Polgar, Susan
Last updated on Tue, 01/15/2008 at 9:03pm.
Susan Polgar, born Zsuzsanna Polgar in Budapest, Hungary, was the oldest of three sisters, Judit and Sophia Polgar. She discovered the game purely by accident when she was not quite four years old. She had been rummaging around in a closet looking for a doll when she came upon some small figurines that looked like a horse, a castle and a crown. She asked her mother what they were and she said that they were chess pieces and her father would teach her how to play with them when he got home.
Solving thousands of puzzles each day helped her become the player she is today. When Susan was still four, she competed in the girls' under eleven tournament in Budapest. Susan was by far the youngest participant, but she ended up winning the tournament with a perfect +10 -0 =0 score against opponents three times her age!
But that wasn't the end of it. At twelve, she won her first World Championship for those sixteen and under. At fifteen, she was ranked the top woman player in the world. At twenty-one, she became the very first woman ever to achieve the men's GM title. At twenty-three, Susan won her second and third WCCs, and at twenty-six her fourth one. With this, Susan Polgar became the first World Champion-male or female-to win the triple crown in chess!!!