was the low player in the top quad. It did not matter. She dispatched of three higher-rated players; including a Lubbock local, rated 1970. She also beat Frank Berry (1800) of Oklahoma, the Polgar Tournament chief TD!   She was happy to win $50, but is worried she used up all her good chess at the quads. We will see.   I am doing some correspondent work for the USCF. Hopefully, they will run my stuff. Randy Wheeless NCCA President