SPICE and Chess

The Webster University Chess Team is proud to list the following alumni:

• GM Wesley So
• GM Liem Le
• GM Ray Robson
• GM Illya Nyzhnyk
• GM Lazaro Bruzon
• GM Aleksandr Lenderman
• GM Georg Meier
• GM Jorge Cori
• GM Vasif Durarbayli
• GM Aleksandr Shimanov
• GM Emilio Cordova
• GM Jose Martinez
• GM Peter Prohaszka
• GM Denes Boros
• GM Manuel Leon Hoyos
• GM Fidel Corrales Jimenez
• GM Anatoly Bykhovsky
• GM Ashwin Jayaram
• GM Priyadharshan Kannappan
• GM Andre Diamant
• IM Yuriy Krykun
• IM Vitaly Neimer
• IM Eric Rosen
• IM Justus Williams
• IM Aaron Grabinsky
• IM Brian Escalante
• IM / WGM Irene Sukandar
• WGM Anna Sharevich
• WGM Katerina Nemcova
• WIM Inna Agrest
• FM Joshua Colas
• WFM Luisa Fernanda Mercado
• Tom Polgar-Shutzman
• Roman Kozelov
• Kenneth Fernandez
• Shawn Swindell
• Kaleb Gosdin
• Hannah ( Tori) Whatley
• Reggie Jackson

A Chesterfield resident, Liem Le is originally from Vietnam, where he was honored by Forbes Vietnam as 30 under 30 (2015). Le became a Chess Grandmaster at 15 years old and the World Blitz Champion at 22 years old. He has been the No. 1 ranked chess player in Vietnam and Southeast Asia since 2009. He is currently the No. 20 ranked chess player worldwide.

Le previously served as captain of the top-ranked Webster chess team (2015 to 2017). He won four consecutive Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Championships and Final Four Championships with Webster from 2013 to 2017. From June 2021, Le has been the Director of SPICE and the Head Coach of Webster University Chess Team.

Coach Le is considered the youngest and highest ranked collegiate grandmaster head coach in the U.S. He has coached more than 100 students, including many Grandmasters with remarkable success.

Chess Accomplishments:

• Winner of World Blitz Championship 2013
• Winner of Biel Grand Master Triathlon (GMT) 2022
• Top 4 of Meltwater Champions Chess Tour 2022
• Winner of Asian Continental Championship 2019
• Winner of World Open 2019
• Winner of Saint Louis Summer Classic 2019
• Winner of ACP Tour 2019
• Winner of Bay Area International Open 2019
• 2-time winner of SPICE Cup (2011, 2015)
• 3-time winner of HD Bank Open (2013, 2015, 2017)
• 2-time winner of Aeroflot Open (2010, 2011)
• 2-time winner of Zone 3.3 FIDE World Chess Championship (2007, 2015)
• Winner of Kolkata Open 2009
• Winner of Lishui Open 2009
• 2-time winner of Dragon Capital Open (2008, 2009)
• Team Gold Medal at 2008 Olympiad Group B

Notable Recognition:

• Awarded three Labor Orders by the President of Vietnam (2006, 2011, 2013)
• Awarded the title Blitz Player of the Year by Asian Chess Federation (2013)
• Forbes Vietnam 30 Under 30 (2015)

Susan Polgar was the top-ranked female chess player in the world at the age of 15. In 1991, she became one of the first women to be awarded the title of Grandmaster by The International Chess Federation (FIDE). Polgar was Women’s World Champion from 1996 to 1999. She won 11 medals at the Women’s Chess Olympiad (4 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze). She founded the SPICE Institute in 2007 and was the Director of SPICE and the Head Coach of Webster University Chess Team from 2012 to 2021, with a successful track record. After her retirement in May 2021, Polgar became the Director Emeritus of SPICE.

In 2022, Webster University became the first in the nation to launch a Chess in Education Minor. It is an 18-credit minor focused on developing chess educators academically and professionally, bridging the access gap between K-12 chess education and professional pursuits. Students who embark on this academic path will learn how to teach chess as a sport and an academic discipline while identifying and solving gaps in the field through projects. These future chess educators will be able to identify and socially advocate for areas that need progress, such as sustainable scholastic programming, women’s chess, research best practices and more.

Courses are internationally available online, in which students will develop skill sets such as a global perspective, research familiarization and analysis, writing and teaching curriculum, educational technology literacy, and community-based programming. As each student’s interests and backgrounds may be unique, core courses will teach chess through various disciplines such as education, history, business, psychology, and technology. In contrast, the elective courses promote passion projects, certification training, professional networking and skill practice. Each content area is critical to transforming chess students into globally focused leaders dedicated to improving communities worldwide through chess education.

Learn more about the minor in Chess and its degree requirements.

Discover chess using Susan Polgar’s comprehensive free training guide (PDF opens in new tab).