Paul Truong

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Paul Truong, (born Hoainhan Truong in June 1965 in South Vietnam), is a US chess player, trainer, promoter and organizer.

Truong learned the moves of chess along with his father at the age of five and played at the National Sports Center (CSS) in Saigon, a center for the chess life of the country. From an early age, he won the annual tournaments organized by the National Sport Center, which were informally recognized as the National Championships of South Vietnam. In all, he won the annual under-21 event 4 times, starting when he was five years old, and the annual adult event five times, starting when he was eight.[1]

As a chess player, he holds the USCF title of National Master and Life Master, and the FIDE title of FIDE Master.[2]

As a promoter and organizer, he is closely associated with former Women's World Chess Champion Susan Polgar.[3] He is Polgar's husband, business manager, and Vice-President of the Susan Polgar Foundation. He organized and/or promoted most of the events in which Polgar has been involved since she relocated to the United States, being the main organizer of most of them. He is Chairperson of the USCF Polgar Committee, which oversees the Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls. In May 2007, Truong become the Director of Marketing and PR of Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE) and assistant coach of the Texas Tech University chess team, with Polgar as the Executive Director of SPICE and head coach.[4]

Truong has collaborated with Polgar on most of her books and videos, and he has co-authored with her numerous chess columns and articles. In 2003, Polgar and Truong won the Cramer Award for Best Chess Column and three Chess Journalist of America Awards for Best Magazine Column, Best Endgame Analysis Column, and Best Chess Promotion column.[5] They also won the 2004 Chess Journalist of America Award for the best endgame column in Chess Horizons.[6]

In 2004, Truong served as the captain and business manager of the U.S. Women's Team for the 36th Chess Olympiad,[7] which won a Silver Medal after defeating Vietnam in the last round. [8]

[edit] Election campaign and subsequent litigation

In December 2006, he announced his candidacy for USCF Executive Board, as one of four candidates in the Susan Polgar team. Both Polgar and Truong were elected, as Chairman and VP of Marketing and Communication respectively.

On October 2, 2007, Sam Sloan filed suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York seeking to overturn the results of the 2007 election, alleging that that there were more than 2,000 obscene "Fake Sam Sloan" newsgroup postings by Susan Polgar and Paul Truong impersonating Sloan, as a result of which Polgar and Truong were elected. Susan Polgar has responded to the charges primarily against her husband on her blog.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15]

On January 15, 2008, four members of the USCF Executive Board issued a statement asking Truong to step down from his position on the Board for "neglecting his fiduciary duties" through not providing an affirmative defense to the lawsuit.[16] This was not, however, an official vote of the Board.[17] Truong has denied any wrongdoing and has refused to resign. The New York Times reported that Brian Mottershead (a former volunteer systems administrator at the federation) claimed that Truong posted inflammatory remarks on the Internet in the names of other members of the federation, including Sloan, for more than two years, based on matching of IP addresses from which the posts were made.[18][19] Two computer experts have examined Mottershead’s report and concluded that its methodology was accurate.[20]

[edit] References

  1. ^ References for this include Paul Truong: Happy to be a USCF Member, Chess Life, September 1986, p.26 and Interview of Paul Truong by Susan Polgar, 4 Aug 2003. Independent verification is difficult, due to the lack of sources from South Vietnam following the Fall of Saigon in 1975.
  2. ^ Hoainhan Truong FIDE rating card shows the FIDE Master title and a rating sufficient for the USCF titles
  3. ^ Susan Polgar Chess and Information Blog: A special thank you to all!
  4. ^ 12 May 2007 news release from Texas Tech University titled Texas Tech Hires Chess World Champion, Establishes Excellence Institute
  5. ^ CJA Awards 2003
  6. ^ CJA Awards 2004
  7. ^ 2004 United States Women's Olympiad Team, USCF web site
  8. ^ OlimpBase :: 36th Chess Olympiad (women), Calvia 2004, final A, round 14
  9. ^ Chess Group Officials Accused of Using Internet to Hurt Rivals - New York Times
  10. ^ Susan Polgar Stating the Facts
  11. ^ Polgar Responds on her Blog
  12. ^ The Mottershead Report
  13. ^ NY Times: Chess Group Officials Accused of Using Internet to Hurt Rivals
  14. ^ NY Times: Interview With the U.S.C.F. President; a Chess Sponsor Says He’s Had Enough
  15. ^ NY Times: Founder of AF4C: The Chess Federation Needs a New Structure
  16. ^ Member of U.S. Chess Federation’s Board Is Asked to Resign in Dispute Over an Election, New York Times, January 15, 2008.
  17. ^ List of all motions passed by the USCF Executive Board
  18. ^ Drive to Recall Member of Chess Federation’s Board Is Under Way
  19. ^ Evidence that Paul Truong is the Fake Sam Sloan
  20. ^ Second Computer Expert Offers Opinion on Report at Base of USCF Lawsuit

[edit] External links

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