How could it happen?

Bill Hall,

Could you please explain why I was never invited or asked to participate in the 1st World Mind Sports Games (Blitz and Rapid) in Beijing, China? I would have been happy to compete in all the possible events to try to bring home the titles for the United States.

I understand that I have to meet the USCF activity requirements for the Olympiad / US Championship. However, the regulation does not apply for an event like this.

Even if you believe that I may not accept the invitation, I would expect a courtesy inquiry. When I received the invitation to represent the U.S. in the Women's World Chess Cup in Dresden, Germany (July 2006), I accepted and I won.

http://www.fide.com/component/content/a ... orts-games
http://main.uschess.org/content/view/8575/468/

The last time I played in a rapid event (which was the strongest RR Invitational rapid event in U.S. history - June 2006), I finished second 1/2 point behind Kamsky and ahead of Onischuk, Ibragimov, Gulko, and Stripunsky (http://main.uschess.org/component/optio ... temid,181/).

As I stated above, I also won the Women's World Chess (Rapid) Cup in Dresden, Germany without a single loss.In addition, I won the last 3 US Open Blitz I played in, the latest one in (August) 2006, by a margin of 2 points. (http://main.uschess.org/component/optio ... temid,181/)

I am enclosing the names and ratings of some of the top players in the U.S. for comparison.

Thanks.
Susan Polgar

(The USCF had more than 6 months to handle this invitation. On the bottom of this post is the original announcement by FIDE dated January 3, 2008!)

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Standard rating:

Susan Polgar 2597

1 Krush, Irina (12543137) NY USA 2530
2 Zatonskih, Anna (12873912) NY USA 2490
3 Goletiani, Rusudan (12807449) NY USA 2384
4 Baginskaite, Camilla (12716466) CA USA 2342

Blitz / Rapid (Women):

Susan Polgar 26211

Zatonskih, Anna (12873912) NY USA 2432
2 Rohonyan, Katerine (12973020) MD USA 2322
3 Krush, Irina (12543137) NY USA 2285
4 Abrahamyan, Tatev (12851435) CA USA 2240

Overall Blitz / Rapid:

Susan Polgar 2621

1 Nakamura, Hikaru (12641216) NY USA 2698
2 Christiansen, Larry M (10460921) MA USA 2626
3 Sokolin, Leonid M (12541565) NJ USA 2615
4 Palatnik, Semion (12542096) MD USA 2604

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1st World Mind Sports Games

Thursday, 03 January 2008

The 1st World Mind Sports Games will be held in Beijing, China from 3rd to 18th October, 2008. There will be 5 sports represented, Chess, Bridge, Draughts, Go and Chinese Chess. The Games will be under the aegis of GAISF and organised by the International Mind Sports Association of which FIDE is a founding member.

The 1st World Mind Sports Games will be held in Beijing, China from 3rd to 18th October, 2008. There will be 5 sports represented, Chess, Bridge, Draughts, Go and Chinese Chess. The Games will be under the aegis of GAISF and organised by the International Mind Sports Association of which FIDE is a founding member.

There will be competitions of Rapid and Blitz chess for individuals, pairs and teams. Altogether 10 gold medals will be available for chess plus a trophy for the leading federation over all chess disciplines. Thanks to generous sponsorship, free full board accommodation for participants will be available. There is also the possibility of substantial help towards travel costs through the provision of air tickets from set points.

The full schedule and details for federations to nominate entries will be circulated shortly.

Source: FIDE.com