this first-of-its-kind tour will feature live chess matches Guess The Elo using games from the audience And now we can announce several of the guests who will be joining Levy on stage brothers and GMs Rasmus and Frederik Svane or Warsaw—or want to travel there—click the button below to secure your seats now Get Tickets To See Levy & Friends but this will be Anna's first major event with Levy Judit Polgar is the consensus greatest woman to ever play chess. Since her 2014 retirement from the game, she has not only continued as a popular commentator, but also been a tireless advocate for education and using the many benefits of chess to help teach children Polgar will appear with Levy in Berlin on May 15 along with German streamer IM Georgios "The Big Greek" Souleidis GMs Rasmus and Frederik Svane have both peaked above 2650 FIDE—making them the strongest active chess siblings in the world—and they will bring all their combined chess knowledge to Munich on May 16 And then there's Danny, the Chess.com CCO who needs no introduction. He will appear with Levy in London on May 9, along with FrankChess, a finalist in PogChamps 5 Every guest will have something special to offer the crowd, so if you can make it to any of these cities on these dates, get your tickets now! Susan Polgar learned to play chess at the age of four She found a board and its pieces in the closet of the home in which she lived with her parents in Budapest she began beating nearly everyone she played (including her father) she even entered a tournament and played with children three to four times her age and—while still only four years old—beat them all Losing was hard enough for the girls she faced but the boys found it especially difficult men who lost against her did their best to make her ascent in the chess world a struggle but she faced their resistance with the confidence she was ranked top female player in the world (and remained among the top three for the next twenty-three years!) she qualified to take part in the Men’s World Championship but While that was unquestionably disappointing it did nothing to harm her increasing strength as a player adhering to the same norms and ratings required in male competition she was the first woman to win the men’s title of grandmaster Although Polgar has been asked many times in interviews to explain how this all happened and the Making of a Grandmaster is her own well thought-out account of that stellar achievement It should be read by every girl and woman who plays chess and they should give the book to their male chess-playing friends and encourage them to read it Men should be warned that the women of chess are coming after them Susan Polgar at the Webster SPICE headquarters in 2020 Men have always dominated in the world of chess but also in ratings: the highest ranked male player is Magnus Carlsen with a FIDE [International Chess Federation] rating of 2837 and the highest ranked female player is Hou Yifan at 2633 for a period of approximately ten years beginning in the late 1980s and their middle sister Sofia—known as the Polgar sisters or “The Polgarians” (Polgaria in their native Hungarian)—were collectively the highest ranked female chess players in the world This means that they were capable of beating some of the best male players of their generation and Some claim that the difference between male and female players in chess is neurological that the brains of men and women are structured differently a factor that is a great advantage when playing chess The same argument is made for why there are more male pilots than female but physiological differences do not account for the great disparity in numbers; the main reason for the inequity is unquestionably societal and cultural Just as boys are encouraged from an early age to fly airplanes they are also taught to play chess and understand the game as the competitive and combative sport that it is while girls are rarely encouraged to follow the same path This does not mean that the brain cannot be rewired as it seems to have been for the Polgar sisters who were taught to play at a very early age by their father a Hungarian psychologist who believed that genius can be taught not only through the experiment he conducted with his daughters but we have recently gained some scientific insight into how the mind of a great chess player works Susan Polgar was the subject of a National Geographic documentary series called My Brilliant Brain wherein she allowed her brain to be scanned by an MRI machine when looking at chess positions she uses the same part of her brain to register these patterns as those used for facial recognition and she can recognize a given position as quickly as most of us recognize the face of anyone we have met In another experiment also done for the documentary she easily reconstructs a chess position without any difficulty that she has viewed only fleetingly but when she is asked to reconstruct a position that was set up completely at random This proves that her memory of these positions is stored in what neuroscientists call “chunks,” that is groupings that make sense in an actual chess game These patterns are stored in her long-term memory because of the early efforts and training with her father she is able to access them effortlessly for the rest of her career This is proven by her high proficiency in rapid and blitz games relying more on instinct than memory (but an instinct that depends upon seeing recognized patterns within chess positions) when she played 326 chess matches simultaneously (winning 309 Polgar recounts this experience and many others as she powered through the ranks of the established chess community She found her most formidable opponent not across a chess board but in the Hungarian government and the powers that controlled the chess circuit there for they believed it gave her an unfair advantage over other girls awarded one hundred additional points to the rating of all female chess players worldwide—all except for one: Susan Polgar They claimed that her play against men gave her an unfair advantage a reasoning as preposterous today as it was even then A similar argument was made a few years earlier by Hungarian chess authorities causing her father to submit his resignation to the Communist Party It was a pretty risky move back then that could have caused him to lose his job but he was not going to be a loyal member of an organization that treated his daughter so unfairly The family even contemplated defection to Australia for the move could possibly implicate relatives left behind her life echoing that of the main fictional character in The Queen’s Gambit a 1983 book by Walter Tevis that was turned into a very popular Netflix series in 2020 it’s about a young female chess prodigy who grows up to beat the strongest male player at the time Polgar met and played chess with some of the strongest male players who ever lived: the Russians Viktor Korchnoi and Boris Spassky; the Latvian Mikhail Tal; the Indian Viswanathan Anand; and the American Bobby Fischer Fischer was then the most celebrated chess player who ever lived due to his victory over Spassky in the famous 1972 World Chess Championship title match in Reykjavík a series of games played during the Cold War that pitted the Soviet chess machine against a single American player but then went into a twenty-year seclusion emerging in 1992 to play Spassky once more in Yugoslavia a match that he won again but that was not without controversy The American government declared that his acceptance of funds during the time of the war in Yugoslavia was in violation of US economic sanctions and it was in this period—as a fugitive—that where he would remain for a year and a half the entire Polgar family got to know Fischer quite well having dinner with him on a regular basis and He had earlier proclaimed that women were not good chess players “They’re stupid compared to men.” He claimed that he could give any woman knight odds (that is play the game without one of his knights on the board) He took that back when face to face with Polgar but there were other things he said that continued to reveal the dark side to his personality since not only was there no foundation to the vile he spewed against Jews Fischer claimed that she and her family were exempt from these accusations She did her best to convince him that there was no global Jewish conspiracy and they spent most of their time discussing and working out the rules for a new form of chess devised by Fischer where the pawns remained in their original position but the other pieces—placed on the first and last ranks of a chessboard—would start off in positions that were determined arbitrarily what became known as Fischer Random (or what is today called Chess960 as there are that many possibilities of placing your pieces on the back rank) This avoided the rote memorization of openings and allowed for a more instinctive method of play which appealed to Polgar (for hardcore chess players Polgar provides diagrams of two positions in her games against Fischer when he publicly rejoiced in the attacks of 9/11 seeing them as justified retribution against Americans and Israel for their maltreatment of Palestinians Polgar’s encounters with the great chess players of the past is one of the most fascinating aspects of her book but what is most memorable are the personal stories she relates where at the age of twelve she attended the World Table Tennis Championship in a nearby town with her father and a friend was not in the protective company of her father A man she had seen earlier in the day followed her into the stairwell of her hotel and accosted her but was nearly raped before her father and his friend showed up and scared the attacker off Those are the sort of incidents that can potentially devastate a child negatively impacting their relationship with men for the rest of their lives but Polgar took it out not on the men with whom she would become romantically involved but on her male opponents across the chess board but he never disclosed to her the fact that he had a girlfriend back home with whom he had fathered two children (with a third on the way) Once this information became known to Polgar but it was a stinging realization that not everything in life could be controlled like the moves in a chess game known to friends as “Cobi,” a chess player and software engineer with whom she had two children who is today Polgar’s business manager and the vice president of her foundation There are countless parallels between the game of chess and life she was twenty-five years old but declared that by then “like a chess opening I had played thousands of times before the same fifteen moves resulting in the same familiar position.” She was ready for a change she explained that she had “spent years maneuvering my pieces onto the right squares but I still didn’t have a plan.” Truong did She went on with Truong to develop a highly successful coaching career where her team won the President’s Cup two years in a row making her the first female chess coach to lead a men’s team to a national title where her team won seven consecutive championships FIDE awarded her the recognition of being the most successful female coach in history Chess players are often asked how many moves they think ahead “I see only one move ahead,” allegedly responded Cuban world champion José Raúl Capablanca “but always the best move.” Despite what he said you have to anticipate what your opponent’s next move will be along with as many in advance as possible Polgar calculated that in her game with the Chinese grandmaster Xie Jun for the Women’s World Chess Championship in 1996 (which Polgar won) a remarkable feat by any standard (although today’s modern computer chess engines are said to calculate some fifteen to twenty moves ahead) famously once said: “While all artists are not chess players all chess players are artists.” Polgar is an artist Home Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article (Read Garry Kasparov’s Britannica essay on chess & Deep Blue.) Apart from her gold medal-winning appearances for the Hungarian women’s Olympic teams of 1988 and 1990, Polgár has spurned women-only events. She defeated former world chess champion Boris Spassky in a match in 1993 In 1994 she went undefeated in winning a chess tournament in Madrid the first woman to win a strong grandmaster tournament open to both genders 1 ranked woman chess player in the world from 1989 until 2015 just after she announced her retirement from competitive chess in August 2014 Susan Polgar was already playing chess — and winning her victories made her the top-ranked woman in the world It’s a picture of Polgar as a 4-year-old girl sitting behind a chessboard that graces the cover of her new memoir, “Rebel Queen: The Cold War, Misogyny, and the Making of a Grandmaster.” The former Webster University chess coach is back in St. Louis for an author event Thursday evening at St Louis County Library’s Clark Family Branch “I kind of made a big splash by becoming the elementary school girl champion for Budapest but winning it with a perfect score,” Polgar told St Louis on the Air about her early start in chess Polgar’s opponents were two to three times her age — and size “I still needed the phonebooks or pillows to sit up to even see across the board and reach across the board In “Rebel Queen,” Polgar details how she confronted sexism and battled communist control in her native Hungary “The government] used my gender against me but the sexism came just as strong within the chess community,” Polgar said Chess is not something for girls.’ So I kept hearing that over and over and over as a little girl later came specific discriminatory decisions of not wanting to let me play in open competition against men.” Polgar credits her parents for standing up for their beliefs even as her government threatened to place her in foster care — simply because she was a girl playing chess Polgar also describes what she was feeling the moment she earned the title of grandmaster “This was something I had wanted more than anything It's what got me up in the morning and kept me at the chessboard for hours a day I had built my entire life around this goal for years “My immediate response was more physical than emotional and I felt a buzzing in my ears as if my entire body was recalibrating to this new reality I was left with this warm glow of contentment that seemed to emanate from every part of me A need that had become a deep part of my psyche was now at long last fulfilled.” What: St. Louis County Library Foundation Presents Chess Grandmaster Susan Polgar The Politically Speaking Hour makes government and politics understandable and accessible at this crucial point in history host Jason Rosenbaum will question elected officials and shine the spotlight on the issues that matter And we’ll empower your voice into the conversation about the future of our community and states The Politically Speaking Hour is sponsored by the Sue & Lynn Schneider Charitable Fund Hungarian Susan Polgar earned chess’ highest honor at age 15 She and her family faced antisemitism and harassment from the ruling Communist Party and sexism from opponents and officials in chess The Oakland mayoral race is a close call between progressive Barbara Lee and moderate challenger Loren Taylor Mayor Daniel Lurie rounds out his first 100 days A cinematic heist in Downtown Los Angeles: Thieves recently tunneled from a historic theater through “castle-like” walls into a store packed with bling What’s the relationship between art and democracy poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph has some thoughts Donate by midnight tomorrow and your $100 becomes $200 for KCRW thanks to a $10,000 match by music legend Moby DOuble dollars Get the latest from KCRW in your inbox 3x a week Wouldn't it be better if there were not separate chess titles for women? GM Judit Polgar, the strongest female player of all time, made this thought-provoking suggestion a few days ago in the latest New in Chess podcast The youngest of the three Polgar sisters, Judit became a grandmaster in 1991 at the age of 15 years and four months, breaking the record GM Bobby Fischer had held since 1958 she became the first and only woman to ever break into the world’s top 10 Polgar has been living proof that not only men but women too can reach the top in chess perhaps we should just gracefully accept it as a fact." Talking to TIME magazine Polgar said: "We are capable of the same fight as any other man and I think during the decades that I actively played chess It’s not a matter of gender; it’s a matter of being smart." Men and women are different but there are different ways of thinking and fighting still achieving the same results http://t.co/IPsiP8NJJ1 What Polgar has argued throughout her career is that many women might be setting the bar a bit too low even the ones who have reached the top in women's chess she said: "I've never spoken with a lady from the top who said: 'Yes I believe that women can become just as good as guys because there is no difference.' There is a difference but it's not the difference women and men have that it would stop you from becoming a top-10 player I've never spoken with a lady from the top who said: 'Yes I believe that women can become just as good as guys because there is no difference.' Polgar further noted: "It does matter what they say also to girls, to the next generation, to the parents, what the coaches are telling the small ones: whether you can become a world champion and become better than Magnus [Carlsen] or you tell them that you can become better than GM Hou Yifan because then you position them in a very different way." This point of view is in line with a 2023 study by New York University psychology researchers, co-authored by WGM Jennifer Shahade which found that parents and mentors often believe that girls have a lower potential in chess than boys a bias that is more pronounced among those who think chess success requires brilliance Polgar has always advocated that girls and women play in open events and not just stick to women's tournaments only she noted that she is not against women's tournaments:  "I think simply there are many things in life where it's just and just because that's how it is these days for many years let it be that way because it's easier than to make changes (...) Having tournaments for women only is something like that But Polgar did offer a radical idea: abolishing women's titles such as WFM and GM titles that can be achieved by men and women it is easier to obtain a WGM title than an IM title: three norms of a 2400+ performance rating and a FIDE rating of 2300 are enough for WGM while three norms of 2450+ and a FIDE rating of 2400 are needed for IM let's say one thing that we could change and then maybe the environment and the life of chess and girls and women in chess would change," said Polgar "I thought that maybe it would be possible and it would be just a very good try to test it at least Isn't it much better to have the rating titles and not that it's women or men?" Isn't it much better to have the rating titles and not that it's women or men a world without women's titles might benefit how girls and women approach chess and the level they could reach "because suddenly the mindset of ladies would also say: 'Okay it does not matter whether I play in an open tournament or a women's tournament; right?' So I think that would be kind of a first step which could be an extremely simple solution The topic of abolishing women's titles isn't new. In fact, it reached mainstream media 15 years ago when the Wall Street Journal covered it in a lengthy article. GM Irina Krush agreed then with Polgar's suggestion: "I don't see their benefit Women's titles are really a marker of lower expectations." Krush would obtain the GM title four years later Some years before the WSJ article, then-chess columnist Mig Greengard argued: "Women's chess" is affirmative action pretty much by definition this means paying prizes and holding events for weaker players (...) I don't think the titles are a good idea because they encourage lower standards of play Events make more sense because they help bring women into the game with a toe in the water But women's titles and women-only events at the professional level are somewhat bizarre and perpetuate both real inferiority and an inferiority complex Later, Greengard described women's titles as "sexist and idiotic affirmative action that does little more than formalize low expectations." Polgar's suggestion in the New in Chess podcast has led to mixed reactions Jennifer Shahade noted that it "makes sense in theory." I still vividly remember being mocked by all my friends for earning a WIM norm decades ago Maybe because it wasn’t a particularly strong result for me Maybe if it was WIM/JM they’d have said less The Ukrainian streamer and Chessable author Angelika Valkova would rather "create a better environment in the chess world for girls and women" first "instead of removing the only little perks they have." First, we should create a better environment in the chess world for girls and women instead of removing the only little perks they have.Once it happens and the women’s quote in chess goes up, we can consider “deleting female titles”. https://t.co/rXHZMRI5oX What is clear is that abolishing women's titles and setting up rating-related titles instead would be a change with enormous consequences for the chess world (including a possible solution to the seriously devalued GM title). The Australian researcher GM David Smerdon noted that it should be handled with the utmost care: This would be an interesting experiment to evaluate But it would need to be designed very carefully Email: peter@chess.com FOR SUPPORT PLEASE USE chess.com/support!Phone: 1 (800) 318-2827Address: 877 E 1200 S #970397 Not many chess careers are as long, as varied, and as successful as GM Susan Polgar has crafted Not only was she the first woman to become a grandmaster via norms the eldest of the famed Polgar sisters later became an Olympiad gold medalist and the quirky pair of incidents that led to her meeting her future husband We caught up with Polgar in the midst of her book tour Chess.com: Chess.com is excited to be here with grandmaster Susan Polgar, who has just written her memoir, the long-awaited Rebel Queen what inspired you to write your memoir now a lot of mainstream media asking whether the series was made based on my life story with the obvious parallel that I was a pioneer in playing against men and succeeding and eventually becoming the first woman to earn the men's grandmaster title So obviously I told them that the Netflix series was based on a fictional character and not on me a movie should be made of my life story because it's a fascinating story and it's a real story So we started exploring ideas on how to go about it And one thing I learned even decades earlier when I was in Hollywood and talking to various studios about the potential of making my life story a movie was that if I wanted to have any kind of control over the narrative of what would be told in the movie I learned a lot about your life because I've only known you as an adult but we'll get into some of the struggles of being a female—that's a large part of the first half of the book Is there a chance that we will see a movie about this book one day so I'm optimistic that there will be interest raised you and your two sisters as a sort of experiment but it almost seems like that maybe wasn't his master plan until you got really good at chess Do you think he had the master plan before you got good at chess or was it only after you started being successful that he hatched this plan he had the master plan even before he met my mother And he just didn't know that the subject would be chess which kind of became coincidental when one day shortly before my fourth birthday I accidentally discovered a chess set and the chess pieces And then he was very pleased that I showed interest in chess It's something he knew a little bit about and he liked It's easily measurable relative to sciences or arts when results are a lot more subjective or even longer-term to see the progress Chess.com: And we're happy you chose chess over math although there have been a lot of great Hungarian mathematicians you talked about your qualification and your ultimate inability to play in the Budapest Championship at the age of five because you were a girl Does that experience still drive you today and that was the first of many similar experiences And as my dad reminded me as I was writing the book that I just couldn't be consoled all the way home from the tournament venue Why are girls being treated differently in chess than boys I didn't give in to the pressure from the chess authorities to play mostly or only against girls and women And it was kind of a brave thing to do back then in Hungary not to do as being told by the authorities my life could have been simpler or easier or more comfortable had I just played against women as I was instructed to do by the chess federation I don't believe I would have gotten as far as I did and perhaps neither would have Judit and Sophia but many readers might be surprised to learn how fluent you are in so many languages you were already basically fluent in German and Russian and And then you picked up English so quickly in your first trip to New York Why do you think you have such an aptitude for language She was born on the other side of the Hungarian border in the former Soviet Union multinational place where everybody spoke Hungarian And she always had this aptitude for languages And it was kind of funny that my father used to tell her that if you would forget— because obviously it was more natural for all of us to speak in Hungarian especially when my Russian was just at a very basic level— that you need to wear like a sign on your neck my parents put me in a Russian-language kindergarten where I was the only Hungarian girl in Budapest It was a kindergarten for the kids of the people who used to work at the Soviet embassy in Budapest I was just observing and immersing in the language and the culture And I'm very thankful for it because obviously at that age it's just super easy to pick things up Chess.com: And I know you told me you speak something like eight languages but one of the ones I did not know was Esperanto Do you think you're the world's highest-rated Esperanto speaker although I have to say I have not spoken the language in a number of years I think I would need a few days to be back fluent in it I have a lot of very pleasant memories tied to it including my first international chess tournament it was very popular and there were numerous Esperantist chess tournaments it has a really close connection to my chess as well Chess.com: This might be the only very chess-specific question I ask you today, but when you were six, you spoke of a teacher coming to your house and focusing a lot on endgames. As you know, many people today love studying opening theory because you can play like Magnus Carlsen for 20 moves How much does that drive your teaching later in life Do you still focus a lot on endgames when you were I think endgames are a very crucial part of the game for many reasons it can be very painful that a well-played game and victory almost in your hand can be spoiled if you don't understand the nuances of endgames Also I realized quite early on that unlike openings that constantly change—it obviously changed tremendously in my lifetime as new ideas came about even today there are constantly new ideas—on the other hand endgame is something more constant and something in that sense how you should checkmate with king and queen against king and will not change the next 100 years either So I also really appreciated the fact that endgames are kind of more concrete So I really enjoyed the delicacies of endgames probably the most graphic story of your entire book you talked about an attempted sexual assault when you played in Yugoslavia and it caused you anxiety from being alone for years to come I'm wondering how you overcame this anxiety you coached and mentored college women at several universities What did you tell them about your experiences it's a very painful experience to think back on and I debated quite a bit before I wrote it in the book But I felt it's important for other girls to know and to be careful that today's generation and the next generation of men will learn from it and understand that they can and eventually will be exposed It was hard to overcome because on one hand my parents were very protective and they were warning me that And I was even trying to hide it from them or downplay it to my parents because I didn't want them to feel like "We told you so!" and you know then they would be even more protective and stricter in that sense but be alert because unfortunately there are always bad actors." And as we learned even today there are sexual assaults that unfortunately women And another important one: You talked about how your wins were being celebrated early on in the West And I'm wondering how much of this do you think had to do with you being a girl I know you said your grandmother was a Holocaust survivor Polgar: I think it was a combination of various things There have been comments throughout my career back in Hungary when while openly anti-Semitism was not allowed by the communist government at the same time there were many occasions when we overheard or heard from other friends that we were referred to as "not real Hungarians," with a clear hint of our Jewish heritage with our struggle and my fights with the chess federation and chess authorities that I refused to play in the women-only competitions for the most part Because we believed that girls and women are just as capable as men have to train and compete in circumstances similar to those of the guys six to eight hours a day and play the best competition they can get three hours a day and play only against lower-rated players not doing what you're being told by the government or the chess federation was not something people would dare to do and I think that's what caused a lot of difficulties a little bit of their own personal interests Because they had such power as being the leaders they were often given the opportunity to take advantage of it and be the leader of delegation and travel with the athletes—chess players in my case—abroad used to be a huge privilege back in the communist times being protective as most conservative families would be they said there is no way they're gonna let their 12 14-year-old daughter travel alone with a male federation official And they insisted that one of my parents would travel with me instead it was a personal conflict of interest for those federation officials they wanted to get back to me any way they could And also the fact that they wanted quick and immediate titles that they can brag about such as winning this girl's championship or that women's title And so that was kind of the primary cause of the conflict there are some very joyous and humorous moments in the book you traveled to Moscow and you played about six blitz games with Tal I think you just got done playing tennis with Monica Seles but please tell me blitz with Tal was a top-five career highlight Polgar: It was definitely amazing. And it really inspired me for the rest of my life, later on, when I became a champion myself and I wanted to give back to the next generation. I always remember that story, how Tal, who was in the middle of his game in Moscow against [Rafael] Vaganian and it was still allowed in buildings and even at chess tournaments he would walk up and down in the hallway smoking and my mother had the courage to go up to him and ask him if he would be willing to play with me And I couldn't believe that literally within half an hour he was done with his game the attack was only sufficient for a perpetual check it was one of my favorite memories of my chess career [Ed: This video below shows the amazing moment when Susan Polgar played Mikhail Tal and although that game might be lost to history the video also breaks down their over-the-board encounter 10 years later.] And another really funny story is how you would come to meet your future husband for the first time I believe you were both playing in a tournament in Vegas and you both had different opponents do the same things against you and you bonded over this sort of lack of sportsmanship Can you retell what exactly happened to both you and Paul Truong in separate incidents Polgar: Well, actually it was in the New York Open, 1986, and I was playing Walter Browne but at that moment he didn't appreciate the fact that I outplayed him And probably he'd never lost to a woman before And he just smashed the pieces off the board especially the fantastic finishing move.] And coincidentally, in that same tournament, Paul's opponent, when he played Bent Larsen who is obviously a legendary world-class player as well I think it happened less than a handful of times in my life but it was kind of unusual that it happened around the same time That's when we (Susan and Paul) kind of became friends although then for many years our lives went in very different directions kind of as a "Hallmark Story" and ended up together there was a lot of course misogyny by the Hungarian government and also the federation And you talked about a very interesting meeting where your family sat down and you discussed What ultimately led you to decide not to defect and to stay in Hungary we felt that my grandparents were still alive We heard so many stories of people who did defect They were not able to see each other again And we couldn't have known that the Berlin Wall would fall several years later and it would not be a problem to go back and forth between Hungary and wherever else in the West we would have chosen to stay So we just couldn't do it to my grandparents and even to some degree to the larger Jewish community that we were perhaps the most famous Jewish family back then in Hungary that there were these "real Hungarians and not real Hungarians" kind of attitude to some degree but even to the larger community to be told they got their career started and learned in Hungary and then they benefit from it elsewhere and I left because I got married in New York you were consumed by the race to become the first female full grandmaster by the norms-based achievement And I think you made one comment that Judit was also in the quest for the GM title or was it a little bit more competitive behind closed doors for who could achieve the best results I think in those days it wasn't very competitive because I'm seven years older than Judit so it was kind of normal that I would become a GM first it was quite an amazing and probably one of the family highlights when Judit a little less than a year after I became a GM she also managed to make her final GM norm and become Hungarian champion that it's a vindication for all the sacrifices our family and I had to go through long before Judit was even born or started to play chess I was told countless times that "women just cannot become a grandmaster it's just physically the women's brain is different from men's and that prevents us from being as good in chess as men." but Judit also became the Hungarian champion and Hungary was at that time maybe the second-best or third-best country in the world behind the Soviet Union or the Russians and that she won—it was really a vindication of everything I fought for and sacrificed for which was unimportant compared to the bigger picture of what I fought for Chess.com: There are about 40 women who got the grandmaster title after you, who have you, Judit, and your family to thank. Now, it's well known that Bobby Fischer visited your house in Budapest in around 1993 after his rematch with [Boris] Spassky But what I did not know is that you personally played a role in simply getting him to Budapest Can you tell us a little bit about how you made that happen that was quite fascinating that after his match he was kind of in hiding in a little town just across the Hungarian-Yugoslav border at one moment when I happened to be in Peru one of our mutual friends reached out to my family to come to visit And my parents and my sisters went to visit but he was complaining about how I didn't join them So they explained that I'm in South America and I wasn't able to I was just very honored and shocked that the legendary Bobby Fischer wanted to meet me And obviously he was very intrigued and liked the idea "Do you think I could?" And obviously implying that he was going against the U.S So when I was driving back from that first visit to Yugoslavia "What would happen if I would have a gentleman by the name Robert James Fisher sitting with me in the car?" And he looked at me Bobby packed up and moved to Budapest along with his bodyguard and Eugene Torre who had been his companion for some time back in those days And he actually stayed in Budapest for around eight years we discussed in great detail and experimented with Fischer Random which eventually turned out to be Chess960 which initially were quite different from what people play today in that first only the eight pawns would be on the board And then the mandatory first eight moves of the game would be to set all the pieces up one by one should there be bishops on opposite colors squares starting after many games we concluded that maybe it would be more harmony to the game to maintain as much as possible of the rules of traditional chess And then he reached out to mathematicians trying to find out how many starting positions would there be possible if we restrict the starting positions to having bishops on opposite color squares as starting positions as well as making sure the pieces are set up symmetrically as well it turned out to be that there are still 960 different starting positions possible And since the whole purpose of trying to create this chess variant was to eliminate the opening theories that have been developed far too much and taking away too much of the essence of chess as of two intellectuals trying to outsmart each other or out-strategize each other he was happy and content that there is no way any human can analyze all 960 starting positions And hence the result and the name Chess960 And I'm personally very happy that today there are very significant efforts and tournaments being played with exactly the rules that Bobby and I settled on back in around 1993-94 I think it's definitely a great alternative to traditional chess as we know it Is there anything that you did not accomplish in your chess career that you wish you had Polgar: Well, obviously, I wish I had become a top-10 player. If I didn't have all those obstacles to overcome constantly, I may have gotten further than I did. But I'm really, really proud that my sister did become a top-10 player, and I have the Susan Polgar Foundation I still have a lot of dreams to accomplish when it comes to women's chess I'm hoping one day to find a benefactor who would support the dream that many more women can become top players and perhaps even a woman to become a world champion we've talked about the idea for a while of getting all 42 female grandmasters to play an event Is there any way we can get her to play any sort of competitive format The good news is that all 42 women who hold the grandmaster title today You never know if there may be some kind of format That could be a format to promote just for girls Susan and Judit both became great ambassadors even in their non-competitive days So we thank you for staying in the chess world Let me just ask you one question to get you out of here You said you basically learned recently that your father learned how to play chess originally to impress women Did the process of writing this memoir bring you closer as a family and did you have a lot of discussions that you may not have had if you were not writing a book That was one of the interesting discoveries I came across while writing the book "How did you actually discover chess yourself?" And he was telling me that in his freshman year in high school came up to him and told him that we have a chess team and we need a fourth We only have three guys on the team so far "I'd love to!" because of the girl who asked but "I don't even know how the pieces move," And she says he lost practically all his games until the very last one But it kind of ignited his interest in chess But he never really competed beyond high school He only rediscovered chess when I showed interest in it a number of years later And then he discovered that chess books exist I enjoyed reading it and there are so many more anecdotes and stories about how Susan overcame the misogyny You can learn more about the Susan Polgar Foundation on their website and buy her book Rebel Queen on Amazon Company Contact and News Accreditation:  Mike Klein began playing chess at the age of four in Charlotte he lost to Josh Waitzkin at the National Championship featured in the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer." A year later Mike became the youngest member of the very first All-America Chess Team and was on the team a total of eight times and eventually became North Carolina's youngest-ever master he won clear first for under-2250 players in the top section of the World Open Mike has taught chess full-time for a dozen years in New York City and Charlotte with his students and teams winning many national championships He now works at Chess.com as a Senior Journalist and at ChessKid.com as the Chief Chess Officer he was awarded Chess Journalist of the Year by the Chess Journalists of America He has also previously won other awards from the CJA such as Best Tournament Report and also several writing awards for mainstream newspapers His chess writing and personal travels have now brought him to 99 countries All News FIDE News Chess News Top Top Federations Main Page / Search Tournaments Titles Transfers Calculators Download FIDE Circuit Women's Events '24-'25 Open Cycle 2025-2026 Women’s Cycle 2025-2026 Women’s Cycle 2023-2025 All Tournaments Main Events About FIDE Handbook Documents Financial Reports Officials Commissions & Committees Federations Affiliated Organizations Affiliated Members Honourable Dignitaries Chart The world’s most inspiring chess event turns ten this year – Let’s celebrate together with Judit Polgar and Ernő Rubik Inspiration is an integral part of our lives We can draw ideas from our morning coffee just as much as from a meaningful conversation or the life journey of the world’s best female chess player This inner motivational power is brought to us by the chess legend Judit Polgar at the jubilee Global Chess Festival The two-day event series kicks off at the Hungarian National Gallery “Based on feedback from visitors and speakers this festival is the most inspiring event of the year which is why they love to return again and again That’s why I chose inspiration as the central theme of this year’s event and one of the greatest chess players of all time We will not lack any of these at the festival,” revealed Judit Polgár the best female chess player in history and the festival’s founder The organizers added that the 10th Judit Polgar’s Global Chess Festival a company with an outstanding chess culture More than 20 programs await visitors across three locations Chess brings together families and communities the first day of the festival at the National Gallery visitors will have the opportunity to meet the Polgár sisters in person for a joint book signing happening for the first time in five years One of the festival’s flagship programs is the community chess simul where Judit Polgar will play against eight communities (hundreds of thousands of people) Other challengers include a team of Hungarian sports legends silver medalist in kayaking at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics The artist community will also participate represented by poet and slammer Zsófi Kemény actress and theatre director Enikő Eszenyi the chess influencer Zachary Saine (The Chess Nerd) and his community will take part The extraordinary chess simul can be followed live on-site and online from 2:00 p.m This year’s festival patron is Ernő Rubik “Games and puzzles provide a magical way to learn and flourish Judit Polgár has explored every small path of this adventure and inspires thousands of children to join in every year It was with great pleasure that I accepted the invitation to be patron of the Jubilee Chess Festival as the 50th anniversary of the Cube could not receive a more worthy recognition as a symbol of playful learning,” highlighted the world-famous inventor of the Rubik’s Cube parents can also find inspiration at the festival from Judit Polgar’s new six-volume interactive book series “The new book series is the result of two years of work Parents can experience adventures and creative challenges with their children They can draw inspiration from the books to play together Chess Palace brings generations within families closer together,” said Judit Polgar “We are delighted to support the Global Chess Festival and Judit Polgár’s mission for the sixth consecutive year to inspire the next generation of strategic thinkers Chess has become an integral part of life at Morgan Stanley It is truly special to see how chess connects our colleagues—from grandmasters to enthusiastic amateurs I am deeply moved by seeing my colleagues succeed whether over the chessboard or at the forefront of the global financial world and strategic thinking,” said Norbert Fogarasi head of Morgan Stanley’s Budapest office Success Stories in Education from Hungary to Denmark and Singapore What skills can chess develop from the age of four How can we combat Alzheimer’s disease with chess How can chess assist in improving the social skills of children with autism These are just a few of the questions that will be answered on the festival’s second day at the 4th Educational Chess Summit on September 18 at the InterContinental Hotel the presentations will explore chess’s potential in education and its contributions to physical and mental well-being in the sense that it is present in everything: in our everyday lives you can also meet Judit Polgár at the BOK Hall where the Judit Polgar Chess Foundation will welcome visitors with creative workshops join the festival and get inspired by chess challenges and interactive programs For the detailed program of the 2024 Global Chess Festival, click on this link Further information: press@juditpolgar.com © 2025 FIDE International Chess Federation stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way or by any means (including photocopying recording or storing it in any medium by electronic means) without the written permission of FIDE International Chess Federation Chess.com is excited to announce we're once more partnering with legendary GM Judit Polgar to support the 2024 Judit Polgar's Global Chess Festival The event will take place on September 17 at the Hungarian National Gallery and on September 18 at the Intercontinental Budapest in Budapest The festival will allow attendees to participate in games and chess tournaments on the day off of this year's Chess Olympiad Fans will also have the chance to meet prominent figures in the sport follows its mission to share the beauty of the game and connect people through chess thousands of people of different ages and backgrounds joined to celebrate which will include live commentary and an interview with Polgar.  Chess.com will also host four #ChessConnectsUs arenas to get you warmed up for the festival Any member can join for a chance to win a private group lesson with Judit and premium Chess.com memberships You can learn more about the arenas below: * Judit Polgar will host one private group lesson for the eight winners To play in the arenas, you must first join Judit Polgar's ChessConnectsUs club ChessKid will also host a seven-round Swiss tournament for players under 13 The event's winner and one lucky random participant will also be able to participate in Judit's private group lesson Are you excited for another edition of Judit Polgar's Global Chess Festival? Then tune in to our live broadcast on September 17 to watch Polgar playing the simul, and check out the festival's YouTube channel for more content from the event.  Judit Polgar’s Global Chess Festival 2024 celebrated its 10th anniversary on September 17-18 Following its motto of "Chess Connects Us," each year the festival aims to create an atmosphere that is welcoming and captivating for chess enthusiasts of all kinds showcasing the "1000 faces of chess" with its creative assortment of activities.   Aspiring players could team up against GM Judit Polgar herself in her community simul. Art connoisseurs could experience artwork inspired by chess compositions honoring GM Pal Benko Fans of the game could get their books signed by the trio of Polgar sisters and meet their favorite top players from the Olympiad at “Meet the Stars.” There were a myriad of interactive activities for kids including Chess Palace adventure trails where children could interact like the pieces themselves on a lifesize chess board For those interested in a twist on the classic game Judit Polgar's community simul introduced a novel format but instead of facing individuals―she took on eight communities who teamed up and voted amongst each other to determine moves The community teams featured a diverse range of competitors such as Hungarian Sports Legends representing the community of visually and hearing-impaired people She sacrificed an exchange to avoid a draw vs the ChessKid community and gave the youngsters a lesson on tactics in the endgame Combining strategic play and tactical awareness Polgar gained a potent position on the queenside vs When the ambitious artists responded by sacrificing a bishop to open up her king Polgar successfully dodged their creative diversion.  The sole winner was the community of Zachary Saine the streamer and content creator known as TheChessNerd They went after the former world number-eight with an attack on both flanks unshaken by her attempt to create counterplay around their king Champions of Courage and News Navigators held draws against the legendary grandmaster. The news community was unfazed even with Polgar’s forces hovering near their king. Nine-year-old WFM Bodhana Sivanandan and she is the one who discovered their key counter-strike IM Sagar Shah shared: "It was like Bodhana being there gave us a tremendous amount of confidence." It was like Bodhana being there gave us a tremendous amount of confidence the first thought Polgar shared afterward was: “Why did I lose that game [against Zachary Saine's community]?” She went on to share: “Maybe the most interesting game was the News Navigators but that was with a little help from Bodhana.” The 4th Educational Chess Summit took place on day two of the festival Polgar opened the Summit by sharing about the festival's 10-year anniversary: I was thinking for a long time if I had to describe it in one word That’s why we wanted to have inspiration as a theme at the celebration at the 10th event The Summit featured a number of experts sharing their insights on chess and its educational benefits. Senior Lead Instructor for FIDE Education Commission, WIM Anzel Laubscher shared her ideas to implement her dream of every child in Africa learning chess by age nine by 2030 Her motto is: “When you reach a child talked about how chess can benefit from childhood to adulthood He discussed programs utilizing chess for health such as one with 1200 participants for preventing age-related cognitive impairment and another for strengthening mental resilience for cancer patients.  Interviewed by Leontxo Garcia, GM Maurice Ashley shared about the infinite learning opportunities within chess I gave a question to some beginners at Chessable where I do these training courses: what is the least amount of material that you need to checkmate a king in the middle of the board her name was Anya―she's a graphic designer―said: 'Couldn't you just do it with pawns?' I'm a grandmaster casually lecturing to these lower-rated players and the worst player in the group Polgar herself spoke on the magic of chess sharing her experiences as a child and how chess was her "passport to the world," giving her a reason to travel from a young age She also concluded the Summit with her insights on the overall event: I believe there is a need in the world to make changes in education We talk about it all the time: that it is the government’s mistake that it is the school director’s mistake or the teachers themselves are not growing enough and changing with the needs I always learned that your results cannot be gained by blaming others… For all of us The live broadcast was hosted by GM Daniel Naroditsky and Angelika Valkova The 4th Educational Summit was hosted by GM Judit Polgar and Leontxo Garcia.  The Global Chess Festival 2024 is Judit Polgar's initiative to share the beauty of chess and connect people through chess-related activities The legendary GM Judit Polgar faced eight communities (via vote chess) in a simultaneous exhibition Her opponents included creators and representatives from different fields.  — As Hancock County prepares for its upcoming sheriff’s election incumbent Republican Scott Gittings faces off against Democrat Dezso Polgar Both candidates have extensive backgrounds in law enforcement who has served as sheriff for the past 4 years has put in a total of 45 years in law enforcement including previous roles as chief of New Cumberland PD and deputy chief in Chester He emphasized his fiscal responsibility and has secured significant funding for the department: "We've worked hard on getting money outside the county so we're not spending county funds,” Gittings said “We've gained about $1 million on deferral and other funding to get equipment and we're trying to save the money that way." Gittings reported that drug arrests in the county have increased since he took office and he is committed to further boosting those numbers He plans to strengthen the partnership between his deputies and addiction treatment providers believing that this collaborative approach will play a key role in reducing the county’s drug problem "If we can get people to quit using drugs the drug dealers go away because they don’t have a need," Gittings said Gittings explained that he's worked hard since being elected -- and he’s not finished "I’ve dedicated my life to law enforcement,” he said “That’s the only thing I have to focus on is this job I believe with the experience I have and the supervision in law enforcement with the city of New Cumberland as chief of police I just think I’m the best candidate for the job Polgar brings 30 years of law enforcement and EMS experience to his campaign He is focused on community involvement and explained he’s running for sheriff to create a "much-needed" structure in the sheriff’s office "I plan to be a working sheriff if elected “I’m going to work with residents and business owners to exchange information helping to keep Hancock County safe which will improve police presence and improve patrols Polgar believes the sheriff's office needs to reestablish four principles -- compassion I’m going to have affected by budget management reestablishing a chain of command that works and making our department successful on the road and acknowledging the deputies for their achievements and rewarding them for their job performance," Polgar said He emphasizes the importance of transparency and communication "I want to be totally transparent,” he said “I will use all of the resources available to us holding scheduled and unscheduled press conferences so that I can get important information out to the community and to help us reduce increased crime and keeping the community safe." As a FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess we are thrilled to announce that icon of women’s chess Judit Polgar has confirmed her presence at our WOMEN&CHESS&BALANCE Conference WOMEN&CHESS&BALANCE is an upcoming conference organized by the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess dedicated to empowering women in the world of chess and beyond The Conference will be held during the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad 2024 in Budapest In addition to the legendary Judit Polgar the speakers will include CCO of Chess.com Daniel Rensch manager of the legendary Viswanathan Anand – Aruna Anand Vice President of the Global eSports Federation Dr Melita Moore top event organizers like Norway Chess’s Director Kjell Madland representatives from UNHCR and many more influential voices in the chess world The event will feature a diverse range of topics including “Sporty Strategists: Chess and Beyond” This Conference is designed to benefit not only professional chess players but also those working in related fields or those aspiring to enter the chess community 3-8:00 PMEvent: WOMEN&CHESS&BALANCE ConferenceLocation: InterContinental Hotel Budapest & ONLINEParticipation is free The conference will be available online here:https://www.youtube.com/live/JmA6ndjCIg0 however if you want to take part in the Conference online the registration is not necessary – you will be able to follow everything through the above-mentioned link To register, please visit wom.fide.com/womconference/ and fill out the form so today in this blog we will be talking about the chess queen most of you would have guessed it correctly And today we will be seeing her chess journey 1) Judit Polgar - The queen of chess 2) Judit's Chess Journey 3) Kasparov touch move controversy  4) Women's title abolition  5) Fun facts about Judit Polgar Judit Polgar - The queen of chess Judit Polgar was born on 23 July 1976 in Budapest She is called and known as the strongest female player of all time She achieved the Grandmaster title when she was just 15 years old in 1991 At that time she was the youngest player to do so by breaking the record of former world champion Bobby Fischer She was also the youngest player on the FIDE top 100 chess rating list with a ranking of 55 in the January 1989 list when she was just 12 years old She is only the woman who has crossed the rating of 2700 Elo 8 in 2004 and reached the peak rating of 2735 in 2005 1 in the women's section from January 1989 until her retirement on 13 August 2014 Her parents decided that she could be the chess champion.  Judit began playing chess when she was 5; she was trained by her sister Susan She started playing chess tournaments at the age of 6 her membership in the Hungarian Chess Federation was 2080 She used to play in chess clubs; once in 1984 in Budapest played two games blindfolded against two masters the girls complained that the opponents were playing too slowly and suggested using clocks in matches Judit played for the first time in a rated tournament at the age of 9 finishing first in the unrated section of the New York Open and winning $1,000 All three sisters competed in the tournament; Susan competed in the Grandmaster section and defeated GM Walter Browne but Judit drew most of the attention grandmasters used to stop and watch her games she made her first international master norm in the international B section of the New York Open in the under-12 "Boys" section in Romania she got the first International Master title and she was also the youngest player to achieve this title at the age of 12 Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov were 14 when they were awarded with this title former world champion Mikhail Tal said that Polgar has the potential to win the world championship Judit was asked about playing against boys instead of playing with girls in a tournament "These other girls are not serious about chess; I practice about five or six hours daily but they get distracted because of cooking and housework." represented Hungary in the 28th Chess Olympiad Thessaloniki in the women's section Judit played on the 2nd board with the highest score of 12.5-0.5 winning a gold medal and also winning the brilliancy prize In 1989 ELO rating list at age of 12 she was rated 2555 which was no 55 in world In December 1991 Judit achieved the Grandmaster title by winning Hungarian national championship Also becoming youngest one to do so at that time by beating the record of Bobby Fischer by a month This made her Youngest woman grandmaster and world fourth women grandmaster.  Kasparov touch move controversy So I guess most of us know about this controversy It was a game played between Judit Polgar and Garry Kasparov in 1994 Judit lost a controversial game against Garry Kasparov Judit was invited to play against the strongest world players after 4 games Kasparov outplayed her and had a clear advantage after 35 moves Kasparov changed his mind about the knight move and moved the piece to a different square he should have been required to play his original move Judit did not challenge Kasparov at that moment "I was playing the World Champion and didn't want to cause unpleasantness during my first invitation to such an important event I was also afraid that if my complaint was overruled I would be penalised on the clock when we were under time pressure." She looked at the arbiter This incident was recorded by the Spanish Television Company and in that recording it was clearly seen that the Kasparov finger had left the knight.  Here's the video link :- https://youtu.be/aw4g3iDrsNk?si=WI1yafXcfDCzPJbB and substituted 36...Nf8.At one point Judit reportedly confronted Kasparov in hotel bar asking him " how could you do this to me" Kasparov told an interviewer she just publicly said I was cheating.I think a girl of her age should be taught some good manners before making such statements Kasparov refused to talk to her for three years.  Many times Judit was asked gender-related questions Once she was GM Nigel Short wrote in a controversial column in 2015 Short wrote in a controversial 2015 column that "men and women’s brains are hard-wired very differently" and "rather than fretting about inequality perhaps we should just gracefully accept it as a fact." Talking to Time magazine "We are capable of the same fight as any other man "I've never spoken with a lady from the top who said I believe that women can become just as good as guys because there is no difference.' There is a difference but it's not the difference women and men have that would stop you from becoming a top-10 player Judit has played many tournaments among men's And didn't stick only to the women's tournament she said that she is not against women's tournaments.  She offered a idea of abolishing women's title such as WGM WIM and WFM these are women's only title she said instead use IM,NM and GM title for both men and women She also said "I thought that maybe it would be possible and it would be just a very good try to test it at least Isn't it much better to have the rating titles and not that it's women or men?"  Check this video out for more information:- https://youtu.be/M8qD1OL1NOA Fun Facts about Judit Polgar 1) Judit's mother taught her the chess moves her coach brought her wood-carved lion as a gift from Kenya and she used to take it with her to tournaments and place it on the table for years she and Zso used to play a blitz chess game with the adult playing chess on Kulich Ghula Square (in Budapest They would use their winnings to buy fruits from their nearby markets she made it to the front page of The New York Times after finishing first in the New York Open among adult chess players in the unrated section she used to surprise her opponent's by this move in most unexpected situations as no one was allowed to touch the winning pencil and black and white winning sweater made by her mother a 'kid team' represented Hungary at the chess Olympiad; at that time And the surprising thing is that their team won a gold medal ahead of the Soviet Union This has been the youngest chess Olympiad champions team of all time 8) She is the first girl in chess history to win the boys junior world championship (U12 in 1988 and U14 in 1990) 9) She defeated a family friend without even seeing the board "Do you cook without looking at the gas stove Judit Polgar is considered the strongest player in chess and the GOAT of chess This was a small and brief blog on Judit Polgar and her outstanding chess journey if you have read till last or have read some parts It would be great if you would rate this blog on a scale of 1-10 And please give me suggestions regarding this blog Inspiring chess programs over two days in three locations: The first day of the festival ended with a full house – over 6,000 people visited the Hungarian National Gallery on September 17 the auditorium of the InterContinental Hotel was occupied by educational experts while the Judit Polgár Chess Foundation stand in the BOK Hall was filled with chess fans Judit Polgar’s jubilee Global Chess Festival set a new on-site attendance record: this year the programs on the first day of the festival attracted more than 6,000 visitors to the Hungarian National Gallery more than a quarter of a million people joined the events including the community chess simul and the 4th Educational Chess Summit The audience had the opportunity to meet the Polgar family and this year’s festival patron a unique community chess simul and renowned figures from the chess world and sports champions ensured that visitors left the event feeling inspired “This series of events is not just about chess we prepared over 20 programs that sparked the imagination of every age group The audience got to see my Olympic medals displayed for the first time and they could experience the adventure of the Chess Palace program where the characters of this magic world came to life Visitors were able to experience how versatile fun and diverse chess can be,” said Judit Polgar the best female chess player in history and founder of the Global Chess Festival The audience celebrated with the Polgar family Those who visited the festival’s opening day in the Buda castle had the rare opportunity to meet the Polgar family members in person for the first time in many years at a joint book signing guests could play chess with the Polgar sisters on a giant chessboard where participants shaped the game with their ideas The festival was one of those special occasions when some participants also appeared among the audience such as Swedish chess player and influencer Anna Cramling A true highlight was that the patron of the Global Chess Festival greeted the visitors at the National Gallery anyone had the opportunity to ask questions to the inventor of the Rubik’s Cube Those who enjoy playful challenges could test their skills in the Rubik’s Cube Game participate in the PolgarStarChessOlimpiko try out robot programming thanks to the festival’s main sponsor or take part in an inspiring chess tournament “We were thrilled to participate in this year’s Global Chess Festival with exciting and meaningful programs,” said Norbert Fogarasi which has supported the event for six years “It was especially rewarding to see how our colleagues inspired children through LEGO robot programming and how much interest the chess games with our chess masters garnered Initiatives like this provide a great opportunity for Morgan Stanley employees to showcase their creativity and commitment we are glad to contribute to promoting strategic thinking which is just as necessary at a global financial institution’s IT and analysis center as it is over the chessboard.” Judit Polgar played a simul against eight communities Two of the friendly games ended in a draw: the “News Navigators,” a team of foreign and Hungarian journalists managed to draw their game with the unexpected involvement and help of 9-year-old chess prodigy Bodhana Sivanandan known as the “Champions of Courage,” also agreed to a draw with Judit Polgar The excitement peaked at the end of the simul as most teams found themselves in time trouble Zachary Saine (The Chess Nerd) and his community handled the pressure remarkably well using the final seconds in a brilliant endgame to become the only community to defeat the chess legend The community of Hungarian sport-legends lasted the longest as did the communities of Chess.com and ChessKid The lesson of the simul was summarized by Ayelén Martinez the world’s largest online chess community: “In chess you usually play alone against your opponent This community simul beautifully illustrates what Judit and the spirit of the festival stand for: chess brings us together Hungarian and international experts demonstrated how chess can fundamentally reform education and its positive effects on both physical and mental health a chess grandmaster and creator of the Fascination Chess program has been organizing chess camps in German shopping malls for 22 years where he teaches and inspires thousands of children weekly with his passion for the game CEO of the Danish Scholastic Chess Federation said that the country has been involved in chess in schools for 15 years and will open the world’s first chess facility The initiative aims to redefine the role and methodology of chess in education and bring generations closer together Pep Suárez drew attention to unique areas in his talk The psychologist and chess educator spoke about the therapeutic benefits of chess in connection with ASD (autism spectrum disorder) The Global Chess Festival was filled with inspiration “This was the richest festival in terms of programs and experiences so far Visitors came from all over the world – children and adults influencers – to share the feeling of togetherness and the joy of playing chess It was uplifting to see Hungarian and international education experts draw inspiration from the chess-based programs and continue their work with motivation and determination It was a joy to see the bright-eyed children the amateurs and grandmasters chatting over the chess tables and to witness a piece of chess history come to life on the canvas of the Labrosse artist couple This year’s Global Chess Festival once again proved that you don’t need to be a chess player to be captivated by the events and to leave recharged with energy,” said Judit Polgar in her closing remarks You can view this year’s festival programs at the following link: https://www.globalchessfestival.com/index.php/en/live For more information: press@juditpolgar.com In a heartwarming meeting, GM Judit Polgar welcomed the nine-year-old British chess prodigy WFM Bodhana Sivanandan to her home city Her performances have even caught the attention of Polgar She invited the young star to some lessons and advice at her chess center in Budapest and the two sat down to discuss their experiences and goals in the game.  It was a fascinating meeting where the Hungarian legend offered guidance and shared her decades of experiences in the chess world while Bodhana soaked in advice from her chess idol she didn’t hesitate: "I want to become a world champion and one of the greatest players in the world." I want to become a world champion and one of the greatest players in the world Polgar followed up and asked if she planned to be better than GM Magnus Carlsen And how does she envision her path toward that goal "I will just keep on correcting my mistakes and just keep on enjoying it instead of stressing myself," the nine-year-old responded For Polgar, such high ambitions were familiar territory, as she broke gender barriers to reach number eight in the world. She has beaten a total of 11 world champions, including the likes of GM Garry Kasparov and Carlsen Polgar detailed her own path toward the top and I was preparing for school only for a certain period before the exams." When Bodhana said that she wanted to become a grandmaster at the of 12 Polgar encouraged her to challenge herself and face the toughest opponents "It's a great joy and music to my ears that you want to excel in the open section because I think this is the road to [becoming] the best chess player you can be You have to play with the players who give you the best and biggest challenges Polgar also put Bodhana up for a real blindfold challenge "What is the evaluation of this position?" she asked This is the second video from the meeting in Budapest The first focuses on the masterclass where the legend goes through one of her most famous games Florissant ministry leaders Torin and Rena Smith were set to appear before a judge when neither one of them showed up at the courthouse Rena Smith had been convicted months earlier of witness tampering over a child sex crimes investigation involving her husband Torin Smith was expected to go to trial in 2019 but more than five years later federal investigators with the U.S Marshal’s Office say he and his wife Rena are still on the run It’s a case that’s frustrated Sandi Polgar I wasn't a parent or relative of one of the victims then I heard somebody spilling their guts and giving me all kinds of information on it So that's how I got involved," Polgar said Polgar attended several court appearances when the pair was facing their charges she said she’s still concerned about the victims if the Smiths don’t make it back to Colorado The couple attended a church in Lake George and helped run “Praise Mountain Ministries” in Florissant “Well they’re out there somewhere,” Polgar said Marshal’s Office said this case is active and ongoing even years later the case is not considered cold Polgar came across something in the local paper It was an ad asking for a special conservator to come forward in regards to Torin Smith’s property Polgar said there was a rumor Torin Smith had died of COVID-19 in 2022 Marshal’s Service said they believe both Torin and Rena are still alive The U.S. Marshal’s Office says tips can help them out in an investigation like this, if you believe you have information on where they might be contact investigators at 1-877-WANTED2 or by visiting usmarshals.gov and click “submit a tip” Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5 Report a typo Polgár recently took time from her busy schedule of preparing for her commentating of the 2021 World Chess Championship to talk about life and how humans are becoming more like machines Judit Polgar playing Garry Kasparov in 2001 Shane Anderson: What’s your favorite opening That way it was up to my opponent to choose what happens next What happens if you choose the wrong opening I’m thinking of your rapid game against Kasparov in 2002 It was more that it didn’t fit his style at all I always loved Kasparov’s play and followed his openings when I was a kid but when we played against each other and he chose the Berlin Defense since the Berlin Defense automatically takes the queens off the board I was always considered an aggressive attacker I was a tactician who was ready to sacrifice some of my pieces to get an attack I’ve won many games with spectacular combinations I was famous for not exchanging my queen if possible Many of my games didn’t last very long because I preferred to keep the queen It was a different story when I started playing at the top level of chess but I always remained a player who sought initiative and who wanted to get a healthy attacking position I was also ready to play more positional structures but my image as a very aggressive attacker always got in the way Image is very important in professional chess I remember one specific game in the title match of the 2016 World Chess Championship Carlsen made an awful move against the challenger Sergey Karjakin “it looks very suspicious.” I then continued with something like Maybe he has some special idea behind it.” This is about image about the kind of theoretical preparation a player puts into a World Championship title match We would say something different for a lesser player Image courtesy of the Judit Polgár Chess Foundation Has the “homework” changed since computer engines like Stockfish became more readily accessible This new sport still has the same rules but everything else has changed we had the chessboard sitting in front of us and I was mostly working with my sisters or a chess coach and then take down notes with pen and paper We had to really think about which key lines and key moments were worth writing down I travelled to tournaments with a handbag that was around 15 kilos Preparation started to change when online chess databases were introduced in the mid-1990s We had to learn that information can be burdensome even when it doesn’t add extra kilos You have to be very careful about how much information you accumulate The next big change was when tournaments started being played live and broadcasted online and you could get information about games much faster you didn’t get to see the games at a tournament which meant you could recycle your information and play the same openings and lines in another tournament it meant that if someone played a certain way the day before The real change came with artificial intelligence though preparation is all about what kind of processors you have how many clouds you have crunching data 24/7 You’re basically giving the machines direction and then they dig as deep as they can you have to be able to understand what the computer says You have to be able to translate what they’re saying Weaker players often see the engine’s evaluations then go to a tournament to play the position the engine offered They play this until the point their preparation ceases and after that they have absolutely no idea how to place their pieces But Carlsen is very interesting in this regard you could feel that he started looking at Alpha Zero’s games quite a bit He started implementing many of the computer’s strategic ideas like sacrificing material for longer strategic compensation It’s not about concrete calculations and depth it’s about understanding the complexity of different parts of the game Players are becoming more like computers because they work with the engines all the time and the engines are becoming more human but you’ve also used language from the sciences What’s the overlap between these three domains and chess chess has moments of surprise and suspense like in an action movie There are also more delicate art forms in chess and even chess composers The composers implement a number of ideas into a single position creating compositions that are really refined where everything is perfect down to the final detail there’s of course the connection to applied sciences like artificial intelligence but you also have to be a scientist when you play chess You need to conduct a lot of research on openings and on your opponents You have to be a critical thinker and have a magnifying glass looking at the smallest details to make improvements and perform at a better level so you can have a solid and stable performance but it does require endurance and can be physically taxing Some players may lose three to four kilos during tournaments just by sitting and concentrating so hard Does chess have any applications beyond the board Pattern recognition is essential for a chess player but it’s also a big part of our lives It’s important to recognize our own patterns You can then develop your strategy to reach your desired outcome What’s the biggest lesson you can learn from chess You don’t lose the game because you created a weakness but you have to understand that it has consequences You have to take the responsibility for that You have to commit yourself to this move and live with this possible mistake for the rest of the game so I blundered something.” You have to play on and live with this I can switch strategies and maybe outplay my opponent Have you been able to apply what you’ve learned on the board to your life The Judit Polgár Method is for students from preschool to elementary school Chess can help children develop skills such as holistic which is pushed into the background with the rise of visual information-based thinking You can use chess in many ways in education to have it be more fun and engaging Is the goal to also help bridge the gender gap (in chess) The gender gap in chess comes later when child prodigies go to private coaches If a talented seven-year-old boy receives feedback you can become the next Magnus Carlsen.” But if it’s a girl “You can become the Women’s World Champion.” That’s like saying the boy can become a Nobel Prize winner and the girl can get a PhD Do you think there will be a female world champion in the foreseeable future I’m more interested in having a few ladies in the top ten To only have one female world champion and not move forward in general would be a lot worse than having more women present in the sport It’s about a series of things coming together Does a player’s personality away from the board correspond to the way they play Usually someone’s style of chess also represents the personality or character of the person which does not mean that I have an aggressive personality “The Experience We Were Supposed to be Having”: ASAD RAZA on DIY Intimacy HUNGARIAN International Chess Grandmaster Judit Polgar is scheduled to visit Jamaica during the imminent Easter holidays Polgar is scheduled to arrive in Kingston on Thursday as the guest of the Jamaica Chess Federation (JCF) have an extended private training session with the JCF’s twelve (12) Grandmaster-in-Ten (GM 10) candidates and meet with members of the JCF governing council A highlight of Polgar’s visit will be on Saturday when she will answer questions on her life and chess at a public (town hall) session to be held in the afternoon at the Medallion Hall Hotel She will also conduct a simultaneous exhibition that is playing games against at least 20 different players on different boards at the same time Celebrated as the greatest female player of all time (“GOAT”) in the 1,500-year history of chess Polgar has a legacy of outstanding achievements she took the lead in the adult women’s world ranking which list began with her name for the next 26 years At the age of 14 she was already a two-time Women’s Chess Olympic Champion (1988 she won two Olympic silver medals (in 2002 and 2014) At the age of 15 years and four months she became a “male” international grandmaster breaking the record set by the iconic American 11th World Chess Champion Robert James “Bobby” Fischer In October 2005 she was ranked eighth in the absolute world ranking as the first and In 2011 she won a bronze medal at the Men’s European Championship She defeated 11 world champions in classical including the 13th World Chess Champion GM Garry Kasparov Judit Polgár is a Hungarian grandmaster who has made history in the world of chess Let's delve deeper into her career journey and legacy: is known as "The Polgár Sisters." Their father was an educator who decided to nurture his children intensively in chess all three sisters grew into exceptional chess players displayed remarkable talent from an early age Achievements: At the age of 15 years and 4 months Judit Polgár achieved the title of Grandmaster surpassing the previous record held by former world champion Bobby Fischer She became the youngest player ever to attain this title Polgár also defeated many renowned chess players Playing Style: Judit Polgár is known for her aggressive and creative playing style She often sacrifices material for initiative and attack Her sharp combinations and tactical acumen make her a challenging opponent for anyone Notable Achievements: One of the peak moments in her career was when she defeated the reigning world champion at the time This victory showcased her brilliance and solidified her position as one of the world's best chess players Legacy: Judit Polgár proved that chess achievements are not limited by gender She inspired many women and young players to pursue their dreams in the world of chess she has been active in promoting chess worldwide through social and educational initiatives In the heart of Budapest at Judit Polgar's ninth Global Chess Festival 2023 claimed victory in the festival's invitational triathlon event bagging $4,000 in prize money in the process Also running during the two-day celebration of chess were the online #ChessConnectUs Open and Scholastic tournaments, which were won by the 15-year-old FM Syvatoslav Bazakutsa and 13-year-old Will Moorhouse Creative crossovers between IRL and online play are all the vogue in chess right now and Polgar has continued to elevate the entertainment value of the Global Chess Festival with each edition including several of Hungary's top players as well as world-renowned content creators Speaking about the format of the triathlon it was my idea to come up with something that might be very entertaining for chess enthusiasts and chess lovers So the idea was to have mixed pairs and to have three kinds of chess activities where the players can show their focus The first segment on the schedule was Puzzle Battle and from these matches, two frontrunners would emerge— Team Crazylandia and Team Mighty Fox, who both finished on four points. Individually, the most outstanding performance in the section went to Howell, who won all his battles with scores over 44 and a high score of 46, with only IM Gellert Karacsonyi (42) coming close Howell was all smiles after each clash.  The English GM's partner Santeramo was unlucky not to put their duo in front after striking out on a score of 29 in her match with Team Maglat's WGM Dana Reizniece-Ozola Reizniece-Ozola was able to make up the ground between them and finish two puzzles ahead of Santeramo on 31 Meanwhile, Berkes and Gaal got off to a flying start and both managed to win two of their three Puzzle Battles. For Berkes, accuracy was prioritized over speed and, thanks to this, he was able to clutch up against GM Miguel Illescas by two puzzles Despite starting slowly in the Puzzle Battle segment, the tandem chess rounds were a raging success for Illescas and IM Olga Alexandrova After securing a draw with Howell and Santeramo in round one A helpmate against Berkes and Gaal from an equal position followed by a rook blunder by Karacsonyi and Reizniece-Ozola catapulted Team DragonChess into second place on seven points Still ahead of them however was Team Mighty Fox who managed to win their other two games and take a commanding three-point lead over the field The duo's success could be attributed to their teamwork throughout and their decision to play double-fianchetto systems paid off particularly in their game against Team Maglat The final leg of the triathlon was bullet chess a fitting sprint to the finish for the four teams the top seed Howell was the most dominant of the male players scoring 2.5/3 for his team and only conceding a draw to Berkes (2/3) while Santeramo managed to add just one point to Team Crazylandia's tally Alexandrova and Gaal were equally impressive and finished in a tie on 2/3 Due to Berkes and Gaal adding a combined four points to their total spelling a comprehensive victory for the Hungarian team In a post-tournament interview with Polgar and Sachdev Berkes cordially spoke about the naming of their team stating: "I used to be tricky and I think for sure that Zsoka [Gaal] was a part of this [in reference to the fox]." Berkes went on to suggest that his favorite segment was tandem chess while Gaal gave an alternate response indicating that she enjoyed bullet chess.  the pair received $4,000 while Team Crazylandia walked away with the $3,000 prize for second place Congrats to WIM Zsoka Gaal and GM Ferenc Berkes for winning @GMJuditPolgar's #GlobalChessFestival2023 👏🇭🇺 pic.twitter.com/gtI6co4Cz1 On the first day of the Global Chess Festival, two winners were crowned in the #Chessconnectsus online Swiss finals. In the open event, Balakutsa, a familiar name to eagle eyed fans of Chess.com's Junior Speed Chess Championship won with a perfect 11/11 score having defeated multiple titled players in a clinical fashion The road to victory was a little tougher in the scholastic division for Moorhouse and after losing his fifth and sixth rounds the "Go Magnus Chess Academy" student recovered sensationally with a hack-and-slash 13-move victory over his 1800-rated opponent Moorhouse then finished the event with five wins on the fly to assume his rightful place at the top and claim the year of free diamond membership along with a €150 Chessable voucher now in its ninth edition since starting in 2007 is one of the true highlights of the chess calendar it attracts thousands of chess fans from around the world The triathlon was the focal point of the event and with a $10,000 prize fund and live coverage provided by Chess.com Grandmaster R Vaishali has upset India's first Woman Grandmaster by calling for the abolishment of gender-specific titles in chess Vaishali made her controversial comment in an interview with The Times of India Echoing the views of chess legend Judit Polgar Vaishali said titles such as Women International Master (WIM) and Women's Grandmaster (WGM) 'create a false sense of achievement' Vaishali took bronze in the recent World Blitz Championship (Women) in New York the first woman player from India to hold both the International Master and WGM titles expressed her disagreement on social media The veteran said Vaishali's comments undermine the struggles of women chess players "I saw your article yesterday Vaishali I find it deeply unfair and hurtful that you would suggest abolishing these titles," Subbaraman posted "You mentioned these titles create a "false sense of achievement," yet they played a crucial role in your own rise to recognition I wonder: Why take them regardless of their low value Erasing these titles would undermine the struggles we’ve faced gives out titles in the open category and for women and attaining them requires certain conditions to be met FIDE also gives out titles specifically to women though female players may choose to only go for titles in the open category who never took a women's title and was ranked as high as No The requirements for attaining women's titles are different; for example the requisite Elo rating to earn a GM title is 2500 (Elo points are a measure of a players relative skill level Judit Polgar on 'women titles' Polgar shared her views on women in the game during her appearance on 'New In Chess' podcast last August Isn't it much better to have the rating titles and not that it's women or men?" Polgar said "It does not matter whether I play an open tournament or a women tournament "I completely agree with her (Polgar) I felt that titles like WIM and WGM can create a false sense of achievement these titles don't hold much value and can demotivate players from aiming for the GM title These titles were initially introduced by FIDE to encourage women's participation but we now have many girls actively playing chess Removing these titles could inspire more women to compete directly for GM titles and test their strengths against male players." Vaishali is the third Indian woman to attain the title of Grandmaster after Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika The Tamil Nadu native is the elder sister of GM R Praggnanandhaa For more information, please visit worldchesshof.org.  This regular column links to the most significant stories about Webster University or that quote Webster faculty and staff members Webster University’s chess team won its seventh national championship during the annual President’s Cup Chess Tournament Among the Webster Chess players preparing for the upcoming President’s Cup Collegiate Chess Championship April 5-6 thrive when they play against the world’s best men• Judit Polgár is a Hungarian chess grandmaster and was the highest-ranking female player until her retirement in 2014 I am used to being cited as living proof that women can play chess at the same elite level as men. When I was 15, I became the youngest grandmaster in the world, breaking the record set by Bobby Fischer more than three decades earlier It turned out that I was not able to become the overall world champion but I always strived to fulfil this ambition – and at my peak I was the eighth highest ranked player in the world Even if women think and compete differently we can attain the same achievements as men: be it in science art or chessI could never have reached those heights if I had only been interested in winning women’s titles I was only a teenager when I last participated in a women’s tournament – representing Hungary with my older sisters Zsúzsa and Zsófia as my teammates but the chess itself wasn’t very challenging I always knew that in order to become the strongest player I could I had to play against the strongest possible opposition Playing only among women would not have helped my development as since I was 13 I was the clear number one among them I needed to compete with the other leading (male) grandmasters of my time: the likes of Garry Kasparov When the Ladies Chess Club was founded in London in 1895 and the first international women-only competition took place two years later most clubs and competitions didn’t accept women at all female players can often choose between a female-only section and an “open” section When my colleague Nigel Short argued in 2015 that men’s brains were “hardwired” to be better at chess than women and that everybody should just accept that as a fact I also think that men and women are different – but Short’s conclusion does not stand up to scrutiny Even if women do think and compete differently I know from experience that it is amazingly powerful if your loved ones and your coach believe in your ability. Since retiring from competitive chess, my focus is on education and organising children’s tournaments: I make a point of never separating girls and boys, nor awarding special prizes for girls. Imagine if the Chinese grandmaster Hou Yifan – who became women’s world champion in 2010 at the age of 16 and is now the highest ranked female player in the world – had played in open tournaments since her teenage years She has announced that she is not interested in women’s tournaments any more and it will be interesting to see how much this improves her rating introduced the titles of woman international master in 1950 and woman grandmaster in 1976 based on much lower performance conditions it helped to create female role models in the chess world some women consider these titles patronising and public subsidies are creating more female-only competitions It is high time to consider the consequences of this segregation – because in the end our goal must be that women and men compete with one another on an equal footing Judit Polgár is a Hungarian chess grandmaster and was the highest-ranking female player until her retirement in 2014 A little known chess club in Rotherhithe has gain the attention of one of the globe’s grandmasters Susan Polgar Canada Water Chess Club is free to join and takes place in Canada Water Library with no membership fee and its open to all everyone from beginners to grandmasters The club posted a Facebook post praising Susan Polgar’s new book last week and were delighted to get a call out from one of their heroes She is a Hungarian-American chess grandmaster who became the top-ranked female chess player in the world aged just fifteen is an autobiographical account of how she took on a male-dominated establishment against the oppressive backdrop of Cold War Eastern Europe Canada Water Chess Club’s post described the book as: “a must-read for anyone even remotely interested in chess.” The positive review earned the club a share from Susan Polgar to her 100,000 followers She was also Women’s World Chess Champion from 1996 to 1999 and the third ever woman to be titled a grandmaster by the World Chess Federation (FIDE) founded the Canada Water Chess Club back in 2008 at the Millpond TRA hall on Jamaica Road Graham says that being noticed by Polgar is great for the presence of women’s chess in South East London and beyond The chess club often hold Women Rapid Tournament (a FIDE & ECF rated event) which is designed to provide a welcoming and competitive space for women and girls to play and improve their skills the club hold sessions from 2pm-4:30pm every Saturday in Room 6 of the Canada Water Library We'll never send you spam or share your email address Find out more in our Privacy Policy and website in this browser for the next time I comment Please enter your username or email address to reset your password 2023 (Redshirt Senior): Made one appearance in blowout victory over rival 2022 (Redshirt Junior): Sat out as he was deemed ineligible for the season by the NCAA Prior to Mizzou: Spent the 2019-21 seasons at Buffalo … appeared in all 12 games and started 11 at center as a sophomore in 2021 … member of the offensive line that averaged 410 yards of total offense and 195.5 rushing yards per game … appeared in four games as a redshirt freshman in 2020 .. named Academic All-MAC … redshirted in his first season at Buffalo in 2019 High School: Played at Wayne Hills High School in New Jersey … three-year starter who helped lead the Patriots to a state championship in 2016 and 2018 … racked up 57 tackles four blocked kicks and a forced fumble as a senior … 2018 third-team all-state selection … named first-team all-League There are no statistics available for this player MU is an equal opportunity employer © 2025 — The Curators of the University of Missouri. 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(PTI Photo)One of the greatest female chess players of all time Judit Polgar was not particularly pleased with D Gukesh’s performance in Game 5 against the world champion Ding Liren in the FIDE World Chess Championship final Polgar was left speechless as she believed that the moves used by the Indian GM weren’t in character with what we have seen from his so far “I’m just speechless to tell you the truth I just couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this the way Gukesh came into the playing hall it was clear to me that now it is going to be the time It is so much not Gukesh," said Judit Polgar on the Chess24 stream But Gukesh’s performance has not been at its best considering that he has often relied on Liren to opt for a safer approach or capitalise on his mistakes “I think so far it has been good I still can improve my play considering I was trailing after the first game I am happy to be here it is too early," Gukesh remarked when asked if he was satisfied with his play thus far at the end of the sixth game One thing that has to be factored in is that this is his first World Championship Final and it will be a completely new atmosphere for the youngster if he is to get past the defending world champion the Indian GM will play with two whites and one black which could mean that it is perhaps the best time for the young GM to get a lead in the series So far Gukesh has stuck to his usual game but Liren has had moments where he has taken the aggressive approach but only in situations that neccesated this But this has also meant that the Chinese champion has missed out on several moments during the course of the first six games The Hungarian gave up competitive play in 2014 but her online commentaries show that she is as sharp as ever There is an eternal argument over whether Bobby Fischer Garry Kasparov or Magnus Carlsen is the all-time No 1 in men’s chess but there is no debate about the No 1 woman whose peak career rating was 2735 and who for more than a decade was ranked among or close to the world top 10 grandmasters Although Polgar is now a mother of two and no longer plays competitively she has forged a new reputation as a high class commentator on major events noted especially for her sharp and rapid spotting of hidden tactical resources reporting on the all-Chinese €500,000 world title match in Chongqing where Ju Wenjun is defending her crown against Lei Tingjie in a 12-game series The match itself has been slowly building up to its conclusion, with a win apiece and nine draws. Lei’s victory in game five has been the best performance so far 5.5-5.5 with one classical game left on Saturday (8am BST start) before the potential climax of rapid and blitz tiebreaks on Sunday at accelerating time rates which could end up with a single three-minute game deciding the world championship 3877: Lawrence Trent v Harriet Hunt, 4NCL 2012. Black to move and win.Polgar’s superiority over her rivals for a quarter of a century can be viewed in the form of a graph showing the top female players all the way from 1970 when the Elo rating system was adopted by the global body The open grandmaster title (GM) is assessed as 200 rating points higher than the women’s version (WGM) while international master (IM) is 2400 against 2200 for WIM There is a longstanding and continuing debate about why men perform better, without any clear conclusion, whereas the 200 points difference has stood the test of time. Its effect is most dramatic at the 2700 level of elite GMs, a standard currently achieved by 34 men but which only Polgar has ever surpassed consistently among women Other women have reached 2700+ in single tournaments The most remarkable of these was by Sofia Polgar at age 14 in the “sack of Rome” tournament of 1989 which she won with 8.5/9 and a performance of 2879 the Soviet GMs Sergey Dolmatov and Yuri Razuvaev were so ashamed that they tried to suppress publication of the result when they returned to Moscow a level which only Kasparov and Carlsen have managed to surpass consistently throughout their careers Kasparov and Fabiano Caruana peaked around 2850 reached the 2880s on three occasions before dropping back Judit Polgar ascended it on multiple occasions The answer is a stellar combination of favourable factors Her father believed high talent could be created by home tuition Her oldest sister Susan (Zsuzsa) was the pioneer who was the world’s No 1 woman at age 15 and later became the women’s world champion From her early years Judit had coaching by top Hungarian GMs including the world title candidate Pal Benko and by age eight she could already defeat masters while playing blindfold Her creative talent was allied to a classic attacking style and a fearless competitive instinct Women’s chess in 2023 could wish for a new Polgar Fide has been making serious efforts to raise the status of its female events will for the first time be played alongside the 106-player Women’s World Cup The biennial chess team Olympiad has already had open and women’s competitions together for several decades and in 2024 this will be extended to the eight-player Candidates tournaments which decide the challenger for the world crown The objective is increased publicity for the women’s events which are often under-reported when separate Major international tournaments are following suit. The Sinquefield Cup at St Louis, the top event in the US for elite GMs, now has its female equivalent in the Cairns Cup for women. Norway Chess at Stavanger, Carlsen’s home elite tournament, has announced that its 2024 version will also include an event for top women, if possible with equal prize money. Free weekly newsletterThe best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend’s action women players probably comprised less than 5% of the chess playing population There was a jump to around 10-15% in the later 20th century when Russians but numbers in Western Europe remain below 10% In recent years English chess has launched several initiatives to improve gender equality. They include new women’s national championships in rapid and blitz chess, a mandatory women’s board in the 4NCL national league, and support for She Plays to Win which offers free weekly online coaching for girls as well as events such as the recent Mixed Pairs where teams of grandmasters and female players made alternate moves but it is also possible that Polgar was simply a unique phenomenon this isn’t quite the end of the story because White could have escaped immediate mate by 4 Qg4 Qxg4+ 5 Kf1 Black is still winning by 5....Kxf8 6 Rd8+ Kg7 7 Nd1 Qh5 and Qxh2 followed by the advance of the h pawn GM Judit Polgar indisputably the greatest female player in chess history believes that women-only events should continue to exist but asserts that women should not limit themselves encouraging more participants in the open section In a new interview aired during the Women's Speed Chess Championship final between GM Hou Yifan and GM Harika Dronavalli the Hungarian chess legend discussed with sponsor Julius Baer the male domination in the game and the ultimate question of why so few women compete against the top players of the world she understands that there need to be some women-only events "There are some things that must go on because that is how it fits the community or the society," she says but emphasizes: "Most of the competitions should [have an] open section and inspire ladies [by] having inspirational prizes as the 'Best Lady,' 'Best Junior' or 'Best Girl' player," Polgar says As an example, Polgar highlights that the reigning Women's World Champion GM Ju Wenjun is not among the world's top 200 players Changing mindsets among parents and coaches and providing positive feedback in the earliest stages is crucial both seven years old and talented in chess," Polgar says you can become a world champion—like Magnus Carlsen!' To the girl you can become a World Champion—like Magnus Carlsen!' To the girl 'You can become Women's World Champion!'— Judit Polgar Polgar emphasizes questioning where individuals can reach when positioned on a lower level due to self-imposed or societal limits She stresses the importance of top women players believing and supporting the idea that women can compete for the top places in the open section Polgar's views echo what current Woman number one, GM Hou Yifan, said in an interview with Chess.com in 2019 when asked about the subject and this is a great job!" It's unlikely that any of them were told you should be fighting for the overall title!" Girls are told at an early age that there's a kind of gender distinction and they should just try their best in the girls section and be happy with that without the motivation to chase higher goals it's harder for girls to improve as fast as boys as they grow up Polgar feels feedback given by teachers and coaches unconsciously impacts the way young player imagines themselves throughout their career potentially steering away from mixed-gender competitions "I think women do at least as much damage as guys in this respect We must not limit girls just because they are girls."  Polgar's parents were committed supporters of their daughters' focus on finding the strongest opponents available She feels women can be more supportive of each other probably because they don't believe it themselves that they could become a much better player," she says and it takes a lot of communication and talk Although she retired as a player in 2014, Judit Polgar remains active in chess. She regularly provides commentary during major events and runs the Judit Polgar Chess Foundation a non-profit organization dedicated to using chess as an educational tool conducting events and classes for school-aged children She also organizes the Global Chess Festival a yearly two-day event held in Budapest featuring lectures chess-based interactive and educational programs and tournaments aimed at both adults and children "One of the most important things you can practice with chess "The chess way of thinking can have a powerful effect on kids," she explained News was prevented from traveling to Western countries to compete by the Hungarian Chess Federation They didn’t want her to compete against men but rather other girls the men around her insisted,” Cooperman wrote “‘They came up with all sorts of theories,’ she scoffs ‘Women cannot keep quiet.’ ‘Women have a smaller brain.’” succinct guide to local news from award-winning journalists Sarah Fenske and Ryan Krull Polgar won the World Youth Chess Championship for girls under 16 at age 12 she qualified for what was then the Men’s World Chess Championship And did I mention Polgar’s first championship win The Girls’ Budapest Championship under 11 Still, I’m delighted when I pitch my idea to the World Chess Hall of Fame and they agree that it’s a fun concept Polgar will have to give me a short lesson first because I don’t even know what the names of the pieces are in the Central West End, on the large chessboard next to the world’s largest chess piece I don’t think much about my upcoming match I briefly consider watching a YouTube video on how to play the game but I really want it see how fast Polgar can beat me as I walk down Euclid toward the Chess Club maybe I could have begged off and played the game inside on a normal-size chessboard we’re going outside for all of the CWE to see I don’t mind making a fool of myself but the last thing I want to do is offend Polgar with this experiment and even mentions my colleague and the story SLM published about her seven years ago I immediately like her. There’s still no hope of me coming off the match looking smart but at least she’s a friendly opponent we sit down to talk about the recent induction which Polgar says is “just as much a recognition of everybody who helped me along the way…My parents who sacrificed so much All my coaches and friends who were there for me over the years.”  We move on to talk about how the sport is different for women now and Polgar remembers when she first started playing every time she went to a chess club she was either the only to encourage more girls to play and give more opportunities for girls in chess Chess Federation showed that less than 1 percent of all the members of the U.S Her goal was two-fold: to get more girls playing and to improve the skills of the ones who were I ask if, citing the recent U.S. national women’s soccer team news there’s a gender pay disparity in chess the women’s prize is half of what the men make “That’s one of the things I’ve been championing all my life to fight for better conditions and equal conditions,” she says. “And we came a long way because having 50 percent of the guys is a big improvement compared to what it used to be just a few years ago I ask what qualities I might need to be a good chess player Polgar cites the ability to focus for a long time Chess players often have to sit still in order not to break concentration Detail-oriented people make fine chess players It’s here that I again worry that maybe I shouldn’t have suggested playing this game And that’s because I’m six months pregnant and when I’m not thinking about how hungry I am or how I really need to get up and walk around because my legs are so swollen and sitting down hurts my body starved of caffeine and restful sleep is not the sharpest (I forgot the word for “spaghetti” the other day.) Logical thinker I cry—both out of joy and unsubstantiated sorrow—two times a day I remember that when Polgar was training for the world championships she did physical exercise to build her endurance and confidence My physical fitness can be best summed up as this: I cannot lie flat on my back without all of my limbs going numb Can pregnant women compete in sports and make business decisions and govern countries But this one would feel more confident overseeing a small island nation than stepping out onto that chessboard and I ask instead if Polgar thinks playing chess has any advantage in particular to girls She cites learning how to handle confrontation because each match—not before or after but rather the game itself—is a series of confrontations I’m a woman in my 30s living in a post-#MeToo world Polgar and I move outside to the chessboard people on the street greet her—it’s like being in the posse of a celebrity joins us outside and snaps photos with his tablet asking us to pose while shaking hands in the middle of the board. Then Polgar sets to work, briefing me on how and where the pieces can move picking up each as she explains. Her tone is light and bright and I think how lucky I am to be taking a lesson with her as I scribble notes into my pad those little guys in front who all look the same but on the very first move of the game (It’s here that Polgar stops to explain that “there are a lot of buts” in chess.) Rooks and they can move any number of spaces as long as nothing is in their way The king is the most important chess piece “like an old man,” Polgar says Knights are the horse guys; they can jump players she’s going to show me the quickest way to a checkmate I later learn this is called the Fool’s Mate It goes like this: Player One moves the pawn that’s in front of her king on the diagonal forward Player Two moves the pawn that’s in front of her king forward one space Oblivious Player One (read: me) moves the pawn in front of her knight on that same side of the chessboard forward two spots Player Two moves her queen out in two diagonal motions to checkmate Player One’s king is semi-easy to understand in terms of how the pieces move It’s harder to grasp how to move them strategically to attack your opponent and she conceals a normal-size black piece and white piece in each of her hands and asks me to pick I pick a random pawn and move it forward two places I walk to the other side of the board and move another pawn forward a space I move the horse-looking one in an L shape I haven’t messed up in terms of which pieces move where and how many places and I do feel a little accomplished for not getting beaten after moving twice I left the diagonal leading to my king empty She congratulates me for lasting this long—and I feel great about this achievement Start your mornings with a fresh take on the day’s top local news from Sarah Fenske and Ryan Krull Our award-winning content brings readers revealing profiles Start your mornings with a fresh take on the day’s top local news Chess Grandmaster and Triple-Crown World Champion Susan Polgar began playing chess at the age of four “my father introduced me to the essence of the game and I thought it was very fascinating with the combinations and possibilities.… It didn’t matter what age where an adult will have a big advantage over a child in terms of knowledge of physical ability and build in chess all of that disappears.” By the age of 15 Polgar was the best female chess player in the world she made history by qualifying for the Men’s World Chess Championship but was not allowed to play due to her gender she would go on to break through the glass ceiling by becoming the first woman in history to become a chess grandmaster In addition to being a five-time Chess Olympiad champion Polgar was the first person to earn the chess triple crown Polgar became the first female coach to lead a men’s Division I team to a national title She also created the Susan Polgar Foundation which awards scholarships and holds tournaments for girls but we’re still not quite there with equality when it comes to equal opportunities or equal encouragement with girls in chess.” She hopes the foundation will open new doors for those interested in the sport in 2019 Polgar become the youngest woman inducted into the U.S Instagram: @SusanPolgarChess Twitter: @SusanPolgar who placed 20 of the compositions in his award What’s particularly noteworthy is that Polgar has produced a series of excellent videos on the event These clips not only look at some of the prize-winning studies but they also put a spotlight on the chess composition field such as ex-World Champion Vladimir Kramnik The videos are quite long at around half-an-hour in length. My brief summaries below only give a taste of the many subjects covered. I like how the awarded studies are presented, with their solutions explained in an accessible way. You can also view these studies (with interactive diagrams) on the ARVES site: Pal Benko Memorial Tourney Chess Artistry Competition 2021Polgar asks Nunn what judging an endgame tourney entails He also talks about which problem genres he enjoys The pair then examine the 1st Prize study by Sergiy Didukh in which two remarkable stalemates need to be averted Vladimir Kramnik: Chess endgame studies give joy and happinessPolgar and Kramnik consider how endgame compositions represent the beautiful side of chess He shares an amusing anecdote about why his composing career was cut short Two studies are then analysed – the 2nd Prize winner by Yuri Bazlov and the 7th Prize by Steffen Nielsen and Martin Minski Beauty and Perfection in chess = endgame studyHow endgame compositions influence practical play is explored by Polgar and Nunn Do players solve studies for pleasure or for training purposes Nunn says he’s attracted to studies because they are the purest form of endings but both agree that compositions have also inspired their practical defensive play Mention study by Amatzia Avni and Martin Minski Nunn describes his process of composing a problem Chess Study Composer Jan TimmanPolgar and Nunn relate their experiences of competing with GM Jan Timman over-the-board She calls him an artist in various respects while he praises Timman for producing many excellent studies Nunn elaborates on how he himself composes studies touching on subjects like having ideas that didn’t work out and endgame theory knowledge The complex 6th Prize winner by Jan Timman is deciphered Yochanan Afek: 55 years of composingPolgar talks to Afek who exceptionally has achieved both the IM title for the game and GM for composition He describes how collaboration works in composing and how ideas for a study often arise from analysing a practical game He stresses that a study requires not only accurate play but also a paradoxical or surprising idea Polgar asks how he maintains his creativity over a 55-year chess career and they examine his joint study with Aran Kohler that won 3rd Prize Mentor and Student composing chess endgame studiesPolgar introduces Marjan Kovacevic Kovacevic mentions that chess compositions encompass many genres besides studies and his favourite is the two-mover Each of his works can take anywhere from days to years to complete Smolkin points out that playing the game and composing are very different skills Polgar looks at their joint 4th Prize winner The greatest masters of both the game and problems – Part 1 The greatest masters of both the game and problems – Part 2 More chess problem blogs on my site: OzProblems.com we offer keen insight on today's most critical issues Learn from our industry leaders about how to manage your wealth and help meet your personal financial goals From volatility and geopolitics to economic trends and investment outlooks stay informed on the key developments shaping today's markets Stay abreast of the latest trends and 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intellect and cross-collaboration See how you can continue your career journey at Morgan Stanley robust resources and market leadership can offer you a new opportunity to grow your practice and continue to fulfill on your commitment to deliver tailored wealth management advice that helps your clients reach their financial goals Judit Polgár remembers standing in the main square of Kecskemét surrounded by tables of people hunched over chessboards and seven-year-old Polgár strode from one game to next playing 15 opponents at the same time—and dispatching every one of them Polgár simply says: “The best possible result comes if you can focus only on the board before you and be completely in the present.” That same focus and exceptional talent helped her beat the record set by American prodigy Bobby Fischer when she was named the youngest chess Grandmaster in 1991 In the present, Polgár is focused on the 8th edition of her Global Chess Festival, sponsored by Morgan Stanley this year at the National Gallery in Budapest The daylong celebration of the game offers activities for novices and luminaries alike from all over the world It embodies Polgár’s mission to bring the lessons of chess to new generations of players intellectual challenge and the universal language of game-play—that mixture of individual competitive drive mutual respect between opponents and a global communal identity This year's event focuses on how chess shapes our lives And because 2022 is the Year of Women in Chess there will be a spotlight on both women in STEM and women in chess For those who can't attend the event in person I have always felt strongly that women have the same right to play chess as men," says Polgár "One way we have demonstrated this at the Global Chess Festival is by ensuring all competitions are open to everyone so boys and girls play alongside and against each other many of which are closely linked to science and I believe in providing a positive platform through chess will help more girls succeed in these fields." fans of all ages and genders are encouraged to take part either on site or virtually “Whether playing competitively or just beginning to discover the basics of chess especially when things don’t happen as planned and the importance of working hard to improve,” Polgár says chess also involves a lot of problem-solving and quick decision making—capabilities young people need to tackle the challenges of the 21st Century.” Polgár launched the festival in 2015—a year after she retired from competitive chess—as a way to meld her passion for the game with the responsibility she feels to give back she has launched several charitable efforts that promote and use chess as an educational tool for children including a chess-related curriculum that is taught in schools across Hungary Managing Director and Head of Morgan Stanley in Budapest Fogarasi still remembers how Polgár and her two older sisters powered the Hungarian women’s national team to a gold medal in 1988—the first time the Soviet Union failed to win first place in the Chess Olympiad they are the royal family of chess,” he says The tactical skills and strategic lessons of chess translate very well in today’s world the qualities that Polgár credits chess with developing are the same ones needed for a rewarding career in STEM fields—and at Morgan Stanley where we have a history of excellence in STEM several of Morgan Stanley Budapest’s more than 2,000 employees mentor young women in high schools “The Global Chess Festival is an excellent opportunity for the firm to further our commitment to supporting children’s health and education globally.” The theme of the festival is “Chess connects us,” and Polgár encourages organizers to host their own chess-related events all over the world on the same day as this year’s October 8th celebration simultaneous events have been held in dozens of countries from Chile to China to countries across Europe She aims for the festival to touch the lives of as many as five million people by 2025 Polgár has lived the festival’s theme all her life a feeling she hopes to spark in the children that her programs reach she believes that by learning chess—a game of seemingly infinite permutations and possibilities—children will discover that their potential is limitless she is still that seven-year-old prodigy in the town square simultaneously taking on as many challenges as the game has to offer Morgan Stanley and the Women’s Tennis Association are working together to advance equal opportunity and a more inclusive future for the sport with clinics in underrepresented communities and a program for financial empowerment are investors seeing the start of a sustainable bull run Send An Email Get the latest news & updates from the JIS sent to your inbox Yesterday I received a long-awaited gift - a book from Judit Polgar with her autograph I got this book because I became the 3rd finalist of "ChessKid/Judit Polgar Guinness World Record Finals"                          YouTube                          Twitch                          Blogger                          Patreon “We are capable of the same fight as any other man and I think during the decades that I actively played chess I proved it as well,” Polgar told TIME in an interview Monday The native Hungarian became a chess prodigy along with her two sisters and broke Bobby Fischer’s record to become the youngest grandmaster at age 15 in 1991 it’s a matter of being smart,” the grandmaster added Polgar’s comments came after a storm erupted over Nigel Short’s remarks that people should “gracefully accept it as a fact” that women possess different skills than men while also suggesting that women are worse drivers “I don’t have the slightest problem in acknowledging that my wife possesses a much higher degree of emotional intelligence than I do,” he told New in Chess magazine she doesn’t feel embarrassed in asking me to maneuver the car out of our narrow garage pointed out that she had defeated Short “quite a few times.” She also defeated Garry Kasparov widely considered to be the finest chess player in history “I grew up in what was a male dominated sport but my parents raised me and my sisters [to believe] that women are able to reach the same result as our male competitors if they get the right and the same possibilities,” she said who founded the Judit Polgar Chess Foundation to use chess as an education tool says she sees roughly an equal number of young boys and girls competing in chess at equal levels But she says fewer girls pursue chess later on in part because they choose not to and in part because they do not receive the same encouragement from parents “Whenever I speak to parents or to kids I always encourage them that if they believe “No matter whether they are a boy or a girl.” Write to Noah Rayman at noah.rayman@time.com