Judit Polgár
Encyclopedia
Judit Polgár is a Hungarian chess grandmaster. She is by far the strongest female chess player in history. In 1991, Polgár achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 15 years and 4 months, the youngest person ever to do so at that time.
Polgár was ranked No. 35 in the world on the November 2011 FIDE rating list with an Elo rating of 2710, the woman on FIDE's Top 100 Players list, and has been ranked as high as eighth (in 2005). She has won or shared first in the chess tournaments of Hastings
1993, Madrid 1994, León 1996, U.S. Open
1998, Hoogeveen 1999, Siegman 1999, Japfa 2000, and the Najdorf Memorial 2000.
The only female player to have won a game against a Men's World champion
, Polgár has defeated nine: Anatoli Karpov, Garry Kasparov
, Boris Spassky
, Vasily Smyslov
, Veselin Topalov
, Viswanathan Anand
, Ruslan Ponomariov
, Alexander Khalifman
, and Rustam Kasimdzhanov
.
and International Master Sofia, were part of an educational experiment carried out by their father László Polgár
, in an attempt to prove that children could make exceptional achievements if trained in a specialist subject from a very early age. "Geniuses are made, not born", was László's thesis. He and his wife Klara educated their three daughters at home, with chess as the specialist subject. However, chess was not taught to the exclusion of everything else. Each of the sisters has several diplomas and speaks four to eight languages. László also taught his three daughters the international language Esperanto
. They received resistance from Hungarian authorities as home-schooling was not a "socialist" approach. They also received criticism at the time from some western commentators for depriving the sisters of a normal childhood. However, by most reports the girls appeared happy and well-adjusted. Currently, as of 2010, all three have earned good incomes from chess and are married with families of their own.
Traditionally, chess has been a male-dominated activity, and women are often seen as weaker players; thus advancing the idea of a Women's World Champion. However, from the beginning, László was against the idea that his daughters had to participate in female-only events. "Women are able to achieve results similar, in fields of intellectual activities, to that of men", he wrote. "Chess is a form of intellectual activity, so this applies to chess. Accordingly, we reject any kind of discrimination in this respect." This put the Polgárs in conflict with the Hungarian Chess Federation of the day, whose policy was for women to play in women-only tournaments. Polgár's older sister, Susan, first fought the bureaucracy by playing in men's tournaments and refusing to play in women's tournaments. Susan Polgár, when she was a 15-year-old International Master, said in 1985 that it was due to this conflict that she had not been awarded the Grandmaster title despite having made the norm eleven times.
and Russian GM Alexander Chernin
. Susan Polgár, the eldest of the sisters, 5.5 years older than Sophia and 7 years older than Judit, was the first of the sisters to achieve prominence in chess by winning tournaments and by 1986 she was the world's top-rated female chess player. Initially, being the youngest, Judit was separated from her sisters while they were in training. However, this only served to increase Judit's curiosity. After learning the rules, they discovered Judit was able to find solutions to the problems they were studying and she began to be invited into the group. One evening Susan was studying an endgame with their trainer, a strong International Master. Unable to find the solution they woke Judit, who was asleep in bed and carried her into the training room. Still half asleep, Judit showed them how to solve the problem, after which they put her back to bed. László Polgár's experiment would produce a family of one international master and two grandmasters and would strengthen the argument for nurture over nature, but also prove women could be grandmasters of chess.
, at age 11.
Judit started playing in tournaments at six years old and by age nine her rating with the Hungarian Chess Federation was 2080. She was a member of the chess club in Budapest where she would get experience from master level players. In 1984 in Budapest, Sophia and Judit, at the time nine and seven years of age respectively, played two games of blindfold chess against two masters which they won. At one point, the girls complained that one of their opponents was playing too slowly and suggested a clock should be used.
In April 1986, nine-year-old Judit played in her first rated tournament in the U.S., finishing first in the unrated section of the New York Open winning $1,000. All three Polgar sisters competed. Susan, 16-years-old, competed in the grandmaster section and had a victory against GM Walter Browne and Sophia, 11-years-old, finished second in her section, but Judit gathered most of the attention in the tournament. Grandmasters would drop by to watch the serious, quiet child playing. She won her first seven games before drawing
the final game. Although the unrated section had many of the weaker players in the Open, it also had players of expert strength, who were foreign to the United States and had not been rated yet. Milorad Boskovic related a conversation with Judit's sixth-round opponent, a Yugoslav player he knew to be a strong expert, "He told me he took some chances in the game because he couldn't believe she was going to attack so well." Not able to speak English, her mother translated as she told a reporter her goal was to be a chess professional. When the reporter asked her if she would be world champion one day, Judit answered, "I will try."
In late 1986, ten-year-old Judit defeated 52-year-old Romanian IM Dolfi Drimer in the Adsteam Lidums International Tournament in Adelaide, Australia. Edmar Mednis
said he played his best game of the tournament against Judit. "I was careful in that game", he said. "Grandmasters don't like to lose to 10-year-old girls, because then we make the front page of all the papers."
In 1988, Judit and her sisters along with Ildikó Mádl
, represented Hungary in the Women's section of the 28th Chess Olympiad
in Thessaloniki. The International Chess Federation would not permit the Polgárs to play against men in team competitions. Prior to the tournament, Eduard Gufeld
, Soviet GM and team coach for the Soviet women's team, dismissed the Polgárs. "I believe that these girls are going to lose a good part of their quickly acquired image in the 28th Olympiad", he said. "Afterward we are going to know if the Hungarian sisters are geniuses or just women!" However, Hungary's women's team won the championship which was the first time it was not won by the Soviet Union. Judit played board 2 and finished the tournament with the highest score of 12½–½ to win the individual gold medal. She also won the brilliancy prize for her game against Pavlina Angelova.
Also in 1988, Polgár won the under-12 "Boys" section of the World Youth Chess and Peace Festival
in Timişoara
, Romania. In October 1988, Polgár finished first in a 10-player round-robin tournament
in London, scoring 7–2, for a half point lead over Israeli GM Yair Kraidman
. In 1988, she made her first International Norm in the International B section of the New York Open and by November 1988 she was awarded the International Master title, at the time the youngest ever to have achieved the distinction. Both Bobby Fischer
and Garry Kasparov
were 14 when they were awarded the title. Polgár was 12. It was during this time that former World Champion Mikhail Tal
said Polgár had the potential to win the men's World Championship.
Judit was asked about playing against boys instead of the girls' section of tournmanents. "These other girls are not serious about chess", she said. "I practice five or six hours a day. But they get distracted by cooking and work around the house." By age 12, she was rated 2555, which was 35 rating points ahead of the Women's World Champion Maia Chiburdanidze
. Judit's quiet and modest demeanour at the board contrasted with the intensity of her playing style. David Norwood
, British GM, in recalling Judit beating him when he was an established player and she was just a child, described her as, "this cute little auburn-haired monster who crushed you." British journalist, Dominic Lawson
wrote about 12-year-old Judit's "killer" eyes and how she would stare at her opponent, "The irises are so grey so dark they are almost indistinguishable from the pupils. Set against her long red hair, the effect is striking."
Before age 13 she had broken into the top 100 players in the world and the British Chess Magazine
declared, "Judit Polgár's recent results make the performances of Fischer and Kasparov at a similar age pale by comparison. British GM Nigel Short
called Judit, "one of the three or four greatest chess prodigies in history." The other great chess prodigies being Paul Morphy
, José Capablanca and Samuel Reshevsky
. However, not everyone was as enthusiastic and male chauvinism still existed. "She has fantastic chess talent", said Kasparov. "but she is, after all a woman. It all comes down to the imperfections of the feminine psyche. No woman can sustain a prolonged battle."
In 1989, Polgár tied with Boris Gelfand for third in the OHRA Open in Amsterdam.
By now numerous books and articles had been written about the Polgár sisters making them famous even outside of the world of chess. In 1989, American President George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara met with the Polgárs during their visit to Hungary. Although not released until 1996, in 1990 a documentary about children playing chess, Chess Kids, featuring Polgár was filmed. The documentary did not include an interview with Polgár as her father required payment.
In 1990, Judit won the Boys section of the under-14 in the World Youth Chess Festival in Fond-du-Lac, Wisconsin. Also in 1990, Judit and her sisters represented Hungary on the Olympic women's team winning the gold medal. As of 2011, it is the last women-only tournament in which Judit would ever participate.
In October 1991, Judit finished with 5½–3½ points, tied for third to fifth position with Zoltán Ribli and John Nunn
at a tournament in Vienna.
, at the time the youngest ever at 15 years, 5 months to have achieved the title. This beat Fischer's record by a month. Hungary, one of the strongest chess-playing countries, had all but one of the best players participate in that year's championship. Only Zoltán Ribli was missing. Going into the last round Polgár needed only a draw to achieve the GM title, but she won her game against GM Tibor Tolnai to win first place with six points in nine games. In January 1991, Judit's sister Susan had also earned the GM title. Susan had the distinction of being the first woman to earn the GM title by achieving three GM norms and rating over 2500 as previous female GMs, Nona Gaprindashvili and Maia Chiburdanidze, were awarded the title by winning the Women's World Championship.
In 1992, Polgár tied for second behind Anatoly Karpov at the Madrid International in Linares. She and Russian GM Vladimir Epishin
finished with 5½–3½. In July 1992, she placed second in the Reshevsky Memorial in Manhattan finishing with four wins, five draws and no losses. In September 1992, Polgár participated in a tournament held in Aruba in which a team of senior men's players competed against a team of top women players. The men's team consisted of Lev Polugaevsky, Wolfgang Uhlmann, Oscar Panno, Efim Geller, Borislav Ivkov and Vasily Smyslov. The women's team consisted of Judit and Zsuzsa Polgár, Pia Cramling, Maia Chiburdanidze, Ketevan Arakhamia and Alisa Galliamova. The Men won the tournament 39–33. The overall high scorer was Polugaevsky, 57 years old with Polgár, 16, finishing second with 7½–4½.
Polgár then tied for first in the Hastings tournament held over New Years, 1992–93. Russian GM Evgeny Bareev
, at the time ranked eighth in the world, led going into tournament's last round, but was crushed by Polgár in their individual game allowing her to share first. Immediately following the Hastings tournament, Polgár played an exhibition match in February against former World Champion, Boris Spassky. She won the match 5½–4½ and won the largest prize money to that point in her career of $110,000. Polgár also participated in the Melody Amber tournament in Monaco which featured a blindfold tournament of 12 grandmasters. Anand and Karpov finished first, Ljubojevic third, while Polgár finished in clear fourth with 6½ points from 11 rounds ahead of other strong GMs such as Ivanchuk, Short, Korchnoi
and her sister Susan.
In 1993, Polgár became the first woman to ever qualify for a Men's Interzonal tournament. In March, she finished in a four-way tie for second place in the Budapest Zonal and then won the tiebreaking tournament. She then confirmed her status as one of the world's leading players, narrowly failing to qualify for the Candidates Tournament
s at the rival FIDE and PCA
Interzonal
tournaments.
In the summer of 1993, Bobby Fischer
stayed for a time in the Polgár household. He had been living in seclusion in Yugoslavia due to an arrest warrant issued by the United States for violating the U.N. blockade of Yugoslavia with his 1992 match against Spassky, and for tax evasion. Susan Polgár met Bobby with her family and persuaded him to come out of hiding "in a cramped hotel room in a small Yugoslavian village". During his stay he played many games of Fischer Random Chess
and helped the sisters analyse their games. Susan said, while he was friendly on a personal level and recalled mostly pleasant moments as their guest, there were conflicts due to his political views. On the suggestion of a friend of Fischer, a match of blitz chess between Fischer and Polgár was arranged and announced to the press. However, problems ensued between Fischer and László Polgár and Fischer cancelled the match, saying to a friend on whether the match would take place, "No, they're Jewish."
In the summer of 1994, Polgár had the greatest success of her career to that point, when she won the Madrid International in Spain. Running away with the tournament, against a field which included Gata Kamsky, Evgeny Bareev, Valery Salov and Ivan Sokolov, she finished 7–2 and 1½ points ahead of the field. Her performance rating for the tournament was 2778 against an opposition rated at 2672.
In October 1994, she played in a strong tournament in Buenos Aires which was a tribute to an ailing Lev Polugaevsky. Eight grandmasters, all considered contenders for the world championship: Karpov, Anand, Salov, Ivanchuk, Kamsky, Shirov, Ljubojevic and Polgár. The tournament was unusual as each game was required to play a Sicilian Defence
, since Polugaevsky was considered the all-time authority on the opening. This was to Polgár's advantage as it was her favourite. Against the elite competition she finished tied for third with Ivanchuk.
In September 1995, Polgár finished third in a tournament in the Donner Memorial in Amsterdam, behind Jan Timman and Julio Granda Zuniga who tied for first. Scoring 7–4, finishing ahead of Yasser Seirawan, Alexander Khuzman, Alexey Shirov, Alexander Khalifman, Alexander Morozevich and Valery Salov. She secured a clear third place with a 21-move win over Shirov in her last game. In the Antillean island of Aruba in November 1995, she played in a friendly match against 26 year old, Jeroen Piket of the Netherlands, at the time one of the top players in Europe. Despite being closely matched in ratings, Polgár won the match 6–2.
In 1995, the Isle of Lewis
chess club in Scotland attempted to arrange a game between Polgár and Nigel Short in which the famous Lewis chessmen
would be used. The Lewis chessmen is a chess set carved in the 12th century. However, the British Museum
refused to release the set despite assurances that the players would wear gloves. Scottish member of parliament Calum MacDonald pointed out that the set would be safe especially as chess was not a contact sport. In the end, the Museum allowed the chess set to be displayed at the Isle of Lewis festival tournament, but they were not used in any games. Polgár won the double round-robin tournament of four GMs scoring five points in the six games and winning both her games against Short.
. The tournament marked the first time the 17-year-old Polgár was invited to compete with the world's strongest players. After four games she had two points, which was a fair result considering she was rated third from last in the very strong event. Matched with Kasparov in the fifth round, the World Champion changed his mind after making a move and then made another move instead. (According to chess rules, once a player has released a piece, he cannot make a different move. So Kasparov should have been required to play his original move.) Polgár said she did not challenge this, explaining afterwards, "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 penalized on the clock when we were in time pressure." She was unaware at the time that the re-move was caught on tape by a television crew: the videotape showed Kasparov's fingers were free of the knight for six frames (meaning, at 24 frames per second, Kasparov had released the piece for ¼ of a second). The tournament director
was criticised for not forfeiting Kasparov when the videotape evidence was made available to him. At one point Polgár reportedly confronted Kasparov in the hotel bar, asking him, "How could you do this to me?" Kasparov told reporters that his conscience was clear, as he was not aware of his hand leaving the piece. Although Polgár recovered by the end of the tournament, she went into a slump over the next six rounds, gaining only half a point. In Chess for Dummies, James Eade
commented on the game, writing, "If even world champions break the rules, what hope do the rest of us have?"
The January 1996 FIDE ratings list was a landmark as Polgár's 2675 rating made her the No. 10 ranked player in the world, the only woman ever to enter the world's Top Ten.
In August 1996, Polgár participated in a very strong 10–player tournament in Vienna. There was a three–way tie for first between Karpov, Topalov and Boris Gelfand and a three–way tie for fourth between Kramnik, Polgár and Peter Leko. In December 1996, Polgár played a match in São Paulo against Brazil's champion Gilbert Milos. The four games were played at 30 moves an hour with 30 minutes for the remainder of the game. Polgár won two, drew one and lost one and won $12,000 in prize money.
In February 1997, she played in the Linares "supertournament" which Kasparov won by edging out Kramnik. Polgár finished in clear fifth position in the 12-GM tournament, ahead of Anand, Ivanchuk, Gelfand and Shirov. Her result was considered exceptional considering the strength of the tournament, average 2701, and she was praised for her tactical skills in her game against Ivanchuk. In April 1997, she played in the Dos Hermanas Chess tournament, a single-round robin category XIX event of 10 of the world's best players. She finished in sixth place with an even score of 4½–4½. In June 1997, she finished with an even score, 4½–4½, in the Madrid 10-player GM tournament won by Topalov. In July 1997, Polgár competed in the elite Dortmund International Tournament. She finished in fifth in the strong field of ten, ahead of players such as Anatoly Karpov. In the tournament, she won playing with the black pieces against Veselin Topalov, at the time ranked fourth in the world. Topalov had the advantage until Polgár executed a deep positional sacrifice. In October 1997, she tied for second in a double round-robin tournament of four grand masters in the VAM International Tournament in Hoogeveen, the Netherlands.
"There has long been a lively debate about who is the strongest player of all", wrote GM Robert Byrne in his New York Times column of Aug.26, 1997. "Prominent candidates are Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov, Jose Raul Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine or Emanuel Lasker. But there is no argument about the greatest female player: she is 21-year-old Judit Polgár."
In January 1998, she played in the category XVII event, the Hoogovens in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, in which 14 of the world's top grandmasters participated. She finished in the middle of the pack, tied for sixth–tenth position with Karpov, Topalov and Jeroen Piket and an even score of 6½ points in thirteen games. Polgár handed co-winner Vishwanathan Anand his only loss of the tournament. In June 1998 in Budapest, Polgár played an eight game match of "action" chess, which is 30 minutes for the entire game, against Anatoly Karpov. She won the match 5–3 by winning two games with the remaining ending in draws. At the time Karpov was the FIDE World Champion
. In August 1998, Polgár became the first woman to ever win the U.S. Open held at the Kona Surf Resort in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. She shared the tournament victory with GM Boris Gulko as each scored 8–1. Typical of her aggressive style was her victory against GM Georgi Kacheishvili in which she sacrificed her queen for the attack. In October 1998, Polgár won the VAM four-grandmaster tournament in Hoogeveen, Netherlands by 1½ points over Jan Timman. In November 1998, Polgár played in the Wydra Memorial Rapid chess tournament in Israel. She tied for first with Viswanathan Anand as both scored 11½ out of the 14 games. Anand won the tournament in a tie-break game over Polgár.
In the two years since Polgár became the first woman to ever break into the top 10, her rating had dropped. Although she was in the top 20, this had the effect of her being invited less frequently to the strongest tournaments.
In October 1999, Polgár participated in the four-player GM section of the VAM Chess tournament in Hoogeveen, Netherlands. Jan Timman lead early in the tournament, but Polgár staged a comeback scoring 3 points in the last 4 games to share first place. Anatoly Karpov finished in third and Darmen Sadvakasov last.
In January 2000, Polgár had, for her, a disappointing result in a tournament in Pamplona, Spain which was won by Nigel Short. She finished with only 4 points from 9 games, tied for 6–7 place with Jan Timman, who had also played below his rating. Polgár had another disappointing result later in the month in the category XVIII tournament in Corus Wijk aan Zee which was won by Kasparov. She did not win her first game until the 11th round and finished with 5 points in 13 games, tied with Victor Korchnoi for 11–12 position among the fourteen GMs. However, in the European Teams Championship in Batumi, Georgia, also in January, she won the gold medal playing Board 2, scoring 6½–2½.
In April and May 2000, Polgár won one of the strongest tournaments ever held in Asia. The Japfa Classic in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia was a category XVI event of 10 players in which included Alexander Khalifman–at the time FIDE world champion– and Anatoly Karpov–his predecessor. Going into the last round four players, Polgár, Khalifman, Karpov and Gilberto Milos were tied, but Polgár won her game over Braziliam GM Milos while Khalifman and Karpov played against each other in a draw. Polgár finished clear first with 6½–2½, winning the $20,000 first place prize money. At the end of May, she won the Sigeman & Company International Tournament in Malmö, Sweden. She finished the four-player double round-robin tournament scoring 4 points, with Jan Timman at 3½ with Ulf Andersson and Tiger Hillarp-Persson finishing in that order. In June 2000, she played in the GM Tournament Mérida, State of Yucatán, finishing in second place a half point behind Alexei Shirov. In September 2000, she shared first place in the Najdorf Chess Festival with Viktor Bologan, ahead of Nigel Short and Anatoly Karpov. In October and November, she represented Hungary playing board 3 in the 34th Chess Olympiad. While the Hungarian team narrowly missed winning the Bronze medal, Polgár finished 10/13 for the second highest points total of any player in the Olympiad and a rated performance level of 2772.
In late February and early March 2001, Polgár played in the elite Linares double round-robin invitational of six of the world's strongest players. The tournament was Kasparov's triumph as he scored 7½ points in 10 games. The other five participants, Polgár, Karpov, Shirov, Grischuk
and Leko
all finished with 4½ for second and last position. However, Polgár drew both her games with Kasparov, the first time in her career she had done this under tournament time controls. In March 2001, she reached the semifinals of the World Cup rapid play tournament in Cannes. She made it to the final four from the 16 grandmasters in the tournament. She lost the semifinal match to Evgeny Bareev, who in turn lost to Kasparov. In a quarterfinal playoff blitz game, she forced Joël Lautier
, France's strongest player, to resign in 12 moves when she won his queen which resulted in the audience of several hundred bursting into applause. In June 2001, Polgár finished fourth in the European Championship in Ohrid, Macedonia, a 13-round Swiss-system tournament of 143 Grandmasters and 38 IMs. In October 2001, she tied for first with GM Loek van Wely in the Essent Tourney in Hoogeveen, the Netherlands.
and Polgár proceeded with a line which Kasparov has used himself. Polgár was able to attack with her rooks on Kasparov's king which was still in the centre of the board and when he was two pawns down, Kasparov resigned. The game helped the World team win the match 52–48. Upon resigning, Kasparov immediately left by a passageway barred to journalists and photographers. Kasparov had once described Polgár as a "circus puppet" and asserted that women chess players should stick to having children. Polgár called the game, "One of the most remarkable moments of my career." Polgár thus became one of the players who have beaten Kasparov. The game was historic as not only the first time in chess history a female player beat the world's No. 1 player in competitive play, it was the first time in any sport that the No. 1 ranked male player has lost to the No. 1 ranked female player.
In October and November 2002, Polgár alternated with Peter Leko between first and second board for Hungary in the 35th Chess Olympiad. While not having the stunning performance as she had in the 2000 Olympiad, she was considered key to Hungary's silver medal as the veteran of the team and provided fighting spirit. While the Hungarians had the best won–loss record of the tournament as a team and lost only a single game of the 56 they played, they had won most of their matches by 2½–1½ scores, while the Russian team won gold as they piled up the points. However, Hungary gave the gold-winning Russian team its only defeat. Always the crowd-pleaser, Polgár roused the hall in her fourth round game against Azerbaijan's Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
with a brilliant 12.Nxf7 drawing his king into the center of the board.
By early 2003, Polgár had worked her way back into the top 10 rated players in the world. In 2003, Polgár scored one of her best results: an undefeated clear second place in the Category 19 Corus chess tournament
in Wijk aan Zee
, Netherlands, just a half-point behind future World Champion Viswanathan Anand
, and a full point ahead of then-world champion Vladimir Kramnik
. One of the highlight games of the tournament was Polgár's fourth round crushing victory over Anatoly Karpov. She played a novelty in the opening which she devised over the board. The game lasted 33 moves with Karpov down two pawns and his king exposed. Polgár admitted to "enjoying herself" by the end of the game. In April 2003, Polgár finished second in The Hunguest Hotels Super Tournament in Budapest behind Nigel Short. She appeared headed for a first place victory in the tournament, but lost her game against compatriot Peter Leko. In June 2003, Polgár finished tied for third with Boris Gelfand, in the Enghien-les-Bains International Tournament in France, scoring 5½–3½, behind Evgeny Bareev who won the tournament and GM Michael Adams. In August 2003, Polgár played an eight-game rapid chess match in Mainz, Germany against Viswanathan Anand, billed as the "Battle of the Sexes". After six games each player had won three games. Anand won the final two games to win the match. In October 2003, Polgár won the 4–grandmaster Essent tournament in Hoogeveen, Netherlands. In one of her games against Karpov, he blundered, allowing Polgár to utilize a famous, ancient sacrifice first employed by Emanuel Lasker against Bauer in 1889.
Polgár returned to chess at the prestigious Corus chess tournament on January 15, 2005. The tournament, which was now considered by some as the most important in Europe, was won by fellow Hungarian Peter Leko while Polgár scored 7/13 to tie for fourth with Alexander Grischuk, Michael Adams and Kramnik. She was therefore relisted in the April 2005 FIDE rating list, gaining a few rating points for her better-than-par performance at Corus. In May she also had a better-than-par performance at a strong tournament in Sofia
, Bulgaria
, finishing third. This brought her to her highest ever rating, 2735, in the July 2005 FIDE list and enabled her to retain her spot as the eighth ranked player in the world.
In September 2005, Polgár once again made history as she became the first woman to play for a World Championship, at the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005
. However, she had a rare disappointing performance, coming last out of the eight competitors. Polgár "was unrecognizable in her first-round encounter with Viswanathan Anand", wrote GM Robert Byrne in his New York Times column, "making more errors than she normally would in a dozen games." However, in her game against Veselin Topalov, Polgár pushed the eventual tournament winner and world champion to a seven-hour marathon before succumbing.
She did not play at the 2006 Linares tournament because she was pregnant again. On July 6, 2006, she gave birth to a girl, Hanna.
Polgár participitated in the FIDE world blitz championship September 5–7, 2006 in Rishon Le Zion, Israel. Blitz chess is played with each player having only 5 minutes for all moves. The round-robin tournament of 16 of some of the strongest players in the world, concluded with Alexander Grischuk finally edging out Peter Svidler in a tie-break to win the tournament. Polgár finished tied for fifth/sixth place, winning $5,625 for the three-day tournament. Polgár tied with Boris Gelfand with 9½ points and won her individual game against Viswanathan Anand, at the time the world's No. 2 player. In October 2006, Polgár scored another excellent result: tied for first place in the Essent Chess Tournament, Hoogeveen, Holland. She scored 4½ out of 6 in a double round-robin tournament that included two wins against the world's top-rated player, Veselin Topalov
. In December 2006, Polgár played a six-game match of blindfold rapid chess against former FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov. Topalov won the match 3½–2½ with two wins to Polgár's one. Nearly 1,000 spectators attended the event.
In May–June 2007 she played in the Candidates Tournament
for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2007. She was eliminated in the first round, losing 3½–2½ to Evgeny Bareev
. Some chess pundits said she was unprepared for the tournament and appeared affected by the fact that she'd played less chess in the last three years to concentrate on her two children. However, she was still credited with the most beautiful attack of the tournament in her fifth game victory. In July 2007, Polgár played in the Biel Chess Festival which was won by 16-year-old Magnus Carlsen
. Polgár finished the 9 round tournament at 5–4 in a four-way tie for third to sixth place. A highlight game for her was actually a draw. Polgár was playing an endgame of knight against knight and two connected passed pawns of Alexander Grischuk, but she was able to eliminate both pawns. In October 2007, Polgár played in the Blindfold World Cup in Bilbao, Spain. Polgár finished in fourth place of the six players with three wins, four losses, and three draws. The tournament was won by Bu Xiangzhi of China, whose only loss was to Polgár. In November 2007, she took part in Chess Champions League – Playing for a Better World in Vitoria Gasteiz, Spain a tournament to raise funds for equipment for a Hospital in Mbuji-Mayi, Congo. Polgár finished tied for third in the strong six-player tournament and handed tournament winner Veselin Topalov his only loss.
In January 2008 she competed in the strong Corus Wijk aan Zee tournament, scoring a respectable 6/13 and tied 9–11 in the 14 player tournament. In November 2008, Polgár had a terrible result in The World Chess Blitz Championship in Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan, finished last of the 16 players with only 2½ points. In November 2008, Polgár played the number 2 board for the Hungarian open ("men's") team in the 38th Chess Olympiad
in Dresden
, finishing 3½/8.
In November 2009, Polgár participated in the FIDE World Cup at Khanty Mansisyk in Siberia. Polgár made it to the third round of the knockout tournament until she was eliminated by tournament winner Boris Gelfand. She handed Gelfand his only loss of the tournament.
which was part of the ČEZ Chess Trophy 2010 festival of the Prague Chess Society. Despite being younger, 25 to Polgár's 33 years, and higher rated, 2708 to Polgár's 2682, Navara was crushed by Polgár who won the match 6–2. Polgár participated in the rapid chess tournament of the Presidential Chess Cup in Baku
, Azerbaijan from April 29 to May 1, 2010. She finished with one win, two losses and four draws, tied for fifth–sixth position in the eight-player round robin. The tournament finished with a three-way tie for first with the winner, Kramnik being decided by Elo over Mamedyarov and Kamsky. In June 2010, it was reported Polgár is assisting GM Zoltán Almási
in training for the Olympiad.
In September and October 2010, Polgár played 3rd board for the Hungarian Men's team in the 39th Chess Olympiad
in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The team finished in fourth place losing the Bronze medal to Israel on tie-break. Playing more in 2010 than in recent years, Polgár finished fourth overall among Board three players with a 6/10 score. Highlight for the Hungarian Men's team was a fifth-round victory over Russia I. In November 2010, Polgár won the four-player rapid tournament which was held to celebrate the National University of Mexico's
100th anniversary. Polgár won a close opening match against Vassily Ivanchuk. She then crushed Veselin Topalov, a former world champion and ranked No. 1 in the world in 2009, 3½–½ to win the tournament.
On April 2, 2011, Polgár finished in a four-way tie for first in the European Individual Chess Championship in Aix-les-Bains, France. The tournament, of 393 players of which 167 were Grandmasters, was won by Russian Vladimir Potkin
on tie-break, GM Radosław Wojtaszek won the silver, while Polgár placed third, winning the bronze. Polgár was praised for her creative attacks and endgame technique. Polgár became the first woman ever to finish in the top three of the male championship. Continuing Polgár's return to competitive chess, in July 2011 she participated in the 39th Greek Team National Championship scoring 3.5 out of 4 games. Also in July 2011, Polgar played Board 3 for Hungary in the World Team Championships. Hungary finished in fifth place of the ten teams and individually Polgar sixteenth of the fifty players.
In September 2011, Polgár competed in the Chess World Cup
, a 128-player tournament with a large prize fund and qualification to the top three for the World Championship cycle. Polgar made it to the final 8 players before she was eliminated by Peter Svidler
. A highlight for Polgár was her elimination of the tournament's No. 1 seed and world's fifth highest rated player, Sergey Karjakin
. In October 2011, Polgar took part in the Unive 2011 competition. She finished last in the elite four-player Crown group, losing games to Vladmir Kramnik and Anish Giri
.
In September 2011, Polgár finally returned to "Super GM" status with a FIDE rating of 2701 and by November she had raised it to 2710 and ranked 35 in the world.
wrote that, based upon her games, "if to 'play like a girl' meant anything in chess, it would mean relentless aggression." In her youth, she was especially popular with the fans due to her willingness to employ wild gambits and attacks. As a teenager, Polgár has been credited with contributing to the popularity of the opening variation King's Bishop's Gambit. Polgár prefers aggressive openings, playing 1.e4 as White and the Sicilian
or King's Indian Defence with black, but she has also said her opening choices will also depend upon her trainer. Jennifer Shahade
, writer and two-time U.S. women's chess champion, suggested that the influence of Polgár as a role model may be one of the reasons women play more aggressive chess than men. Describing an individual encounter with Polgár, former U.S. Champion Joel Benjamin
said, "It was all-out war for five hours. I was totally exhausted. She is a tiger at the chessboard. She absolutely has a killer instinct. You make one mistake and she goes right for the throat."
Polgár is especially adept at faster time controls. When still a youth, Der Spiegel
wrote of Polgár, "her tactical thunderstorms during blitz games have confounded many opponents, who are rated higher."
Polgár has spoken of appreciating the psychological aspect of chess. She has stated preferring to learn an opponent's style so she can play intentionally against him rather than playing "objective" chess. In her 2002 victory over Kasparov, she deliberately chose a line Kasparov used against Vladimir Kramnik
, employing the strategy of forcing the opponent to "play against himself". Kasparov's response was inadequate and he soon found himself in an inferior position. In an interview regarding playing against computers
she said, "Chess is 30 to 40% psychology. You don't have this when you play a computer. I can't confuse it."
Polgár has said she does not have a permanent coach although she does have help from GM Lev Psakhis
or GM Mihail Marin
. She said she rarely uses a second and when she travels to tournaments it is usually her husband who accompanies her. Polgár said she has changed how she prepares for tournaments. "I make more use of my experience now and try to work more efficiently so that my efforts aren't wasted", she said in 2008.
Concentrating on her two children left Polgár with little time to train and play competitively and her ranking dropped from eighth in 2005 to the mid-50s in 2009. However, as of September 2010 Polgár remained the only woman in the top 100 and still the only woman to have ever made the top 10. Comparing motherhood to playing chess, Polgár has said that a chess tournament now "feels like a vacation." When asked why she came back to chess after taking time off to care for her children, she said "I cannot live without chess! It is an integral part of my life. I enjoy the game!"
Despite being the highest-rated woman for twenty years, Polgár has never competed for the women's world championship and in a 2011 interview was asked about this possibility. Polgár said that in the past she has never been interested in competing for it, but in recent years "the mentality of a couple of the women players has changed". Polgár said that for her to consider competing it would have to be a challenge and "if I get an extremely nice offer just to play for the title."
Polgár authored a children's book on chess, Chess Playground. Her sister Sophia provided illustrations. In recent years, Polgár designed a chess programme for the older students of a kindergarten school in Budapest, Hungary.
, and her grandmother was a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp
.
In August 2000, Polgár married Hungarian veterinary surgeon Gusztáv Font. They have two children.
While Judit remained in Hungary, the rest of her family eventually emigrated; Sofia and her parents to Israel and later to Canada, and Susan to New York
.
Polgár was ranked No. 35 in the world on the November 2011 FIDE rating list with an Elo rating of 2710, the woman on FIDE's Top 100 Players list, and has been ranked as high as eighth (in 2005). She has won or shared first in the chess tournaments of Hastings
Hastings International Chess Congress
The Hastings International Chess Congress is an annual chess congress which takes place in Hastings, England, around the turn of the year. The main event is the Hastings Premier tournament, which was traditionally a 10 to 16 player round-robin tournament. In 2004/05 the tournament was played in the...
1993, Madrid 1994, León 1996, U.S. Open
U.S. Open Chess Championship
The U.S. Open Championship is an open national chess championship that has been held in the United States annually since 1900.-History:Through 1938, the tournaments were organized by the Western Chess Association and its successor, the American Chess Federation .The United States Chess Federation ...
1998, Hoogeveen 1999, Siegman 1999, Japfa 2000, and the Najdorf Memorial 2000.
The only female player to have won a game against a Men's World champion
World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....
, Polgár has defeated nine: Anatoli Karpov, Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....
, Boris Spassky
Boris Spassky
Boris Vasilievich Spassky is a Soviet-French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from late 1969 to 1972...
, Vasily Smyslov
Vasily Smyslov
Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, and was World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidate for the World Chess Championship on eight occasions . Smyslov was twice equal first at the Soviet Championship , and his total of 17 Chess Olympiad medals won...
, Veselin Topalov
Veselin Topalov
Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. He currently has the sixth highest rating in the world, and was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2010, losing the match 6½–5½....
, Viswanathan Anand
Viswanathan Anand
V. Anand or Anand Viswanathan, usually referred as Viswanathan Anand, is an Indian chess Grandmaster, the current World Chess Champion, and currently second highest rated player in the world....
, Ruslan Ponomariov
Ruslan Ponomariov
Ruslan Olegovich Ponomariov is a Ukrainian chess player and former FIDE World Champion.-Early career:Ponomariov was born in Horlivka in Ukraine. In 1994 he placed third in the World Under-12 Championship at the age of ten. In 1996 he won the European Under-18 Championship at the age of just...
, Alexander Khalifman
Alexander Khalifman
Alexander Valeryevich Khalifman is a Soviet and Russian chess Grandmaster of Jewish descent; he is also a former FIDE champion.When Khalifman was 6 years old, he was taught chess by his father....
, and Rustam Kasimdzhanov
Rustam Kasimdzhanov
Rustam Kasimdzhanov is an Uzbekistani chess Grandmaster, best known for winning the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004. He was born in Tashkent, in the former Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic...
.
Early life
Polgár was born in July 23, 1976, in Budapest, to a Hungarian Jewish family. Polgár and her two older sisters, Grandmaster SusanSusan Polgar
Susan Polgar is a Hungarian-American chess Grandmaster...
and International Master Sofia, were part of an educational experiment carried out by their father László Polgár
László Polgár
László Polgár , is a Hungarian chess teacher and father of the famous "Polgár sisters": Zsuzsa, Zsófia, and Judit. He authored well-known chess books such as Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games and Reform Chess, a survey of chess variants.László is an expert on chess theory and owns over...
, in an attempt to prove that children could make exceptional achievements if trained in a specialist subject from a very early age. "Geniuses are made, not born", was László's thesis. He and his wife Klara educated their three daughters at home, with chess as the specialist subject. However, chess was not taught to the exclusion of everything else. Each of the sisters has several diplomas and speaks four to eight languages. László also taught his three daughters the international language Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
. They received resistance from Hungarian authorities as home-schooling was not a "socialist" approach. They also received criticism at the time from some western commentators for depriving the sisters of a normal childhood. However, by most reports the girls appeared happy and well-adjusted. Currently, as of 2010, all three have earned good incomes from chess and are married with families of their own.
Traditionally, chess has been a male-dominated activity, and women are often seen as weaker players; thus advancing the idea of a Women's World Champion. However, from the beginning, László was against the idea that his daughters had to participate in female-only events. "Women are able to achieve results similar, in fields of intellectual activities, to that of men", he wrote. "Chess is a form of intellectual activity, so this applies to chess. Accordingly, we reject any kind of discrimination in this respect." This put the Polgárs in conflict with the Hungarian Chess Federation of the day, whose policy was for women to play in women-only tournaments. Polgár's older sister, Susan, first fought the bureaucracy by playing in men's tournaments and refusing to play in women's tournaments. Susan Polgár, when she was a 15-year-old International Master, said in 1985 that it was due to this conflict that she had not been awarded the Grandmaster title despite having made the norm eleven times.
Career
Polgár has rarely played in women's-specific tournaments or divisions and has never competed for the Women's World Championship. "I always say that women should have the self-confidence that they are as good as male players, but only if they are willing to work and take it seriously as much as male players", she said. While László Polgár has been credited with being an excellent chess coach, the Polgárs had also employed professional chessplayers to train their daughters, including Hungarian champion IM Tibor Florian, Hungarian GM Pal BenkoPál Benko
Pal Benko is a chess grandmaster, author, and composer of endgame studies and chess problems.- Early life :Benko was born in France but was raised in Hungary. He was Hungarian champion by age 20. He emigrated to the United States in 1958, after defecting following the World Student Team...
and Russian GM Alexander Chernin
Alexander Chernin
Alexander Mikhailovich Chernin is a prominent chess master and a former Soviet Champion now living in Hungary.-Tournaments and championships:...
. Susan Polgár, the eldest of the sisters, 5.5 years older than Sophia and 7 years older than Judit, was the first of the sisters to achieve prominence in chess by winning tournaments and by 1986 she was the world's top-rated female chess player. Initially, being the youngest, Judit was separated from her sisters while they were in training. However, this only served to increase Judit's curiosity. After learning the rules, they discovered Judit was able to find solutions to the problems they were studying and she began to be invited into the group. One evening Susan was studying an endgame with their trainer, a strong International Master. Unable to find the solution they woke Judit, who was asleep in bed and carried her into the training room. Still half asleep, Judit showed them how to solve the problem, after which they put her back to bed. László Polgár's experiment would produce a family of one international master and two grandmasters and would strengthen the argument for nurture over nature, but also prove women could be grandmasters of chess.
Child prodigy
Trained in her early years by her sister Susan, who ultimately became Women's World Champion, Judit Polgár was a prodigy from an early age. At age five she defeated a family friend without looking at the board. After the game the friend joked, "You are good at chess, but I'm a good cook." Judit replied, "Do you cook without looking at the stove?" However, according to Susan, Judit was not the sister with the most talent, explaining "Judit was a slow starter, but very hard-working." Polgár described herself at that age as "obsessive" about chess. She first defeated an International Master, Dolfi Drimer, at age 10, and a Grandmaster, Vladimir KovacevicVladimir Kovacevic
For the SFR Yugoslavia footballer, see Vladimir Kovačević Vladimir Kovačević is a Montenegrin Serb military officer who was charged with violation of the laws of war by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for his actions in the siege of Dubrovnik during the Croatian War of...
, at age 11.
Judit started playing in tournaments at six years old and by age nine her rating with the Hungarian Chess Federation was 2080. She was a member of the chess club in Budapest where she would get experience from master level players. In 1984 in Budapest, Sophia and Judit, at the time nine and seven years of age respectively, played two games of blindfold chess against two masters which they won. At one point, the girls complained that one of their opponents was playing too slowly and suggested a clock should be used.
In April 1986, nine-year-old Judit played in her first rated tournament in the U.S., finishing first in the unrated section of the New York Open winning $1,000. All three Polgar sisters competed. Susan, 16-years-old, competed in the grandmaster section and had a victory against GM Walter Browne and Sophia, 11-years-old, finished second in her section, but Judit gathered most of the attention in the tournament. Grandmasters would drop by to watch the serious, quiet child playing. She won her first seven games before drawing
Draw (chess)
In chess, a draw is when a game ends in a tie. It is one of the possible outcomes of a game, along with a win for White and a win for Black . Usually, in tournaments a draw is worth a half point to each player, while a win is worth one point to the victor and none to the loser.For the most part,...
the final game. Although the unrated section had many of the weaker players in the Open, it also had players of expert strength, who were foreign to the United States and had not been rated yet. Milorad Boskovic related a conversation with Judit's sixth-round opponent, a Yugoslav player he knew to be a strong expert, "He told me he took some chances in the game because he couldn't believe she was going to attack so well." Not able to speak English, her mother translated as she told a reporter her goal was to be a chess professional. When the reporter asked her if she would be world champion one day, Judit answered, "I will try."
In late 1986, ten-year-old Judit defeated 52-year-old Romanian IM Dolfi Drimer in the Adsteam Lidums International Tournament in Adelaide, Australia. Edmar Mednis
Edmar Mednis
Edmar John Mednis was an American International Grandmaster of chess born in Riga, Latvia. He was also a popular and respected chess writer.-Biography:...
said he played his best game of the tournament against Judit. "I was careful in that game", he said. "Grandmasters don't like to lose to 10-year-old girls, because then we make the front page of all the papers."
In 1988, Judit and her sisters along with Ildikó Mádl
Ildiko Madl
Ildikó Mádl is a Hungarian chess player.Madl learned to play chess from her father. In 1978 she became a pupil of the chess school Mereszjev that helped to promote talented Hungarian children and teenagers....
, represented Hungary in the Women's section of the 28th Chess Olympiad
28th Chess Olympiad
The 28th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between November 12 and November 30, 1988, in Thessaloniki, Greece.-References:...
in Thessaloniki. The International Chess Federation would not permit the Polgárs to play against men in team competitions. Prior to the tournament, Eduard Gufeld
Eduard Gufeld
Eduard Yefimovich Gufeld was a Soviet International Grandmaster of chess, and a chess author.By the late 1950s he established himself as one of the strongest players in the world...
, Soviet GM and team coach for the Soviet women's team, dismissed the Polgárs. "I believe that these girls are going to lose a good part of their quickly acquired image in the 28th Olympiad", he said. "Afterward we are going to know if the Hungarian sisters are geniuses or just women!" However, Hungary's women's team won the championship which was the first time it was not won by the Soviet Union. Judit played board 2 and finished the tournament with the highest score of 12½–½ to win the individual gold medal. She also won the brilliancy prize for her game against Pavlina Angelova.
Also in 1988, Polgár won the under-12 "Boys" section of the World Youth Chess and Peace Festival
World Youth Chess Championship
The World Youth Chess Championship is a chess competition for girls and boys under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18.The first predecessor of the youth championship was the Cadet Championship. It started off unofficially in 1974 in France for players under 18. The 1975 and 1976 editions were also...
in Timişoara
Timisoara
Timișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, in western Romania. One of the largest Romanian cities, with an estimated population of 311,586 inhabitants , and considered the informal capital city of the historical region of Banat, Timișoara is the main social, economic and cultural center in the...
, Romania. In October 1988, Polgár finished first in a 10-player round-robin tournament
Round-robin tournament
A round-robin tournament is a competition "in which each contestant meets all other contestants in turn".-Terminology:...
in London, scoring 7–2, for a half point lead over Israeli GM Yair Kraidman
Yair Kraidman
Yair Kraidman is an Israeli chess grandmaster.He played for Israel in ten Chess Olympiads.* In 1958, he played at second reserve board at the 13th Chess Olympiad in Munich ....
. In 1988, she made her first International Norm in the International B section of the New York Open and by November 1988 she was awarded the International Master title, at the time the youngest ever to have achieved the distinction. Both Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
and Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....
were 14 when they were awarded the title. Polgár was 12. It was during this time that former World Champion Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal was a Soviet–Latvian chess player, a Grandmaster, and the eighth World Chess Champion.Widely regarded as a creative genius, and the best attacking player of all time, he played a daring, combinatorial style. His play was known above all for improvisation and unpredictability....
said Polgár had the potential to win the men's World Championship.
Judit was asked about playing against boys instead of the girls' section of tournmanents. "These other girls are not serious about chess", she said. "I practice five or six hours a day. But they get distracted by cooking and work around the house." By age 12, she was rated 2555, which was 35 rating points ahead of the Women's World Champion Maia Chiburdanidze
Maia Chiburdanidze
Maia Chiburdanidze is a Georgian chess grandmaster, and the seventh Women's World Chess Champion. She is the only chess player in history who has won nine Chess Olympiads....
. Judit's quiet and modest demeanour at the board contrasted with the intensity of her playing style. David Norwood
David Norwood
David Robert Norwood is an English chess Grandmaster, chess writer, and businessman who now represents Andorra at Chess.The son of an electrician, Norwood read history at Keble College, Oxford University before joining city investment bank Banker's Trust in 1991. FIDE awarded him the International...
, British GM, in recalling Judit beating him when he was an established player and she was just a child, described her as, "this cute little auburn-haired monster who crushed you." British journalist, Dominic Lawson
Dominic Lawson
Dominic Ralph Campden Lawson is a British journalist.-Background:Educated at Westminster School and then Christ Church, Oxford, he is the elder son of a former Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer Lord Lawson and socialite Vanessa Salmon, heir to the Lyons Corner House empire, who died of...
wrote about 12-year-old Judit's "killer" eyes and how she would stare at her opponent, "The irises are so grey so dark they are almost indistinguishable from the pupils. Set against her long red hair, the effect is striking."
Before age 13 she had broken into the top 100 players in the world and the British Chess Magazine
British Chess Magazine
British Chess Magazine is the world's oldest chess magazine in continuous publication. First published in January 1881, it has appeared at monthly intervals ever since. It is frequently known in the chess world as BCM....
declared, "Judit Polgár's recent results make the performances of Fischer and Kasparov at a similar age pale by comparison. British GM Nigel Short
Nigel Short
Nigel David Short MBE is an English chess grandmaster earning the title at the age of 19. Short is often regarded as the strongest English player of the 20th century as he was ranked third in the world, from January 1988 – July 1989 and in 1993, he challenged Garry Kasparov for the World Chess...
called Judit, "one of the three or four greatest chess prodigies in history." The other great chess prodigies being Paul Morphy
Paul Morphy
Paul Charles Morphy was an American chess player. He is considered to have been the greatest chess master of his era and an unofficial World Chess Champion. He was a chess prodigy...
, José Capablanca and Samuel Reshevsky
Samuel Reshevsky
Samuel "Sammy" Herman Reshevsky was a famous chess prodigy and later a leading American chess Grandmaster...
. However, not everyone was as enthusiastic and male chauvinism still existed. "She has fantastic chess talent", said Kasparov. "but she is, after all a woman. It all comes down to the imperfections of the feminine psyche. No woman can sustain a prolonged battle."
In 1989, Polgár tied with Boris Gelfand for third in the OHRA Open in Amsterdam.
By now numerous books and articles had been written about the Polgár sisters making them famous even outside of the world of chess. In 1989, American President George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara met with the Polgárs during their visit to Hungary. Although not released until 1996, in 1990 a documentary about children playing chess, Chess Kids, featuring Polgár was filmed. The documentary did not include an interview with Polgár as her father required payment.
In 1990, Judit won the Boys section of the under-14 in the World Youth Chess Festival in Fond-du-Lac, Wisconsin. Also in 1990, Judit and her sisters represented Hungary on the Olympic women's team winning the gold medal. As of 2011, it is the last women-only tournament in which Judit would ever participate.
In October 1991, Judit finished with 5½–3½ points, tied for third to fifth position with Zoltán Ribli and John Nunn
John Nunn
John Denis Martin Nunn is one of England's strongest chess players and once belonged to the world's top ten. He is also a three times world champion in chess problem solving, a chess writer and publisher, and a mathematician....
at a tournament in Vienna.
Grandmaster
In December 1991, Polgár qualified as a Grandmaster by winning the Hungarian National ChampionshipHungarian Chess Championship
The inaugural Hungarian Chess Championship was held in the city of Győr in 1906. Initially, there was no governing body responsible for its organisation, until the formation of the Hungarian Chess Federation. The HCF first appeared in 1911, but failed to establish itself properly until 1923...
, at the time the youngest ever at 15 years, 5 months to have achieved the title. This beat Fischer's record by a month. Hungary, one of the strongest chess-playing countries, had all but one of the best players participate in that year's championship. Only Zoltán Ribli was missing. Going into the last round Polgár needed only a draw to achieve the GM title, but she won her game against GM Tibor Tolnai to win first place with six points in nine games. In January 1991, Judit's sister Susan had also earned the GM title. Susan had the distinction of being the first woman to earn the GM title by achieving three GM norms and rating over 2500 as previous female GMs, Nona Gaprindashvili and Maia Chiburdanidze, were awarded the title by winning the Women's World Championship.
In 1992, Polgár tied for second behind Anatoly Karpov at the Madrid International in Linares. She and Russian GM Vladimir Epishin
Vladimir Epishin
Vladimir Epishin is a Russian chess grandmaster with an Elo-rating of 2610.He finished third in the 58th USSR Chess Championship...
finished with 5½–3½. In July 1992, she placed second in the Reshevsky Memorial in Manhattan finishing with four wins, five draws and no losses. In September 1992, Polgár participated in a tournament held in Aruba in which a team of senior men's players competed against a team of top women players. The men's team consisted of Lev Polugaevsky, Wolfgang Uhlmann, Oscar Panno, Efim Geller, Borislav Ivkov and Vasily Smyslov. The women's team consisted of Judit and Zsuzsa Polgár, Pia Cramling, Maia Chiburdanidze, Ketevan Arakhamia and Alisa Galliamova. The Men won the tournament 39–33. The overall high scorer was Polugaevsky, 57 years old with Polgár, 16, finishing second with 7½–4½.
Polgár then tied for first in the Hastings tournament held over New Years, 1992–93. Russian GM Evgeny Bareev
Evgeny Bareev
Evgeny Bareev is a Russian chess Grandmaster and chess coach. In October 2003, he was in fourth place in the world rankings, with an Elo rating of 2739....
, at the time ranked eighth in the world, led going into tournament's last round, but was crushed by Polgár in their individual game allowing her to share first. Immediately following the Hastings tournament, Polgár played an exhibition match in February against former World Champion, Boris Spassky. She won the match 5½–4½ and won the largest prize money to that point in her career of $110,000. Polgár also participated in the Melody Amber tournament in Monaco which featured a blindfold tournament of 12 grandmasters. Anand and Karpov finished first, Ljubojevic third, while Polgár finished in clear fourth with 6½ points from 11 rounds ahead of other strong GMs such as Ivanchuk, Short, Korchnoi
Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ; pronounced in the original Russian as "karch NOY"; Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, born March 23, 1931 is a professional chess player, author and currently the oldest active grandmaster on the tournament circuit...
and her sister Susan.
In 1993, Polgár became the first woman to ever qualify for a Men's Interzonal tournament. In March, she finished in a four-way tie for second place in the Budapest Zonal and then won the tiebreaking tournament. She then confirmed her status as one of the world's leading players, narrowly failing to qualify for the Candidates Tournament
Candidates Tournament
The Candidates Tournament is a chess tournament organized by the world chess federation FIDE since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship...
s at the rival FIDE and PCA
Professional Chess Association
The Professional Chess Association , which existed between 1993 and 1996, was a rival organisation to FIDE, the international chess organization...
Interzonal
Interzonal
Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by FIDE, the World Chess Federation, and were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle.- Zonal tournaments :...
tournaments.
In the summer of 1993, Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
stayed for a time in the Polgár household. He had been living in seclusion in Yugoslavia due to an arrest warrant issued by the United States for violating the U.N. blockade of Yugoslavia with his 1992 match against Spassky, and for tax evasion. Susan Polgár met Bobby with her family and persuaded him to come out of hiding "in a cramped hotel room in a small Yugoslavian village". During his stay he played many games of Fischer Random Chess
Chess960
Chess960 is a chess variant invented and advocated by former World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer, originally announced on June 19, 1996 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It employs the same board and pieces as standard chess, but the starting position of the pieces is randomized along the players' home...
and helped the sisters analyse their games. Susan said, while he was friendly on a personal level and recalled mostly pleasant moments as their guest, there were conflicts due to his political views. On the suggestion of a friend of Fischer, a match of blitz chess between Fischer and Polgár was arranged and announced to the press. However, problems ensued between Fischer and László Polgár and Fischer cancelled the match, saying to a friend on whether the match would take place, "No, they're Jewish."
In the summer of 1994, Polgár had the greatest success of her career to that point, when she won the Madrid International in Spain. Running away with the tournament, against a field which included Gata Kamsky, Evgeny Bareev, Valery Salov and Ivan Sokolov, she finished 7–2 and 1½ points ahead of the field. Her performance rating for the tournament was 2778 against an opposition rated at 2672.
In October 1994, she played in a strong tournament in Buenos Aires which was a tribute to an ailing Lev Polugaevsky. Eight grandmasters, all considered contenders for the world championship: Karpov, Anand, Salov, Ivanchuk, Kamsky, Shirov, Ljubojevic and Polgár. The tournament was unusual as each game was required to play a Sicilian Defence
Sicilian Defence
The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the moves:The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4...
, since Polugaevsky was considered the all-time authority on the opening. This was to Polgár's advantage as it was her favourite. Against the elite competition she finished tied for third with Ivanchuk.
In September 1995, Polgár finished third in a tournament in the Donner Memorial in Amsterdam, behind Jan Timman and Julio Granda Zuniga who tied for first. Scoring 7–4, finishing ahead of Yasser Seirawan, Alexander Khuzman, Alexey Shirov, Alexander Khalifman, Alexander Morozevich and Valery Salov. She secured a clear third place with a 21-move win over Shirov in her last game. In the Antillean island of Aruba in November 1995, she played in a friendly match against 26 year old, Jeroen Piket of the Netherlands, at the time one of the top players in Europe. Despite being closely matched in ratings, Polgár won the match 6–2.
Lewis
Lewis is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The total area of Lewis is ....
chess club in Scotland attempted to arrange a game between Polgár and Nigel Short in which the famous Lewis chessmen
Lewis chessmen
The Lewis Chessmen are a group of 78 12th-century chess pieces, most of which are carved in walrus ivory...
would be used. The Lewis chessmen is a chess set carved in the 12th century. However, the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
refused to release the set despite assurances that the players would wear gloves. Scottish member of parliament Calum MacDonald pointed out that the set would be safe especially as chess was not a contact sport. In the end, the Museum allowed the chess set to be displayed at the Isle of Lewis festival tournament, but they were not used in any games. Polgár won the double round-robin tournament of four GMs scoring five points in the six games and winning both her games against Short.
Kasparov touch-move controversy
At Linares 1994, Polgár suffered a controversial defeat at the hands of then-world champion Garry KasparovGarry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....
. The tournament marked the first time the 17-year-old Polgár was invited to compete with the world's strongest players. After four games she had two points, which was a fair result considering she was rated third from last in the very strong event. Matched with Kasparov in the fifth round, the World Champion changed his mind after making a move and then made another move instead. (According to chess rules, once a player has released a piece, he cannot make a different move. So Kasparov should have been required to play his original move.) Polgár said she did not challenge this, explaining afterwards, "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 penalized on the clock when we were in time pressure." She was unaware at the time that the re-move was caught on tape by a television crew: the videotape showed Kasparov's fingers were free of the knight for six frames (meaning, at 24 frames per second, Kasparov had released the piece for ¼ of a second). The tournament director
International Arbiter
In chess, International Arbiter is a title awarded by FIDE to individuals deemed capable of acting as arbiter in important chess matches . The title was established in 1951....
was criticised for not forfeiting Kasparov when the videotape evidence was made available to him. At one point Polgár reportedly confronted Kasparov in the hotel bar, asking him, "How could you do this to me?" Kasparov told reporters that his conscience was clear, as he was not aware of his hand leaving the piece. Although Polgár recovered by the end of the tournament, she went into a slump over the next six rounds, gaining only half a point. In Chess for Dummies, James Eade
James Eade
James Eade is an American chess master, chess politician, chess tournament organizer, and chess book publisher. He holds the title of FIDE Master. He is best known for his book Chess for Dummies which is one of the best selling chess books of all time. He was a member of the Policy Board of the...
commented on the game, writing, "If even world champions break the rules, what hope do the rest of us have?"
Strongest female player ever
Polgár is by far the strongest female chess player of all time.The January 1996 FIDE ratings list was a landmark as Polgár's 2675 rating made her the No. 10 ranked player in the world, the only woman ever to enter the world's Top Ten.
In August 1996, Polgár participated in a very strong 10–player tournament in Vienna. There was a three–way tie for first between Karpov, Topalov and Boris Gelfand and a three–way tie for fourth between Kramnik, Polgár and Peter Leko. In December 1996, Polgár played a match in São Paulo against Brazil's champion Gilbert Milos. The four games were played at 30 moves an hour with 30 minutes for the remainder of the game. Polgár won two, drew one and lost one and won $12,000 in prize money.
In February 1997, she played in the Linares "supertournament" which Kasparov won by edging out Kramnik. Polgár finished in clear fifth position in the 12-GM tournament, ahead of Anand, Ivanchuk, Gelfand and Shirov. Her result was considered exceptional considering the strength of the tournament, average 2701, and she was praised for her tactical skills in her game against Ivanchuk. In April 1997, she played in the Dos Hermanas Chess tournament, a single-round robin category XIX event of 10 of the world's best players. She finished in sixth place with an even score of 4½–4½. In June 1997, she finished with an even score, 4½–4½, in the Madrid 10-player GM tournament won by Topalov. In July 1997, Polgár competed in the elite Dortmund International Tournament. She finished in fifth in the strong field of ten, ahead of players such as Anatoly Karpov. In the tournament, she won playing with the black pieces against Veselin Topalov, at the time ranked fourth in the world. Topalov had the advantage until Polgár executed a deep positional sacrifice. In October 1997, she tied for second in a double round-robin tournament of four grand masters in the VAM International Tournament in Hoogeveen, the Netherlands.
"There has long been a lively debate about who is the strongest player of all", wrote GM Robert Byrne in his New York Times column of Aug.26, 1997. "Prominent candidates are Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov, Jose Raul Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine or Emanuel Lasker. But there is no argument about the greatest female player: she is 21-year-old Judit Polgár."
FIDE World Chess Championship 1998
The FIDE World Chess Championship 1998 was contested in a match between the FIDE World Champion Anatoly Karpov and the challenger Vishwanathan Anand. The match took place between 2 January and 9 January 1998 in Lausanne, Switzerland. The challenger was determined in a tournament held in Groningen,...
. In August 1998, Polgár became the first woman to ever win the U.S. Open held at the Kona Surf Resort in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. She shared the tournament victory with GM Boris Gulko as each scored 8–1. Typical of her aggressive style was her victory against GM Georgi Kacheishvili in which she sacrificed her queen for the attack. In October 1998, Polgár won the VAM four-grandmaster tournament in Hoogeveen, Netherlands by 1½ points over Jan Timman. In November 1998, Polgár played in the Wydra Memorial Rapid chess tournament in Israel. She tied for first with Viswanathan Anand as both scored 11½ out of the 14 games. Anand won the tournament in a tie-break game over Polgár.
In the two years since Polgár became the first woman to ever break into the top 10, her rating had dropped. Although she was in the top 20, this had the effect of her being invited less frequently to the strongest tournaments.
In October 1999, Polgár participated in the four-player GM section of the VAM Chess tournament in Hoogeveen, Netherlands. Jan Timman lead early in the tournament, but Polgár staged a comeback scoring 3 points in the last 4 games to share first place. Anatoly Karpov finished in third and Darmen Sadvakasov last.
In January 2000, Polgár had, for her, a disappointing result in a tournament in Pamplona, Spain which was won by Nigel Short. She finished with only 4 points from 9 games, tied for 6–7 place with Jan Timman, who had also played below his rating. Polgár had another disappointing result later in the month in the category XVIII tournament in Corus Wijk aan Zee which was won by Kasparov. She did not win her first game until the 11th round and finished with 5 points in 13 games, tied with Victor Korchnoi for 11–12 position among the fourteen GMs. However, in the European Teams Championship in Batumi, Georgia, also in January, she won the gold medal playing Board 2, scoring 6½–2½.
In April and May 2000, Polgár won one of the strongest tournaments ever held in Asia. The Japfa Classic in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia was a category XVI event of 10 players in which included Alexander Khalifman–at the time FIDE world champion– and Anatoly Karpov–his predecessor. Going into the last round four players, Polgár, Khalifman, Karpov and Gilberto Milos were tied, but Polgár won her game over Braziliam GM Milos while Khalifman and Karpov played against each other in a draw. Polgár finished clear first with 6½–2½, winning the $20,000 first place prize money. At the end of May, she won the Sigeman & Company International Tournament in Malmö, Sweden. She finished the four-player double round-robin tournament scoring 4 points, with Jan Timman at 3½ with Ulf Andersson and Tiger Hillarp-Persson finishing in that order. In June 2000, she played in the GM Tournament Mérida, State of Yucatán, finishing in second place a half point behind Alexei Shirov. In September 2000, she shared first place in the Najdorf Chess Festival with Viktor Bologan, ahead of Nigel Short and Anatoly Karpov. In October and November, she represented Hungary playing board 3 in the 34th Chess Olympiad. While the Hungarian team narrowly missed winning the Bronze medal, Polgár finished 10/13 for the second highest points total of any player in the Olympiad and a rated performance level of 2772.
In late February and early March 2001, Polgár played in the elite Linares double round-robin invitational of six of the world's strongest players. The tournament was Kasparov's triumph as he scored 7½ points in 10 games. The other five participants, Polgár, Karpov, Shirov, Grischuk
Alexander Grischuk
Alexander Igorevich Grischuk is a Russian chess grandmaster and Russian Champion in 2009.-Chess career:In the FIDE World Chess Championship 2000, Grischuk he made it to the semifinals, losing to Alexei Shirov....
and Leko
Péter Lékó
On the way to winning the prestigious Corus chess tournament in 2005, Lékó defeated Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand with the black pieces. The moves were:...
all finished with 4½ for second and last position. However, Polgár drew both her games with Kasparov, the first time in her career she had done this under tournament time controls. In March 2001, she reached the semifinals of the World Cup rapid play tournament in Cannes. She made it to the final four from the 16 grandmasters in the tournament. She lost the semifinal match to Evgeny Bareev, who in turn lost to Kasparov. In a quarterfinal playoff blitz game, she forced Joël Lautier
Joel Lautier
Joël Lautier is a French chess grandmaster and FIDE Senior Trainer .Born in Canada, of French father and Japanese mother, Lautier is one of the strongest grandmasters from France. He won the 1988 World Junior Chess Championship on tiebreak at Adelaide, and the French Chess Championships in 2004...
, France's strongest player, to resign in 12 moves when she won his queen which resulted in the audience of several hundred bursting into applause. In June 2001, Polgár finished fourth in the European Championship in Ohrid, Macedonia, a 13-round Swiss-system tournament of 143 Grandmasters and 38 IMs. In October 2001, she tied for first with GM Loek van Wely in the Essent Tourney in Hoogeveen, the Netherlands.
Making history
In September 2002, in the Russia versus the Rest of the World Match, Polgár finally defeated Garry Kasparov in a game. The tournament was played under rapid rules with 25 minutes per game and a 10 second bonus per move. She won the game with exceptional positional play. Kasparov with black chose the Berlin Defence instead of his usual SicilianSicilian Defence
The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the moves:The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4...
and Polgár proceeded with a line which Kasparov has used himself. Polgár was able to attack with her rooks on Kasparov's king which was still in the centre of the board and when he was two pawns down, Kasparov resigned. The game helped the World team win the match 52–48. Upon resigning, Kasparov immediately left by a passageway barred to journalists and photographers. Kasparov had once described Polgár as a "circus puppet" and asserted that women chess players should stick to having children. Polgár called the game, "One of the most remarkable moments of my career." Polgár thus became one of the players who have beaten Kasparov. The game was historic as not only the first time in chess history a female player beat the world's No. 1 player in competitive play, it was the first time in any sport that the No. 1 ranked male player has lost to the No. 1 ranked female player.
In October and November 2002, Polgár alternated with Peter Leko between first and second board for Hungary in the 35th Chess Olympiad. While not having the stunning performance as she had in the 2000 Olympiad, she was considered key to Hungary's silver medal as the veteran of the team and provided fighting spirit. While the Hungarians had the best won–loss record of the tournament as a team and lost only a single game of the 56 they played, they had won most of their matches by 2½–1½ scores, while the Russian team won gold as they piled up the points. However, Hungary gave the gold-winning Russian team its only defeat. Always the crowd-pleaser, Polgár roused the hall in her fourth round game against Azerbaijan's Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Shakhriyar Hamid oglu Mammadyarov , also known for his Shah nickname, is a chess Grandmaster. On the September 2010 FIDE rating list he was ranked number nine in the world with an Elo rating of 2756....
with a brilliant 12.Nxf7 drawing his king into the center of the board.
By early 2003, Polgár had worked her way back into the top 10 rated players in the world. In 2003, Polgár scored one of her best results: an undefeated clear second place in the Category 19 Corus chess tournament
Corus chess tournament
The Tata Steel Chess Tournament formerly called the Corus chess tournament takes place every year, usually in January, in a small town called Wijk aan Zee, part of the larger Beverwijk in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands...
in Wijk aan Zee
Wijk aan Zee
Wijk aan Zee is a small town on the coast of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk in the province of North Holland of the Netherlands. The prestigious Tata Steel chess tournament formerly Corus chess tournament and before that called Hoogovens tournament takes place there every year.Due...
, Netherlands, just a half-point behind future World Champion Viswanathan Anand
Viswanathan Anand
V. Anand or Anand Viswanathan, usually referred as Viswanathan Anand, is an Indian chess Grandmaster, the current World Chess Champion, and currently second highest rated player in the world....
, and a full point ahead of then-world champion Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007...
. One of the highlight games of the tournament was Polgár's fourth round crushing victory over Anatoly Karpov. She played a novelty in the opening which she devised over the board. The game lasted 33 moves with Karpov down two pawns and his king exposed. Polgár admitted to "enjoying herself" by the end of the game. In April 2003, Polgár finished second in The Hunguest Hotels Super Tournament in Budapest behind Nigel Short. She appeared headed for a first place victory in the tournament, but lost her game against compatriot Peter Leko. In June 2003, Polgár finished tied for third with Boris Gelfand, in the Enghien-les-Bains International Tournament in France, scoring 5½–3½, behind Evgeny Bareev who won the tournament and GM Michael Adams. In August 2003, Polgár played an eight-game rapid chess match in Mainz, Germany against Viswanathan Anand, billed as the "Battle of the Sexes". After six games each player had won three games. Anand won the final two games to win the match. In October 2003, Polgár won the 4–grandmaster Essent tournament in Hoogeveen, Netherlands. In one of her games against Karpov, he blundered, allowing Polgár to utilize a famous, ancient sacrifice first employed by Emanuel Lasker against Bauer in 1889.
Combining family and chess
In 2004, Polgár took some time off from chess to give birth to her son, Olivér. She was consequently considered inactive and not listed on the January 2005 FIDE rating list. Her sister Susan reactivated her playing status during this period, and temporarily became the world's No. 1 ranked women's player again.Polgár returned to chess at the prestigious Corus chess tournament on January 15, 2005. The tournament, which was now considered by some as the most important in Europe, was won by fellow Hungarian Peter Leko while Polgár scored 7/13 to tie for fourth with Alexander Grischuk, Michael Adams and Kramnik. She was therefore relisted in the April 2005 FIDE rating list, gaining a few rating points for her better-than-par performance at Corus. In May she also had a better-than-par performance at a strong tournament in Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, finishing third. This brought her to her highest ever rating, 2735, in the July 2005 FIDE list and enabled her to retain her spot as the eighth ranked player in the world.
In September 2005, Polgár once again made history as she became the first woman to play for a World Championship, at the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005
FIDE World Chess Championship 2005
The FIDE World Chess Championship 2005 took place in Potrero de los Funes, San Luis Province in Argentina from September 27 to October 16, 2005. It was won by Veselin Topalov.-Background:...
. However, she had a rare disappointing performance, coming last out of the eight competitors. Polgár "was unrecognizable in her first-round encounter with Viswanathan Anand", wrote GM Robert Byrne in his New York Times column, "making more errors than she normally would in a dozen games." However, in her game against Veselin Topalov, Polgár pushed the eventual tournament winner and world champion to a seven-hour marathon before succumbing.
She did not play at the 2006 Linares tournament because she was pregnant again. On July 6, 2006, she gave birth to a girl, Hanna.
Polgár participitated in the FIDE world blitz championship September 5–7, 2006 in Rishon Le Zion, Israel. Blitz chess is played with each player having only 5 minutes for all moves. The round-robin tournament of 16 of some of the strongest players in the world, concluded with Alexander Grischuk finally edging out Peter Svidler in a tie-break to win the tournament. Polgár finished tied for fifth/sixth place, winning $5,625 for the three-day tournament. Polgár tied with Boris Gelfand with 9½ points and won her individual game against Viswanathan Anand, at the time the world's No. 2 player. In October 2006, Polgár scored another excellent result: tied for first place in the Essent Chess Tournament, Hoogeveen, Holland. She scored 4½ out of 6 in a double round-robin tournament that included two wins against the world's top-rated player, Veselin Topalov
Veselin Topalov
Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. He currently has the sixth highest rating in the world, and was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2010, losing the match 6½–5½....
. In December 2006, Polgár played a six-game match of blindfold rapid chess against former FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov. Topalov won the match 3½–2½ with two wins to Polgár's one. Nearly 1,000 spectators attended the event.
In May–June 2007 she played in the Candidates Tournament
Candidates Tournament
The Candidates Tournament is a chess tournament organized by the world chess federation FIDE since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship...
for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2007. She was eliminated in the first round, losing 3½–2½ to Evgeny Bareev
Evgeny Bareev
Evgeny Bareev is a Russian chess Grandmaster and chess coach. In October 2003, he was in fourth place in the world rankings, with an Elo rating of 2739....
. Some chess pundits said she was unprepared for the tournament and appeared affected by the fact that she'd played less chess in the last three years to concentrate on her two children. However, she was still credited with the most beautiful attack of the tournament in her fifth game victory. In July 2007, Polgár played in the Biel Chess Festival which was won by 16-year-old Magnus Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess Grandmaster and chess prodigy who is currently the number-one ranked player in the world. In January 2010 he became the seventh player ranked number one in the world on the official FIDE rating list...
. Polgár finished the 9 round tournament at 5–4 in a four-way tie for third to sixth place. A highlight game for her was actually a draw. Polgár was playing an endgame of knight against knight and two connected passed pawns of Alexander Grischuk, but she was able to eliminate both pawns. In October 2007, Polgár played in the Blindfold World Cup in Bilbao, Spain. Polgár finished in fourth place of the six players with three wins, four losses, and three draws. The tournament was won by Bu Xiangzhi of China, whose only loss was to Polgár. In November 2007, she took part in Chess Champions League – Playing for a Better World in Vitoria Gasteiz, Spain a tournament to raise funds for equipment for a Hospital in Mbuji-Mayi, Congo. Polgár finished tied for third in the strong six-player tournament and handed tournament winner Veselin Topalov his only loss.
In January 2008 she competed in the strong Corus Wijk aan Zee tournament, scoring a respectable 6/13 and tied 9–11 in the 14 player tournament. In November 2008, Polgár had a terrible result in The World Chess Blitz Championship in Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan, finished last of the 16 players with only 2½ points. In November 2008, Polgár played the number 2 board for the Hungarian open ("men's") team in the 38th Chess Olympiad
38th Chess Olympiad
The 38th Chess Olympiad, organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between 12–25 November 2008, in Dresden, Germany and was won by Armenia.The 2010 Olympiad is...
in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, finishing 3½/8.
In November 2009, Polgár participated in the FIDE World Cup at Khanty Mansisyk in Siberia. Polgár made it to the third round of the knockout tournament until she was eliminated by tournament winner Boris Gelfand. She handed Gelfand his only loss of the tournament.
Return to competition
In 2010, Judit began her return to competitive chess and would play more than she had in recent years. In March 2010, Polgár played a four-game match against GM Gregory Kaidanov at Hilton Head, South Carolina. It was required that each game begin with the Sicilian Defense. The match was drawn with each player wining two games. In April 2010, Polgár played an eight-game rapid chess match against Czech GM David NavaraDavid Navara
David Navara is a chess Grandmaster from Czech Republic. On the April 2007 FIDE rating list he was ranked number 14 in the world with an Elo rating of 2720, making him the highest ranked Czech player....
which was part of the ČEZ Chess Trophy 2010 festival of the Prague Chess Society. Despite being younger, 25 to Polgár's 33 years, and higher rated, 2708 to Polgár's 2682, Navara was crushed by Polgár who won the match 6–2. Polgár participated in the rapid chess tournament of the Presidential Chess Cup in Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
, Azerbaijan from April 29 to May 1, 2010. She finished with one win, two losses and four draws, tied for fifth–sixth position in the eight-player round robin. The tournament finished with a three-way tie for first with the winner, Kramnik being decided by Elo over Mamedyarov and Kamsky. In June 2010, it was reported Polgár is assisting GM Zoltán Almási
Zoltan Almasi
Zoltán Almási is a Grandmaster of chess from Hungary. He is a seven-time Hungarian Chess Champion, winning in 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2008...
in training for the Olympiad.
In September and October 2010, Polgár played 3rd board for the Hungarian Men's team in the 39th Chess Olympiad
39th Chess Olympiad
The 39th Chess Olympiad, organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place in 2010 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, on to...
in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The team finished in fourth place losing the Bronze medal to Israel on tie-break. Playing more in 2010 than in recent years, Polgár finished fourth overall among Board three players with a 6/10 score. Highlight for the Hungarian Men's team was a fifth-round victory over Russia I. In November 2010, Polgár won the four-player rapid tournament which was held to celebrate the National University of Mexico's
National Autonomous University of Mexico
The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México is a university in Mexico. UNAM was founded on 22 September 1910 by Justo Sierra as a liberal alternative to the Roman Catholic-sponsored Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) (National Autonomous...
100th anniversary. Polgár won a close opening match against Vassily Ivanchuk. She then crushed Veselin Topalov, a former world champion and ranked No. 1 in the world in 2009, 3½–½ to win the tournament.
On April 2, 2011, Polgár finished in a four-way tie for first in the European Individual Chess Championship in Aix-les-Bains, France. The tournament, of 393 players of which 167 were Grandmasters, was won by Russian Vladimir Potkin
Vladimir Potkin
Vladimir Potkin is a Russian chess Grandmaster .In 2007 he tied for 1st-9th with Alexei Fedorov, Andrei Deviatkin, Aleksej Aleksandrov, Viacheslav Zakhartsov, Alexander Evdokimov, Denis Khismatullin, Evgeny Tomashevsky and Sergei Azarov in the Aratovsky Memorial in Saratov...
on tie-break, GM Radosław Wojtaszek won the silver, while Polgár placed third, winning the bronze. Polgár was praised for her creative attacks and endgame technique. Polgár became the first woman ever to finish in the top three of the male championship. Continuing Polgár's return to competitive chess, in July 2011 she participated in the 39th Greek Team National Championship scoring 3.5 out of 4 games. Also in July 2011, Polgar played Board 3 for Hungary in the World Team Championships. Hungary finished in fifth place of the ten teams and individually Polgar sixteenth of the fifty players.
In September 2011, Polgár competed in the Chess World Cup
Chess World Cup 2011
The Chess World Cup 2011 was a chess 128-player single-elimination tournament, played between 26 August and 21 September 2011, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia...
, a 128-player tournament with a large prize fund and qualification to the top three for the World Championship cycle. Polgar made it to the final 8 players before she was eliminated by Peter Svidler
Peter Svidler
Peter Veniaminovich Svidler is a Russian chess grandmaster.He is six-time Russian champion ....
. A highlight for Polgár was her elimination of the tournament's No. 1 seed and world's fifth highest rated player, Sergey Karjakin
Sergey Karjakin
Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was a chess prodigy and holds the record for both the youngest International Master, eleven years and eleven months, and grandmaster in history, at the age of twelve years and seven months...
. In October 2011, Polgar took part in the Unive 2011 competition. She finished last in the elite four-player Crown group, losing games to Vladmir Kramnik and Anish Giri
Anish Giri
Anish Giri is a chess prodigy. He met his final grandmaster norm at the age of 14 years, 7 months and 2 days when he beat Venezuelan GM Eduardo Iturrizaga in the C Group of the 2009 Corus Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands....
.
In September 2011, Polgár finally returned to "Super GM" status with a FIDE rating of 2701 and by November she had raised it to 2710 and ranked 35 in the world.
Playing style
While having a solid understanding of positional play, Polgár excels in tactics and is known for an aggressive playing style, striving to maximize the initiative and actively pursuing complications. The former World Champion Garry KasparovGarry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....
wrote that, based upon her games, "if to 'play like a girl' meant anything in chess, it would mean relentless aggression." In her youth, she was especially popular with the fans due to her willingness to employ wild gambits and attacks. As a teenager, Polgár has been credited with contributing to the popularity of the opening variation King's Bishop's Gambit. Polgár prefers aggressive openings, playing 1.e4 as White and the Sicilian
Sicilian Defence
The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the moves:The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4...
or King's Indian Defence with black, but she has also said her opening choices will also depend upon her trainer. Jennifer Shahade
Jennifer Shahade
Jennifer Shahade is an American chess player and writer. She is a two-time American women's chess champion and, as of October 2007, has a FIDE rating of 2322. She has the FIDE title of Woman Grandmaster. Jennifer is the author of the book Chess Bitch...
, writer and two-time U.S. women's chess champion, suggested that the influence of Polgár as a role model may be one of the reasons women play more aggressive chess than men. Describing an individual encounter with Polgár, former U.S. Champion Joel Benjamin
Joel Benjamin
Joel Benjamin is an American chess Grandmaster. In 1998, he was voted "Grandmaster of the Year" by the U.S. Chess Federation. , his Elo rating was 2576, making him the No. 12 player in the U.S. and the 214th-highest rated player in the world.-Life and career:Benjamin is a native of Brooklyn, New...
said, "It was all-out war for five hours. I was totally exhausted. She is a tiger at the chessboard. She absolutely has a killer instinct. You make one mistake and she goes right for the throat."
Polgár is especially adept at faster time controls. When still a youth, Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
wrote of Polgár, "her tactical thunderstorms during blitz games have confounded many opponents, who are rated higher."
Polgár has spoken of appreciating the psychological aspect of chess. She has stated preferring to learn an opponent's style so she can play intentionally against him rather than playing "objective" chess. In her 2002 victory over Kasparov, she deliberately chose a line Kasparov used against Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007...
, employing the strategy of forcing the opponent to "play against himself". Kasparov's response was inadequate and he soon found himself in an inferior position. In an interview regarding playing against computers
Computer chess
Computer chess is computer architecture encompassing hardware and software capable of playing chess autonomously without human guidance. Computer chess acts as solo entertainment , as aids to chess analysis, for computer chess competitions, and as research to provide insights into human...
she said, "Chess is 30 to 40% psychology. You don't have this when you play a computer. I can't confuse it."
Chess professional
"You have to be very selfish sometimes", said Polgár in speaking of the life of professional chessplayer. "If you are in a tournament, you have to think of yourself—–you can't think of your wife or children—only about yourself." When asked in 2002 if she still desired to win the world championship she said, "Chess is my profession and of course I hope to improve. But I'm not going to give up everything to become world champion; I have my life."Polgár has said she does not have a permanent coach although she does have help from GM Lev Psakhis
Lev Psakhis
Lev Borisovich Psakhis is a naturalised Israeli chess grandmaster, trainer and author. Born in Siberia, he is also a two-time former champion of the Soviet Union.-Biography:...
or GM Mihail Marin
Mihail Marin
Mihail Marin is a Romanian chess Grandmaster. As of July 2011, his FIDE rating is 2548. Marin's first major success in international chess was in qualifying for the Interzonal in 1987. He has won three Romanian Championships and has played in the Chess Olympiads ten times, winning a bronze...
. She said she rarely uses a second and when she travels to tournaments it is usually her husband who accompanies her. Polgár said she has changed how she prepares for tournaments. "I make more use of my experience now and try to work more efficiently so that my efforts aren't wasted", she said in 2008.
Concentrating on her two children left Polgár with little time to train and play competitively and her ranking dropped from eighth in 2005 to the mid-50s in 2009. However, as of September 2010 Polgár remained the only woman in the top 100 and still the only woman to have ever made the top 10. Comparing motherhood to playing chess, Polgár has said that a chess tournament now "feels like a vacation." When asked why she came back to chess after taking time off to care for her children, she said "I cannot live without chess! It is an integral part of my life. I enjoy the game!"
Despite being the highest-rated woman for twenty years, Polgár has never competed for the women's world championship and in a 2011 interview was asked about this possibility. Polgár said that in the past she has never been interested in competing for it, but in recent years "the mentality of a couple of the women players has changed". Polgár said that for her to consider competing it would have to be a challenge and "if I get an extremely nice offer just to play for the title."
Polgár authored a children's book on chess, Chess Playground. Her sister Sophia provided illustrations. In recent years, Polgár designed a chess programme for the older students of a kindergarten school in Budapest, Hungary.
Personal life
Members of Polgár's family perished in the HolocaustThe Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
, and her grandmother was a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp
Auschwitz concentration camp
Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
.
In August 2000, Polgár married Hungarian veterinary surgeon Gusztáv Font. They have two children.
While Judit remained in Hungary, the rest of her family eventually emigrated; Sofia and her parents to Israel and later to Canada, and Susan to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Illustrative games
- J. Polgár–V. Anand, Dos Hermana 1999 Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen Variation. Delayed Keres Attack Perenyi Gambit (B90) · 1–0 Former trainer for the Polgárs, IM Tibor Károlyi, called this the most beautiful game ever played by a woman.
- Judit Polgár–Ferenc Berkes, Hunguest Hotels Super Chess Tournament 2003 · French Defense: Classical. Burn Variation Main Line (C11) · 1–0 Judit's opponent falls for a clever trap, expecting her to play 14.Bxa8 and he would reply with 14...g4!, but she springs 14.g4!!
- Alexey Shirov–Judit Polgar, Buenos Aires ARG 1994 · Sicilian Defense: Paulsen. Normal Variation (B45) · 0–1 Polgar uses a novelty to break up Shirov's pawn front and even offers to sacrifice her queen. She used only 48 minutes to win this game.
- Polgar–Garry Kasparov, Russia vs. The Rest of the World match, Moscow 2002 Spanish Game: Berlin Defense. l'Hermet Variation (C67) · 1–0 Polgar makes history when, for the first time ever, a woman defeats the world's No. 1 chess player in a game.