The Greatest Female Chess Player!
Introduction:
Judit Polgár is largely recognized as the greatest female chess player of all time. She was born in Hungary on July 23, 1976.
At 15 years and 4 months old, Polgár became the youngest person to ever receive the title of Grandmaster in 1991, shattering the previous record held by former world champion Bobby Fischer.
At the age of twelve, she was the youngest player ever to enter the FIDE top 100 players rating list, coming in at No. 55 on the January 1989 rating list.
Since 2005, when she competed in the World Chess Championship, only one other woman has been a serious contender. Prior to that, she had taken part in numerous knockout events for the world championship that included more than 100 players.
She is the only female to have achieved an Elo rating higher than 2700, peaking at 2735 in 2005 and No. 8 in the world in 2004. She debuted in the top 10 of all chess players in 1996 and is the only female to hold that position. From January 1989 until her retirement on August 13, 2014, she ranked as the top-rated woman in the world
Early Life
Polgár was born to a Hungarian-Jewish family on July 23, 1976, in Budapest. Polgár and her two older sisters, Grandmaster Susan and International Master Sofia, took part in a study on education that their father, László Polgár, conducted to demonstrate that youngsters could achieve extraordinary feats if given specialized training from a young age. László's stance was that geniuses are created, not born. Chess was the primary subject taught to his wife Klára and their three daughters at home. László introduced his three daughters to Esperanto, a universal language. Authorities in Hungary opposed them since homeschooling was not a "socialist" strategy. Some Western commentators at the time criticized them for depriving the sisters of a typical childhood.
Women's World Champions were first proposed since traditionally, chess had been a male-dominated activity and women were frequently viewed as poorer players. László, however, was opposed to the idea that his daughters had to take part in events reserved for women from the start. In areas of intellectual activity, he remarked, "Women are able to achieve results similar to that of men." Since chess is an intellectual activity, this also holds true for chess. Therefore, we abhor any form of prejudice in this regard.
Due to the Hungarian Chess Federation's policy at the time, which allowed women to compete in women's-only events, the Polgárs were at odds with this. Susan, Polgár's older sister, first rebelled against the system by competing in men's competitions and declining to compete in women's events. Susan claimed that the reason she had not received the Grandmaster title despite having made the norm eleven times in 1985, when she was a 15-year-old International Master, was because of this conflict.
Career
Rarely participating in female-only competitions or divisions, Polgár has never taken part in the Women's World Championship. The Polgárs had also hired experienced chessplayers to train their daughters, including Hungarian champion IM Tibor Florian, GM Pal Benko, and Russian GM Alexander Chernin. László Polgár has been praised for being a great chess tutor. The first of the sisters to become well-known in chess through winning tournaments was Susan Polgár, the oldest of the siblings and 5 and1/2 years older than Sophia and 7 years older than Judit. By 1986, she was the top-rated female chess player in the world.
Judit Polgár was a chess prodigy from a young age, having been mentored by her sister Susan, who later won the title of Women's World Champion. She won a game of checkers at age 5 without consulting the board. Following the game, the friend made the following joke: "You are good at chess, but I'm a good cook." "Do you cook without looking at the stove?" Judit questioned. Susan, on the other hand, claimed that Judit was not the sister with the most talent, stating: "Judit was a slow starter, but very hard-working." At that age, Polgár characterized herself as "obsessive" about the game of chess. At the ages of 10 and 11, she first defeated a grandmaster, Lev Gutman, and an international master, Dolfi Drimer.
Judit was asked about playing against boys instead of in the girls' section of tournaments: "These other girls are not serious about chess... I practice five or six hours a day, but they get distracted by cooking and work around the house."
By winning the Hungarian National Championship in December 1991, Polgár became a grandmaster, being the youngest person ever to do so at the age of 15 years, 5 months. By a month, this broke Fischer's previous record. As a result, she became the fourth woman to hold the title of grandmaster (after Nona Gaprindashvili, Maia Chiburdanidze, and Susan Polgar's sister) and the first woman to hold the title of being the youngest grandmaster ever. By doing so, Polgar also surpassed Susan's record of becoming the youngest female grandmaster, set earlier in January 1991, by more than seven years. One of the strongest chess-playing nations, Hungary, sent all but one of its top players to the championship that year. Zoltán Ribli was the lone absentee.
In the past, Kasparov has called Polgár a "circus puppet" and said that female chess players should stick to raising kids. In 2002, Polgár defeated Kasparov and hailed the match as "one of [her] career's most remarkable moments." The match was significant because it marked the first time ever in competitive chess history that a female player defeated the top-ranked player in the world. The BBC Witness radio show featured an interview with Polgár and footage of the game in 2016.
Polgar's Style In Chess
Polgár is recognized for an aggressive playing style, trying to maximize the initiative and actively chasing complexities, while also possessing a great awareness of positional play. He also excels in tactics.
Personal life
Gusztáv Font, a veterinarian from Hungary, and Polgár were married in August 2000. A boy named Olivér was born in 2004 and a daughter named Hanna was born in 2006. Judit finally moved to Hungary, but her sisters and parents eventually left as well: Sofia went to Israel, Susan went to the US, and her parents went to both Israel and the US.
The Holocaust claimed the lives of several members of Polgár's family; only her grandmother survived the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Books
How I Beat Fischer's Record by Judit Polgar (in English, German, French, and Hungarian).
From GM to Top Ten by Judit Polgar (in English, German, French, and Hungarian).
A Game of Queens by Judit Polgar (in English, German, French, and Hungarian).
Chess instruction books for preschoolers and instructional tools for teachers (in Hungarian).
Judit has won many many awards as well.
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