The SuperNationals VIII tournament run by US Chess has the Susan Polgar Foundation as one of its sponsors. It is an unexpected collaboration. Previously, Grandmaster (GM) Susan Polgar and her husband FIDE Master Paul Truong faced US Chess, then known as USCF, in court.
Settlement of Lawsuits
According to this US Chess article about the settlement of lawsuits, “Polgar and Truong have agreed to never contest the USCF Executive Board’s action in revoking their USCF memberships; acknowledge that they are no longer members of the USCF or members of the USCF Executive Board; agree to never seek, run for, or accept a leadership position in the USCF.” USCF was the acronym for the United States Chess Federation prior to 2015. Since 2015, the organization’s preferred name is US Chess.
SuperNationals VIII
SuperNationals VIII will be at the Orange County Convention Center – West Concourse, Orlando, Florida, from Thursday, May 8, 2025, to Sunday, May 11, 2025. The event combines the National Elementary, Middle School, and High School Championships. Over 6,000 entrants are expected. It is the premier scholastic event run by US Chess.
GM Susan Polgar’s X post on April 22, 2025, states that Polgar will be appearing in person at SuperNationals VIII.
The event’s Girls Club Room webpage states, “The 2025 Girls Club Room at SuperNationals VIII is sponsored by the Susan Polgar Foundation (SPF).” Polgar is also listed on the event’s Daily Schedule, with book signings at 4 p.m. on May 9 and May 10.
Rebel Queen: The Cold War, Misogyny, and the Making of a Grandmaster
GM Susan Polgar’s newest book is Rebel Queen: The Cold War, Misogyny, and the Making of a Grandmaster. It was published on March 11, 2025. The book shares Polgar’s accomplishments in an easy-to-read style. It also has errors.
Polgar’s accomplishments as a chess player are impressive. She is a former Women’s World Chess Champion. Over the 56 games she played at the Women’s Olympiad, she was undefeated. Many pages of her book cover her chess-playing highlights.
Less well known are Polgar’s contributions to scholastic chess in the United States. Her book also covers those accomplishments, such as Polgar establishing “the annual Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls…. the first all-girls championship in the United States to be approved by the USCF” (page 266). About her time at Texas Tech University, Polgar writes, “I’m particularly proud of the work Paul and I did with the state’s University Interscholastic League (UIL)…. we proposed a statewide chess-puzzle-solving competition” (page 306). The UIL A+ Chess Puzzlecompetition is still a part of UIL in Texas, reaching thousands of students in grades 2–8.
On the negative side, Polgar’s book repeats her “men’s” team error on its dust jacket. Her successor as head coach at Webster University, GM Liem Le, included women on Webster’s 2025 President’s Cup-winning team. In contrast to Polgar, Le showed that Webster’s winning team did not have to be a “men’s” team.
To be clear, the President’s Cup is the national championship of college chess. The President’s Cup is not a “men’s” competition; it is open to all genders. Since the President’s Cup began in 2001, there have been 19 unique women on the rosters of President’s Cup teams. Several played in multiple years.
The President’s Cup is decided by game points, not by match results. Regarding the 2015 President’s Cup, Polgar exaggerates Webster’s winning margin. On page 330, Polgar writes, “That dominant performance gave Webster an unprecedented 5½-point margin over the second-place finisher.” Webster was 4½ points, not 5½ points, ahead of the second-place finisher, The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). For the 2015 President’s Cup facts, see this page.
Congratulations on the biggest winning margin in all of President’s Cup history should go to UTD, not to Webster. UTD won with 5½-point margin over the second-place finisher, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), in 2007.
Polgar’s math error, or her lack of knowledge of chess history, promotes Webster and erases UTD’s accomplishment. Rebel Queen: The Cold War, Misogyny, and the Making of a Grandmaster should be read critically, as not everything in it is true.
