Paul Truong

Paul Truong, 2008 at Dresden

Paul Truong (born June 2, 1965) is an American chess player, trainer, promoter, and organizer.^[1]

Biography

Truong was born Hoainhan Truong in Saigon, South Vietnam.^[1]

Truong learned the rules 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 four times, starting when he was five years old, and the annual adult event five times, starting when he was eight.^[2]

Susan Polgar and husband Paul Truong, Chess Olympiad 2008

As a chess player, he holds the USCF title of National Master and Life Master, and the FIDE title of FIDE Master.^[3]

A promoter and organizer, he is married to former Women's World Chess Champion Susan Polgar.^[4] He is also Polgar's 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.^[5]

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.^[6] They also won the 2004 Chess Journalist of America Award for the best endgame column in Chess Horizons.^[7]

In 2004, Truong served as the captain and business manager of the U.S. Women's Team for the 36th Chess Olympiad,^[8] which won a Silver Medal after defeating Vietnam in the last round.^[9]

Election campaign and subsequent litigation

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

In 2007, one of the defeated candidates for the USCF Executive Board filed suit to overturn the election results.^[10] The ensuing litigation led to political infighting and counter lawsuits, and eventually the four members of the USCF Executive Board named in the countersuits issued a statement asking Truong to step down from his position on the Board for "neglecting his fiduciary duties" in failing to side with the USCF against himself and his wife, Susan Polgar, in the litigation.^[11]

During the litigation, the Executive Board of the USCF rescinded the memberships of Truong and Polgar. They appealed the revocation to the Board of Delegates of the USCF. In August 2009, the Delegates of the USCF ratified the previous year's actions of the Executive Board with respect to the litigation.^[12][13] In a closed Executive Session, the Delegates upheld the membership revocations.

The lawsuits eventually were all dismissed or settled, with the end result being that Truong (and Polgar) completely severed affiliation with the USCF, and is now a "playing non-member". As part of the settlement, the USCF's insurer—not the USCF—paid a small portion of Polgar's and Truong's legal fees.^[14]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Paul Truong.

• Paul Truong rating card at FIDE
• US tournament record of Paul Truong
• Chessville - 20 Questions with Paul Truong