Brain Research is a peer-reviewed scientific journal focusing on several aspects of neuroscience. It publishes research reports and "minireviews". The editor-in-chief is Irwin B. Levitan.

Until 2011, full reviews were published in Brain Research Reviews, which is now integrated into the main section. In 2006, four other previously established semi-independent journal sections (Cognitive Brain Research, Developmental Brain Research, Molecular Brain Research, and Brain Research Protocols) were merged with Brain Research.

The journal has nine main subsections:

• Cellular and Molecular Biology of Nervous Systems
• Nervous System Development, Regeneration and Aging
• Neurophysiology, Neuropharmacology and other forms of Intercellular Communication
• Structural Organization of the Brain
• Sensory and Motor Systems
• Regulatory Systems
• Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience
• Disease-Related Neuroscience
• Computational and Theoretical Neuroscience

Abstracting and indexing[link]

Brain Research is indexed in:

James Cromwell
James Cromwell in 2010
Born	James Oliver Cromwell (1940-01-27) January 27, 1940 (age 72) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Residence	Studio City, Los Angeles, California
Other names	Jamie Cromwell
Education	Middlebury College
Alma mater	Carnegie Mellon University
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1974 – present
Home town	Manhattan, New York
Spouse	Anne Ulvestad (1976–1986) Julie Cobb (1986–2006)
Parents	Kay Johnson, John Cromwell

James Oliver Cromwell (born January 27, 1940) is an American film and television actor. Some of his more notable roles are in Babe (1995), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award of Best Supporting Actor, Star Trek: First Contact (1996), L.A. Confidential (1997), The Green Mile (1999), The Sum of All Fears (2002), The Artist (2011) and in the television series Six Feet Under (2003–2005). He has been nominated for an Oscar, three Emmy Awards, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards during his career.

Early years[link]

Cromwell was born in Los Angeles, California and was raised in Manhattan, New York. He is the son of actress Kay Johnson and actor, director, and producer John Cromwell, who was blacklisted during the McCarthy era.^[1][2] He was educated at The Hill School, Middlebury College and Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University). Like his parents, he was drawn to the theater, performing in everything from Shakespeare to experimental plays.

Career[link]

Cromwell's first television performance was in a 1974 episode of The Rockford Files playing Terry.^[3] A few weeks later,^[4] he began a recurring role as Stretch Cunningham on All in the Family. In 1975, he took his first lead role on television as Bill Lewis in the short-lived Hot l Baltimore, and a year later he made his film debut in Neil Simon's classic detective spoof Murder by Death.

In 1980, Cromwell guest-starred in the two-part pivotal episode "Laura Ingalls Wilder" of the long-running television series Little House on the Prairie. He played Harve Miller, one of Almanzo Wilder's (Dean Butler) old friends.

While Cromwell continued with regular television work throughout the 1980s, he made real inroads in film business for his supporting roles in the films Tank and Revenge of the Nerds. His starring roles in the 1990s critically acclaimed films Babe (1995), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), L.A. Confidential (1997), The Green Mile, and Snow Falling on Cedars (both 1999) were breakout roles for him, and made him more bankable in Hollywood^{[citation needed]}. He also played Dr. Zefram Cochrane in Star Trek: First Contact (1996) and the Star Trek: Enterprise pilot Broken Bow (the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "In a Mirror, Darkly" later reused some of the First Contact footage).^[5] He has appeared on other Star Trek television series The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, though not as Cochrane (his appearances on these shows predated his role in First Contact), he guest starred in episodes including "The Hunted", "Birthright" (Part I and II) and "Starship Down".

Cromwell also had additional success on television throughout his career. His role as newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst in the television film RKO 281 earned him an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Television Movie. The following year, he received his second Emmy Award nomination for playing Bishop Lionel Stewart on the NBC medical drama series ER. In 2004, he guest-starred as former President D. Wire Newman in the The West Wing episode "The Stormy Present". From 2003 to 2005, Cromwell played George Sibley in the HBO drama series Six Feet Under, which earned him his third Emmy Award nomination in 2003. Along with the rest of his castmates, he was also nominated for two Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2005 and 2006. The following year, Cromwell played Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in The Queen (2006), that earned Helen Mirren an Academy Award for Best Actress. He also guest starred as Phillip Bauer, father of lead character Jack, in the sixth season of the Fox thriller drama series 24.

In October 2007, Cromwell played the lead role of James Tyrone Sr. in the Druid Theatre Company's production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night, at the Gaiety in Dublin as part of the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival's 50th Anniversary.^[6] That same year he received the King Vidor Memorial Award from the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival for his artistic achievements in film. More recently, Cromwell played George Herbert Walker Bush in Oliver Stone's W. (2008), that chronicles the rise to power of his son up until the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In an interview, Cromwell revealed that Stone had originally offered the role to Warren Beatty and Harrison Ford.^[7]

Personal life[link]

He has long been an advocate of progressive causes.^{[citation needed]} In the late 1960s, he was a member of "The Committee to Defend The Panthers", a group organized to defend 13 members of the Black Panther Party who had been imprisoned in New York on charges of conspiracy. All thirteen were eventually released. In a 2004 interview with CNN.com, Cromwell praised the Panthers.^[8] He became a vegetarian in 1974 after seeing a stockyard in Texas and experiencing the "smell, terror and anxiety."^[9] He became an ethical vegan while playing the character of Farmer Hoggett in the movie Babe in 1995.^[10] He frequently speaks out on issues regarding animal cruelty for PETA, largely the treatment of pigs.^[11] In the book Money Men, author Jeffrey Birnbaum describes how John McCain went out of his way to meet Cromwell as he advocated on Capitol Hill for funding of Native American arts education.^[12] He served as the narrator of the short film Farm to Fridge, a documentary produced by Mercy for Animals.^[13] In an October 2008 interview, he strongly attacked the Republican Party and the George W. Bush administration, saying their foreign policy would "either destroy us or the entire planet."^[7]

Cromwell is known for his tall stature; at 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m), he is the tallest actor nominated for an Academy Award. His son John is also tall, standing at 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)^[14]

He was married to Anne Ulvestad from 1976 to 1986. They had three children. He married his second wife, Julie Cobb, on May 29, 1986; that marriage ended in divorce in 2005.^[15]

Cromwell endorsed the reelection campaign of Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio in 2012.

He attended the 2012 Academy Awards with Anna Stuart.

Filmography[link]

Films[link]

Television[link]

Theatre[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• "Cover Biography for August 2005: James Cromwell", Current Biography, August 2005

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: James Cromwell

• James Cromwell at the Internet Movie Database
• James Cromwell at AllRovi
• James Cromwell at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)

Susan Polgar
Susan Polgar
Full name	Zsuzsanna Polgár
Country	Hungary United States
Born	(1969-04-19) April 19, 1969 (age 43) Budapest, Hungary
Title	Grandmaster
Women's World Champion	1996–99
FIDE rating	2577 (May 2012) [inactive]
Peak rating	2577 (January 2005)

Susan Polgar (born April 19, 1969, as Polgár Zsuzsanna and often known as Zsuzsa Polgár) is a Hungarian-American chess Grandmaster. She is an Olympic chess champion, a chess teacher, coach, writer and promoter and the head of the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE) at Texas Tech University as well as the coach for the 2011 National Championship college chess team. She is the oldest of the famous "Polgár sisters": Zsuzsa, Zsófia, and Judit. Susan is perhaps most famous for being a child prodigy at chess, for being the first female to earn the Grandmaster title through tournament play, and for breaking a number of gender barriers in chess.

On the July 1984 FIDE Rating List, at the age of 15, she became the top ranked woman player in the world, and remained ranked in the top three for the next 23 years. She was also the first woman in history to break the gender barrier by qualifying for the 1986 "Men's" World Championship.^[1] She was the Women's World Chess Champion from 1996 to 1999. In October 2005 Polgar had an Elo rating of 2577, making her the second-ranked woman in the world at the time, after her sister Judit Polgár. Polgar went on to win ten Olympic medals (5 Gold, 4 Silver and 1 Bronze) and four Women's World Championships. She has not played in official competition since 2006.

In 1997, Polgar founded the Polgar Chess Center in Forest Hills, New York. In 2002 she established the Susan Polgar Foundation, which gives chess training to children, especially girls.^[2] Through her foundation she sponsors the National Invitational for Girls, National Open Championship for Girls, World Open Championship for Girls, All-Star Girl's Chess Team, NY City Mayor's Cup Invitational, and Tri-State Scholastic Chess Challenge. She was briefly a member of the executive board of the United States Chess Federation from 2007 to 2009; however, a lawsuit instigated by the defeated candidate led to political infighting and extended litigation, and resulted in a settlement whereby Polgar severed her affiliation with the USCF and is now a "playing non-member". She founded the SPICE Institute in Texas in 2007 and began coaching the Texas Tech Knight Raiders in 2007 as well. In January 2009, she became the Co-Chairperson of the Commission for Women's Chess for the World Chess Federation FIDE, a position she continues to hold today.^[3]

Personal life[link]

Susan Polgar and husband Paul Truong, Chess Olympiad 2008

She was born and brought up in Budapest, Hungary, to a Hungarian Jewish family.^[4] She now lives in Lubbock, Texas. In 1994, Polgar married computer consultant Jacob Shutzman, and moved to New York. They have two sons, Tom (born 1999) and Leeam (born 2000). She later divorced. In December 2006, she married her longtime business manager and friend, Paul Truong.^[5][6]

Chess career[link]

Judit Polgár and Sofia Polgar (1988)

Polgar and her two younger sisters, Grandmaster Judit and International Master Sofia, were part of an educational experiment carried out by their father László Polgár, who sought to prove that children could make exceptional achievements if trained in a specialist subject from a very early age. "Geniuses are made, not born," was László's thesis.^[7] He and his wife Klara educated their three daughters at home, with chess as the specialist subject. The father also taught his three daughters Esperanto. Most of her family eventually emigrated to Israel, but Susan Polgar moved to New York after marrying an American in 1994. Members of the Polgar family, who are Jewish, perished in the Holocaust, and her grandmother was a survivor of Auschwitz.^[8]

At age 4, Polgar won her first chess tournament, the Budapest Girls' Under-11 Championship, with a 10–0 score. In 1982, at the age of 12, she won the World Under 16 (Girls) Championship. Despite restrictions on her freedom to play in international tournaments, by 1984 at age 15 Polgar had become the top-rated female chess player in the world.^[9]

In November 1986, FIDE decided to grant 100 bonus Elo rating points to all active female players except Polgar, which knocked her from the top spot in the January 1987 FIDE ratings list. The rationale was that the FIDE ratings of women were not commensurate with the ratings of the men because the women tended to play in women-only tournaments, Polgar being an exception because up to that point she had played mainly against men. The statistical evidence supporting this decision was disputed because the data on which it was based was a small subset of the available data, and Polgar and others alleged that the move was politically motivated and had been contrived to displace her from the top spot.

In January 1991, Polgar became the first woman to earn the Grandmaster title in the conventional way of achieving three GM norms and a rating over 2500, though Nona Gaprindashvili was awarded the title earlier by special judgment of FIDE. In 1992, Polgar won both the Women's World Blitz and the Women's World Rapid Championship.^[10] She is the only world champion, male or female, to win all three forms of world chess championships.

Polgar had tended to avoid women-only tournaments, but she abandoned this when she entered the 1993 cycle for the Women's World Championship. She was eliminated at the candidates' final match with Nana Ioseliani; after the match was drawn she lost on the drawing of lots. She became the Women's World Champion at her second attempt in 1996. Two years later, her title defense against Xie Jun of China was scheduled to take place in November 1998. However, Polgar requested a postponement because she was pregnant and FIDE had been unable to find a satisfactory sponsor. Ultimately, in 1999, a match was arranged, but under conditions to which Polgar objected – firstly because she had recently had a child, Tom, and had not had sufficient time to recuperate, and secondly because the match was to be held entirely in China, the home country of her challenger. She also wanted a significantly larger prize fund.^[11]

When Polgar refused to play under these conditions, FIDE declared that she had forfeited the title,^[12][13] and instead organized a match between Xie Jun and Alisa Galliamova for the Women's World Chess Championship, which was won by Xie Jun.^[14] Polgar sued in the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland for monetary damages and the restoration of her title. In March 2001, the case was settled, with Polgar withdrawing her claims and FIDE agreeing to pay Polgar's attorney's fees in the amount of $25,000.^[15] Since Xie Jun had already been crowned Women's World Champion, FIDE could not restore the title to Polgar. Polgar has not participated in subsequent Women's World Championship cycles.

American career and Olympic medals[link]

The United States Chess Federation named Polgar "Grandmaster of the Year" in 2003, the first time a woman has won that honor. In that same year (2003), Polgar also became the first woman to win the US Open Blitz Championship, against a field which included seven grandmasters. She won that title again in 2005 and in 2006.

She helped train and played the top board for the United States women's team at the 2004 Chess Olympiad held in October in Majorca, Spain. Overall, the team won the Silver Medal, but Polgar won an individual gold medal for achieving the highest performance rating in the women's event and the highest point total. This was not her first Olympiad: she has a total of ten Olympiad Medals (five Gold, four Silver, and one Bronze). She has played 56 games in the Olympiads, never losing a single game.

Polgar in a simultaneous exhibition

In July 2005, Polgar gave a large simultaneous exhibition in Palm Beach, Florida, breaking four world records: the largest number of simultaneous games played (326, with 309 won, 14 drawn, and 3 lost); consecutive games played (1,131); highest number of games won (1,112); and highest percentage of wins (96.93 %).^[16]

In October 2005, Polgar joined former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and former World Champion Anatoly Karpov in Lindsborg, Kansas to promote "Chess For Peace." There, Polgar participated in the second Clash of the Titans - Battle of the Genders match against Karpov at the same location, with Gorbachev making the first move for Karpov. The match with Karpov ended in a 3–3 tie, with each player winning two games and two draws. Their first match had taken place in September 2004. That also ended up in a 3–3 tie.

In June 2006, Polgar organized and played in the 2006 New York City Mayor's Cup, a 30-minute competition and the highest-rated double round robin tournament in US history. She finished second, behind Gata Kamsky and ahead of Alexander Onischuk, Boris Gulko, Ildar Ibragimov, and Alex Stripunsky. In July 2006, Polgar represented the US in a side event to the Football World Cup in Dresden, Germany. She easily won the event by defeating International Master Elisabeth Pähtz in the final.

Texas Tech Knight Raiders[link]

In 2007, Susan Polgar signed on as the head coach for the Texas Tech Knight Raiders chess team. In 2010, she became the first woman to lead a men's Division I team to the Final Four.^[17] In April 2011, the Texas Tech Knight Raiders became the best college chess team in the nation by winning the President's Cup: The Final Four in College Chess^[18] As the Knight Raiders coach, Polgar again broke another gender barrier as the first ever female head coach to lead a men's Division I team to the national title.^[19]

Notable chess games[link]

This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Here is a brilliancy Polgar won at age 16:^[20]

Zsuzsa Polgar–Hardicsay, Hungarian Team Championship 1985 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nf3 g6 7.Bf4 a6 8.e4 Bg7 9.Qa4+ Bd7 10.Qb3 Bg4?! 11.Qxb7 Bxf3 Hardicsay had won a game a few months before after 12.gxf3 Nh5, when Black has good compensation for the sacrificed pawn after either 13.Be3 Nd7 or 13.Bg3 Nxg3 14.hxg3 Nd7. 12.Qxa8! Nxe4 13.Rc1! This was a theoretical novelty; Black had been thought to be better after 13.Nxe4 Bxe4. 13...Bd4 After 13...Nxc3 14.bxc3 Be4 15.f3 Bf5 16.g4, Black would have no good retreat for his bishop, e.g. 16...Bd7 17.Bxd6. 14.Rc2 Nxf2?! 14...Nxc3 15.gxf3! also leaves White with a large advantage. 15.Rxf2 Bxf2+ 16.Kxf2 Bg4 (See diagram at below left.) 17.Bb5+! axb5 18.Re1+ Kf8 If 18...Kd7, 19.Qb7+ Qc7 20.Re7+! wins the queen. 19.Bh6+ Kg8 (See diagram at below middle.) 20.Re7! Paralyzing Black and stopping any counterplay with ...Qh4+. The rook is immune because 20...Qxe7 21.Qxb8+ forces mate. 20...Bd7 21.Qxb8! Qxb8 22.Ne4! 1–0 Although Black is up a queen for a knight, he cannot stop 23.Nf6#. (Notes based on Polgar's notes in Queen of the Kings Game pp. 234–37 and in Chess Informant, volume 40, game 117.)

Polgar–Hardicsay, 1985

Position after Black's 16th move a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h

Position after Black's 19th move a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h

Final position a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h

The Susan Polgar Foundation[link]

The Susan Polgar Foundation is a 501(c)(3) corporation established in 2002 and supported by charitable donations. "The mission of the Susan Polgar Foundation is to promote chess, with all its educational, social, and competitive benefits throughout the United States, for young people of all ages, especially girls."^[21] The Foundation sponsors the National Invitational for Girls, National Open Championship for Girls , World Open Championship for Girls, All-Star Girl's Chess Team, NY City Mayor's Cup Invitational, and Tri-State Scholastic Chess Challenge.

The SPICE Institute and SPICE Cup[link]

On May 12, 2007, Polgar was the undergraduate commencement speaker at Texas Tech University. She was awarded an honorary Doctorate degree. On the same day, as reported on the LubbockOnline website, it was announced that she would become the coach of the Texas Tech chess team and would be the director of the new Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE).^[22] In 2008, SPICE announced an extremely generous pledge from a private donor, who provided $320,000 for TTU chess scholarships over the next five years.^[23]

In 2007 Texas Tech and Susan Polgar hosted the first SPICE Cup which has since become the highest rated international round robin chess tournament held in the United States.^[24] The SPICE Cup draws tens of millions of viewers worldwide, who are able to follow the event online.^[25] In October 2010, the SPICE Cup became the highest rated international invitational chess tournament in US History.^[26] In 2008, the SPICE Cup rated category 15. It jumped to category 16 in 2009. SPICE Cup 2010 rated category 16 (2631 average FIDE rating) but for 2011 the SPICE Cup has a preliminary two 2700+ player for the first time with negotiations in process with four or five other similarly ranked players, and will potentially rate 17/18.^[27]

Composer[link]

Zsuzsa Polgár
Source unknown, 1973

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Mate in 2

Solution: 1. Kd1 Kf1 2. Qe1 mate

This example uses algebraic notation.

Susan Polgar composed her first chess problem (see diagram) at the age of four. She is considered the youngest composer of a published chess problem.^[28] Formerly, the record was held by Elliot Franklin Eichholtz.

Author[link]

Polgar has written several books, often in conjunction with Paul Truong, her business manager and (later) husband:

• Queen of the Kings [sic] Game (as Zsuzsa Polgar; with Jacob Shutzman) (1997) ISBN 0-9657059-7-8
• Teach Yourself Chess in 24 Hours (with Paul Truong) (2003)
• A World Champion's Guide to Chess (with Paul Truong) (2005) ISBN 0-8129-3653-1
• Breaking Through (2005) (with Paul Truong) ISBN 0-02-864408-5
• Chess Tactics for Champions (with Paul Truong) (2006) ISBN 0-8129-3671-X

Polgar is also a chess journalist, with columns in Chess Life, Chess Life for Kids, ChessCafe, Chess Horizons, Georgia Chess, Chessville, Empire Chess, School Mates, Europe Echecs, etc., and she publishes a blog with daily updates about chess news and daily chess exercise problems. She has released a series of 11 instructional chess DVDs.

US Chess Federation and FIDE[link]

In December 2006, she announced that she would run for election to the executive board of the United States Chess Federation.^[29] Polgar, Randy Bauer, and Paul Truong—three of four of Polgar's slate—were elected to four-year terms. She was elected as the first ever chairman of the USCF.^[30][31][32]

On October 2, 2007, one of the candidates for the Executive Board position, who had been defeated by Susan Polgar, filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the results of the 2007 election, alleging misconduct.^[33] Polgar denied any wrongdoing.^[34][35] Polgar and Truong filed suit against the USCF, who counter-sued them, with both sides issuing a variety of allegations. The suit alleging election campaign misconduct was ultimately dismissed by the court.^[36]

On January 15, 2008, four Board members issued a statement which requested Susan Polgar's husband step down from his position on the Board for "neglecting his fiduciary duties" through not providing an affirmative defense to the lawsuit.^[37] This was not, however, an official vote of the Executive Board. Polgar subsequently published a statement asserting that the Board members who voted in favor of this request made a number of misrepresentations.^[38]

On August 7, 2009, the Executive Board of the USCF rescinded the membership of Polgar and her husband, and they appealed to the Board of Delegates of the USCF. On August 8, 2009, the Delegates of the USCF ratified the previous year's actions of the Executive Board with respect to the litigation. In a closed Executive Session, the Delegates upheld the membership revocations.^[39][40] The lawsuits were all settled in 2010, with Polgar and Truong severing all affiliation with the USCF (though both still play in USCF events under "Playing Non-Member Status"); the USCF's court costs of $131,000 were paid out by its insurer and it had to pay Polgar's attorney fees of $39,000.^[41]

In January 2009, Susan Polgar was appointed Co-Chairperson of the Board of the Commission for Women's Chess for FIDE, the World Chess Federation. As of January 2012, Polgar continues to hold this position.

She is moving her top collegiate chess team to Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri.^[42]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Zsuzsa Polgár

• Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE)
  • Polgar's blogs for her Chess Center, Chess, Girls and Chess for Peace
• Susan Polgar player profile at ChessGames.com