Intro
From June 21, 2025, to June 25th, 2025, I went to the Susan Polgar Foundation Girls Invitational (SPFGI) chess tournament at Webster University in St. Louis. This tournament was created by Susan Polgar, who is a well-known chess player. Girl players aged from K-12 are nominated by each state and they are invited to attend this tournament. I was nominated as one of the representatives for Southern California and I am grateful to meet many different players from all other states including Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma etc. Not only that, St. Louis, the city in which the tournament was located, is also famous for its reputation as the chess capital and we could feel it in the atmosphere since we saw chess posters everywhere in the airport.
The tournament was located in Webster University, which has one of the best chess competition teams. The campus itself was also stunning. With a fountain in the center of the campus and beautiful plants surrounding the campus, it painted a beautiful scenery. In the evening, we were also attracted by the shining of fireflies. We were allowed to stay in the university’s dorm rooms and we also were sharing the dorm with another girl. Luckily, and very surprisingly, the girl was a friend who I knew from a few years back. This ended up being a new and interesting experience as it helped to prepare me for college life.
First Day
The first day of the tournament was filled with various thrilling side events. The morning started with an opening ceremony. Susan Polgar, the founder of SPFGI and one of the best female chess players in the entire world, introduced herself, the tournament, the history of Webster university and what the schedule of the next few days would look like. Following the opening ceremony, an experienced GM gave us a very informative chess lecture. The day also included three side events to help everyone prepare for the main tournament. These events were the puzzle competition, the blitz tournament, and a bughouse tournament. In the puzzle competition, we needed to solve twenty chess puzzles in thirty minutes and the winner would be the one who could finish the quickest with the most correct. The next event, which was the blitz, had seven rounds in total with the time control of 3 minutes with a 2 second increment. I ended up placing 15th and increasing my blitz rating by quite a bit. The last event of the day was a bughouse competition which was really fun as me and my partner were chatting with our opponents while we were playing. During a break in between the events, my mom and I visited the St. Louis chess club. The St. Louis chess club is known for hosting several of the most important chess tournaments every year, which made it really cool to visit in person. It was really exciting and thrilling to enter the actual building where the tournaments were held and be attracted by the pictures of famous players we saw hanging on the walls. I took a picture in front of the giant king so that I can forever capture this exciting moment.
Main Tournament
For the main tournament, six rounds of games were going to be played in the following three days. Over the course of the next two days, I played many strong players. I went up against players from Nevada, Maryland, Minnesota, Georgia, and Nebraska. I won some of the games and lost some of the games, but found great learning moments in every single game. The two games that really stuck in my mind were rounds three and four. In round three, my opponent surprised me in the opening with a line I had not really studied, causing me to spend a lot of time figuring it out. This was a great opportunity for me to learn the new line, especially since it could help me to prepare for future games. In round four, there was an idea in the middlegame that I didn’t really know about, and this game helped me learn a new concept in the opening that was played. I was nervous about the last day since the round six pairings came out in the evening and I found out that I was up against a National Master, with the black pieces too!
I woke up the morning of the last day feeling ready to play. I decided that I would just play solidly, try not to blunder, and look for winning chances. I played an opening with a good drawing chance; however, my opponent played a different line that I had not really studied in great depth. I only knew a little bit of the line, which was unfortunate as I did make some mistakes in the opening. My opponent played extremely well, and the game was very hard to play. Eventually, I found a chance to win the game. This is why chess is so fascinating, since you never know how a game is going to go! When I looked at the game a couple days later, I found many learning moments for me throughout the entire game. After the game, there was a closing ceremony and then we had to leave. Before leaving, my roommate and I exchanged gifts and planned for the next reunion.
Conclusion
I am grateful to the Southern California Chess Federation for giving me this amazing opportunity to represent the state in the tournament and I really believe that this tournament is a great opportunity to make a new friend or connect with old friends. I was also able to meet Susan Polgar, play some really strong players from other states, and have a really enjoyable experience. The Susan Polgar Foundation Girls Invitational was a really fun and memorable experience that I will cherish for a long time.