Susan Polgar founded her chess development programme, SPICE (Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence), in 2007. She initially worked with Texas Tech University before moving to Webster University in 2012, which then funded the chess development programme. Over the course of 17 years, the university teams supported by SPICE achieved numerous successes. At Texas Tech University, the team reached the Final Four of the college league three times, while the Webster University chess team did so fourteen times. The teams won the Final Four title nine times. Over seventeen years, the teams supported by Susan Polgar and SPICE also won the Pan-Am Intercollegiate Championships ten times. Graduates of the programme also won well over a hundred medals and titles in various national and international individual competitions and with their teams at Chess Olympiads.
Susan Polgar with the Webster chess team
Students in the SPICE development programme included players such as Wesley So, Ray Robson, Jorge Cori, Le Quang Liem, Awonder Liang, Illia Nyzhnyk, Georg Meier, Lazaro Bruzon, Benjamin Gledura, Aleksandr Lenderman, Gabor Papp, John Burke, Elshan Moradiabadi, Eric Rosen, Irene Sukandar, Kateryna Nemcova, Anna Sharevich, Inna Agrest and many other successful grandmasters and international masters.
During their studies, members of the SPICE chess team taught chess at chess camps, but also visited schools in Texas and Missouri, thereby introducing many thousands of pupils to the game. During the period at Texas Tech University, Susan Polgar and her colleagues also succeeded in having chess included as an official competition of the University Interscholastic League (UIL). At Webster University, chess was established as an official minor alongside other degree programmes. More than 60 graduates, including many grandmasters from around the world, have earned a degree at Webster thanks to this initiative.
However, following a decision by its president, Dr Tim Keane, Webster University is ending its chess development programme and has terminated its partnership with SPICE at short notice.
University spokesman Patrick Giblin explained in a statement that the programme had been discontinued both because of a lack of donations and because of visa restrictions affecting foreign students. Webster University has been operating at a loss for a decade, according to him. The chess development programme had been unable to raise sufficient donations to support its own activities. According to the university's spokesman, the programme cost the university more than one million dollars a year when salaries and bonuses for a director and an assistant director, travel expenses, scholarships and other financial support for students, as well as the cost of its own space on campus, were included. It was also said that a co-trainer alone would have cost the university USD 170,000 a year when salary, bonuses and social security contributions were taken into account.
According to Giblin, the university is proud of the team and everything it has achieved, but must focus on its core responsibilities: supporting educational programmes.
Le Quang Liem, head coach of SPICE since 2021
Those responsible for SPICE consider the stated costs of the programme to be exaggerated. Le Quang Liem, director of SPICE since 2021, said that the costs were significantly below one million dollars. During his tenure, he said, there had been neither an assistant director nor a co-trainer.
Susan Polgar also disputes that there were visa-related problems and complains that, before the university decided to end the programme, nobody spoke to her or to other SPICE officials about the issues that prompted the termination.
A Dramatic End to a Legendary and Most Dominant Program!♟️
— Susan Polgar (@SusanPolgar) May 1, 2026
Imagine the University of Alabama or Ohio State shutting down its powerhouse football 🏈 program, Kentucky or Duke eliminating its storied men’s basketball 🏀 program, or UConn ending its women’s basketball dynasty.… pic.twitter.com/qylgLrbtpx
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