Many of the world's top players forgo competing for their country’s top title. Sometimes scheduling is at fault, sometimes the prize money is not what world-class players expect – or the tournament may be considered too weak!
The 2012 Susan Polgar Girls' Invitational took place last week at Webster University, and the best chess-playing girls in the country went head-to-head for more than $100,000 in scholarships and prizes. This marked the ninth installment of this invitational tournament but the first time this annual event was hosted in St. Louis.
Summer chess camps offer a great opportunity for kids to make friends, get better at chess and improve their critical thinking skills. Chess is the perfect summer learning tool because kids can keep their minds sharp while playing a game and having fun.
Jet-setting St. Louis Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura will participate in the 45th annual Biel Chess Festival, which has gotten quite a bit stronger after Cuban Grandmaster Leinier Dominguez Perez withdrew and was replaced by the world’s No. 1, Norwegian Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen.
In the first round, there were seven decisive games and only one draw. The 16-player field is split into two sections of eight players each, and the winner of each section will play head-to-head in a final match, which takes place Saturday and Sunday.
The biggest money tournament each year in the United States, the World Open, is held over Independence Day. Chess players of all levels are participating for a chance to get part of a guaranteed prize fund of more than $200,000.
This prestigious event will be held July 10-15 and features not only some of the top players in the country, but also a brand-new format. There will be two round-robin (all-play-all) sections of eight players each, followed by a two-game final match between the winners of each round robin.
St. Louis' own Hikaru Nakamura participated once again, and he was hoping to improve upon his abysmal score last year against this stellar field. Hikaru did indeed do better. Heading onto the final two rounds, he was just a half point off the lead.
Former World Champion Anatoly Karpov and four-time U.S. Champion Yasser Seirawan are concluding their head-to-head match today at the Chess Club in St. Louis, and after four games of play the two are in a dead heat.
Hikaru is the No. 5 ranked player in the world after his blistering win in the U.S. Championship and is now in Moscow to play in the super strong Tal Memorial. His preparation must be as good as Sting's must have been before his recent Fox concert.
Hikaru Nakamura · Yasser Seirawan · Gata Kamsky · Irina Krush · Marc Arnold · Anna Zatonskih · Darwin Yang · Ben Finegold · Magnus Carlsen · Jennifer Shahade
Texas · St. Louis · Moscow · Tal Memorial · Las Vegas
Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis · GM · International Chess Organization · United States Chess Federation · Susan Polgar Institute For Chess Excellence
2012 U.S. Chess Championship · St. Louis Invitational Chess Tournament · Christmas · U.S. Chess Championship · U.S. Women's Chess Championship
When you register with the Beacon, you can save your searches as news alerts, rsvp for events, manage your donations and receive news and updates from the Beacon team.
Take a look at our tutorials to help you get the hang of the new site.
Meeting in St. Louis next week, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious will have its first opportunity as an assembled group to consider what to do after the Vatican issued a mandate for change this spring. It calls on the conference to reorganize and more strictly observe church teachings.
When a family of four goes to the St. Louis Zoo, they can be forgiven for not knowing it will cost them $60, $72 if they park. If they can't pay, the alternative is to tell the kids they can't do what kids do at the zoo.
Missouri House Speaker Steve Tilley gave reporters less than a half-hour’s notice today when he announced that conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh’s sculptured bust will be formally installed in the Capitol at 1 p.m.
With the exception of its laser focus on gun rights, the 97th session of the Missouri General Assembly that ended at 6 p.m. Friday pretty much reflected the recent tradition: The Republican majority portrayed it an “immense success,’’ the Democrats called it an extremist failure and Gov. Jay Nixon declined to say.
The school, which was designed to help students who had dropped out come back to class to earn their degrees, started three years ago. But founder Stephanie Krauss said it was unable to overcome obstacles that had kept its target audience from succeeding in school.
When the first group of students who entered KIPP Inspire charter school in south St. Louis were ready to be promoted out to area high schools, seeing how they've done was a natural follow-up.
The Beacon's Mary Delach Leonard and Rob Koenig extensively covered flooding in 2011 in Missouri. Now this coverage is compiled in an iBook. Read the stories.
The feeling is openness, with soaring, airy spaces planned for easy and logical circulation and planned to reveal art not only to its best advantage but also appropriately and respectfully. Still, the building is notable more for its architectural reticence than its audacity.
When a Chicago photographer found more than a thousand unidentified slides, he set out to discover the couple behind them -- with a little help from social media.
The first reunion came about after Tom Hall broke his collarbone and musicians came together for a fundraiser. Then came two more. Hall simply says, “We decided that it’s fun to pay. We make good music. And people want to hear it.”
Donna Korando is the Beacon's arts and features editor. You can contact her at dkorando@stlbeacon.org.
Speaking to reporters at Monsanto, Howard Buffett warned that future generations would foot the bill for irresponsible soil use. He urged leaders to address thorny issues such as malnutrition and environmental destruction.
Twenty winners will split a million dollars and a wide array of professional services after this year's Arch Grants competition. Victors will also see one-on-one business mentoring in their prize package. The diverse group includes everything from biotech concerns to fashion enterprises.
Eleven IT entrepreneurs vied for the attention of more than 70 investors at Capital Innovators' annual Demo Day. This year's crop of hopefuls wooed potential investors with eight-minute presentations on a wide variety of business ideas.
Innovation and entrepreneurial activity are on the rise in St. Louis, especially in bioscience, technology and alternative energy. The Beacon's InnovationSTL section focuses on the people who are part of this wave, what they're doing and how this is shaping our future. To many St. Louisans, this wave is not yet visible. InnovationSTL aims to change that. We welcome you to share your knowledge, learn more about this vibrant trend and discuss its impact.
Speaking to reporters at Monsanto, Howard Buffett warned that future generations would foot the bill for irresponsible soil use. He urged leaders to address thorny issues such as malnutrition and environmental destruction.
Vernon Bowman's challenge to Monsanto Co.'s patent on its Roundup Ready soybean seeds was billed as a David vs. Goliath contest. Goliath won and won big. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that an Indiana soybean farmer had violated Monsanto's patent on its genetically engineered soybean seeds.
St. Louis theater artist Andrea Purnell dramatizes mental health issues for a living. For her efforts and potential, she'll receive a Grand Center Visionary Award for Emerging Artist in May 13 event at The Sheldon.
Sally Altman is the Beacon's Health and Science editor. You can contact her at saltman@stlbeacon.org.
When the first group of students who entered KIPP Inspire charter school in south St. Louis were ready to be promoted out to area high schools, seeing how they've done was a natural follow-up.
Much as Americans may disagree over politics, we share a belief in the public's right to know. This week's controversies were a reminder that a healthy press is vital to a healthy democracy.
Hegel may explain the trajectory of politics: A thesis breeds its antithesis. The dissonance between these polar opposites results in a new state of affairs called a synthesis. That synthesis becomes the new thesis as the process repeats itself. Thus does history travel its tangled paths.
Donna Korando is the Beacon's Voices editor. You can contact her and submit opinion pieces for possible publication at dkorando@stlbeacon.org.