|
< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 257 OF 259 ·
Later Kibitzing> |
Apr-10-12
 | | waustad: So now will they be called the Gorloks? |
 |
Apr-10-12
 | | tpstar: <Average SAT 600> Oh my. Hopefully the chess program will drive that up a little. =) |
|
Apr-10-12
 | | HeMateMe: Well, how does one compete in weekend swiss events and also take Saturday SAT prep classes for math B/pre Calculus? A good chessplayer has to keep his/her priorities straight! |
|
Apr-10-12
 | | cro777: The SPICE team at the Final Four was:
Board 1: Grandmaster Georg "the German Precision" Meier (Germany) Board 2: Grandmaster Elshan "the Knowledge Tree" Moradiabadi (Iran) Board 3: Grandmaster Anatoly "the Rocket" Bykhovsky (Israel) Board 4: Grandmaster Andre "the Shiny" Diamant (Brazil) First alternate: Grandmaster Denes "the Entertainer" Boros (Hungary) Second alternate: International Master Vitaly "the Diplomat" Neimer (Israel) In the second round, against the New York University, on board 4 GM Diamant was substituted by GM Boros. The following players have also been accepted to Webster University for the Fall 2012: GM Ray Robson - USA
GM Manuel Leon Hoyos - Mexico and
IM Faik Aleskerov - Azerbaijan.
According to GM Susan Polgar, six Grandmasters from the SPICE team will represent their countries at the 40th Chess Olympiad 2012 in Istanbul. The program grew rapidly, and Texas Tech wasn't ready to grow with the speed of the program. When Webster offered full scholarships for all players, Polgar accepted. |
|
| Apr-10-12 | | Jim Bartle: I do find it odd that it's still referred to often as the SPICE team. Certainly it was the Texas Tech team which won the collegiate title in Maryland, and it now must be the Webster University team. |
|
Apr-10-12
| | cro777: <Jim Bartle: I do find it odd that it's still referred to often as the SPICE team.> You are right. The TTU Knight Raiders captured Final Four title. The Knight Raiders are the Texas Tech University chess club. The name comes from the chess piece (Knight) and from the Raiders part of the "Red Raiders" (the athletic teams that represent TTU). On the other hand, the SPICE program started at Texas Tech five years ago. The players had received the Texas Tech SPICE Chess Scholarships. That's why it's often referred to as the SPICE team. |
|
Apr-10-12
| | cro777: <It now must be the Webster University team> It's already Webster University SPICE team. |
|
| Apr-10-12 | | voratco: <<Average SAT 600> Oh my.>> <Hopefully the chess program will drive that up a little. =)>
Coming from a guy that has over the average SAT 600 score, a little sarcastic, aren't we? I'll take common sense anywhere any day. Sat test is not a pass or fail test anyway, definely not a measurement of right conduct and good behaviour, patience, and other elements of future success. Some people are born to take the test, some are born to talk big, some are born to play great chess. Go SPICE TEAM!!! |
|
| Apr-10-12 | | Jim Bartle: voratco: A combined 600 on the SAT is really bad. An athlete cannot even get a scholarship and compete as a freshman with a score that low. |
|
Apr-10-12
| | tpstar: <Jim Bartle> From the Wikipedia link: "The average SAT composite score for the undergraduate class was 1,194. The average ACT composite score was 24." The SAT has always awarded 200 points per section just for showing up. With the current three-part version, 600 would be the absolute minimum score. |
|
Apr-10-12
| | waustad: <cro777>I was under the impression that Wesley So would also be there in the Fall. Was that an oversite or was I misinformed? He's in some of the earlier promo pictures. |
|
Apr-10-12
| | cro777: <waustad> It was an oversite, of course. Wesley has also been accepted to Webster. He met his teammates at the 28th North American Masters in Chicago last month. One of the events was a friendley match Wesley So vs Georg Meier (4 classical + 4 rapid games). http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RygLFT82O... |
|
Apr-10-12
| | HeMateMe: I'm still curious about a couple of things:
1) Does Webster U. have a history of awarding chess scholarships, have they done this before, and have they fielded an elite chess team? 2) If the answer to the above question is "no", is it possible (just playing devils advocate here) that a wealthy chess benefactor approached the school, offered to put up the money for seven chess scholarships, with the proviso that his participation be kept secret, and that the contributed monies would be "chess scholarships" which would be awarded to the entire Texas Tech team? Just curious. |
|
Apr-10-12
 | | WannaBe: 1. No
2. Absolutely 120% possible... |
|
| Apr-10-12 | | joeyj: Welcome to Webster University Chess
Welcome!
This site is where I provide chess enthusiasts with updates on my activities and important chess news relating to Webster University - SPICE. - 2012 Susan Polgar ©
read more:
http://websterchess.blogspot.com/se... |
|
| Apr-10-12 | | Jim Bartle: Yes, that's the site I was looking at. I just thought it was strange that Susan Polgar's name and bio was so prominent at the top left but that the team members' names and records are hard to find. I suspect that will be corrected. |
|
| Apr-10-12 | | joeyj: Here are all the SPICE titled players so far by the order of joining the program @ Webster U: 8-GMS
1. GM Andre Diamant (Brazil) - Webster University 8/2012 2. GM Anatoly Bykhovsky (Israel) - Webster University 8/2012 3. GM Georg Meier (Germany) - Webster University 8/2012 4. GM Denes Boros (Hungary) - Webster University 8/2012 5. GM Elshan Moradiabadi (Iran) - Webster University 8/2012 6. GM Wesley So (Philippines) - Webster University 8/2012 7. GM Ray Robson (USA) - Webster University 8/2012
8. GM Manuel Leon Hoyos (Mexico) - Webster University 8/2012 4-IM/FM/WIM
9. IM Vitaly Neimer (Israel) - Webster University 8/2012 10. FM/IM-elect Faik Aleskerov (Azerbaijan) SPICE 1st IM - Webster University 8/2012 11. FM Jake Banawa - Webster University 8/2012
12. WIM Inna Agrest - Webster University 8/2012
http://websterchess.blogspot.com/se... |
|
| Apr-11-12 | | Blunderdome: Each of the three sections is scored 200-800. They try to set the difficulty so that the average will be 500 with a standard deviation of 100, but actual averages tend to be around 505-515, if I recall correctly. By the way, the above is not true for the specialized SAT Subject Tests, especially the language tests, because many native speakers take them for an easy 750-800 score, but the test makers don't correct for that, they just try to make a test that will measure the mastery of a non-native speaker. For languages that aren't commonly taught in schools, the majority of test takers will be native speakers; for some language tests, the majority has a perfect score. I got a 660 on the German SAT many years ago, but it was only good enough for the 59th percentile. |
|
| Apr-11-12 | | Blunderdome: Also, after the third (writing) section of the SAT was introduced, many universities did not consider it in admissions decisions, at least not initially. When you see a composite score it's worth checking whether it's based on three sections or two, if you can find that info. On the old test -- or counting only math and verbal on the new test -- 1194 is an above-average score. |
|
| Apr-11-12 | | voratco: <I do find it odd that it's still referred to often as the SPICE team. Certainly it was the Texas Tech team which won the collegiate title in Maryland, and it now must be the Webster University team.> As far as I can comprehend, the team are called SPICE team because the program is under the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence- SPICE
But when they were in competition, the were called TTU Knight Raiders. |
|
| Apr-11-12 | | voratco: <HeMateMe: I'm still curious about a couple of things: 1) Does Webster U. have a history of awarding chess scholarships, have they done this before, and have they fielded an elite chess team? 2) If the answer to the above question is "no", is it possible (just playing devils advocate here) that a wealthy chess benefactor approached the school, offered to put up the money for seven chess scholarships, with the proviso that his participation be kept secret, and that the contributed monies would be "chess scholarships" which would be awarded to the entire Texas Tech team? Just curious.>
Did you mean Webster U? <"chess scholarships" which would be awarded to the entire Texas Tech team?> If it is, then the donor is not a secret. http://www.digitalburg.com/artman2/... <It also has a swanky new chess club and scholastic center bankrolled by a billionaire, the kind of place where students can immerse themselves in chess arcana, learning moves like the King's Indian Defense and others with mysterious names steeped in the game's 1,500-year history.The Webster program will be based on campus, but its top players will clearly spend plenty of time at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis, a 6,000-square-foot shrine to the game where the resident rock star is Hikaru Nakamura, the top-ranked U.S. player and No. 6 in the world. He, too, is a recent transplant to St. Louis. The club was bankrolled by businessman Rex Sinquefield, a retired financial executive and avid chess player who is also active in Missouri politics.> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Si...
<His commitment to education recently was brought together with another longtime passion, the game of chess.> He easily can afford better than this.
<The Texas Tech students transferring to Webster in the fall will receive scholarships. At Tech, the program had a $30,000 pot for the entire team, but Polgar noted that some top chess schools award individual students that amount.> The transfer to Webster U is three exclamation points move by GM Susan Polgar. Kudos. |
|
Apr-11-12
| | HeMateMe: There was a time, years ago, when a high SAT score was unusual. Now, with all of these booklets available that absolutely mimic the structure of all questions asked, people can really prepare for the SAT like it is a chaptered text book. I think that is one reason schools are looking for proficiency in writing, putting one or two long writing samples on the test. |
|
| Apr-11-12 | | Blunderdome: A high SAT score is still unusual, as the scores still have an approximately normal distribution. The problem with the writing section, initially, was that they hadn't demonstrated any predictive validity for it (the SAT just predicts your first-year college grades). I don't know whether they were ever able to or not. |
|
Apr-16-12
 | | Albertan: Chess coach, players moving on:
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/s... |
|
Apr-19-12
| | waustad: Happy B'day. |
|
|
|
< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 257 OF 259 ·
Later Kibitzing> |
