(Crossville, TN) The third annual GM Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls (under 19) will begin August 6 at the Double Tree Hotel in Oak Brook, IL.  This is a culmination of a series of regional and state qualifying events over the past 12 months that involved over 3,000 vying to represent their respective states.

The young women chess competitors will be competing for the title and also for a full tuition and fees scholarship valued at $40,000, to the University of Texas in Dallas (UTD), a prominent supporter of scholastic chess. For more information on UTD please contact, The University of Texas at Dallas,

This tournament is co-sponsored by The Susan Polgar Foundation and the U.S. Chess Trust. You can find information about The Susan Polgar Foundation by visiting http://www.susanpolgarfoundation.org. Also check out http://www.uschess.org/org/patrons1.php for information on the U.S. Chess Trust.

Several side activities for the Polgar attendees rounded out the week of fun and competition for the girls.

On Sunday, August 6 at 9 am a reception will be held to welcome those below who have accepted the challenge:

Alabama:  Hannah M. Hellwig

Alaska:  Alison Parshall

Arizona:  Amanda Mateer

Arkansas:  Emi Stuart

Northern California:  Louiza Livschitz

Colorado:  Kaila Smith

Connecticut:  Alexandra Wiener

Delaware:  Alisa Spitelle

Florida:  Eunice Rodriguez

Georgia: Ananya Roy

Hawaii:  Marissa Al Wai

Idaho:  Erica D. Barkell

Illinois:  Cheryl Liu

Indiana:  Krista Selby

Iowa:  Dhrooti V. Vyas

Kansas:  Blythe E. Buscher

Kentucky:  Connie Wu

Louisiana:  Jordana Williams

Maine: Margaret Bryan

Massachusetts:  Jessica Wamala

Michigan:  Ashley Carter

Minnesota: Cailin McGrath

Nebraska:  Elizabeth Oliver

Nevada:  Sandra Hernandez

New Jersey:  Karsten A. McVay

New Mexico:  Anna Smoak

New York:  Elina Kats

North Carolina:  Laura L. Lee

Ohio:  Shizuyo Ichikawa

Oklahoma:  Rachel Farell

Oregon:  Taylor Bailey

Pennsylvania:  Emily J. Chu

Rhode Island:  Kathleen Coccio

Southern California: Jessica Zhu

Tennessee:  Graham Gibson

Texas: Courtney Jamison, Anjali Datta, Katherine Qiu, Evan Xiang, Victoria Zhang

Utah: Alice Chen, Janice Chen

Vermont:  Tanya Avilova

Virginia:  Abby Marshall

Wisconsin:  Tracie Klauer

Please contact Mr. Paul Truong at (212) 748-9587 or e-mail [email protected] for this event.  Once we have received confirmations from the following states, all 50 states will be represented:

District of Columbia, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming.

The United States Chess Federation (USCF), founded in 1939, serves as the governing body for chess in the United States and is now headquartered in Crossville, Tennessee. USCF is devoted to extending the role of chess in American society. It promotes the study and knowledge of the game of chess, for its own sake as an art and enjoyment, and as a means for the improvement of society. The USCF is a not-for-profit membership organization with over 80,000 members.

For additional information on the USCF see: http://www.uschess.org.