Known for her ruthless attacking style, Grandmaster Judit Polgár is one of the most storied competitors in the history of chess. The former world number eight, Polgár was the top-rated female player for an astonishing 26 years between 1989 and 2015, and is widely considered the strongest female player of all time.

Her list of scalps reads like a who’s who of chess heroes – she scored wins against 11 world champions, a group including Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Boris Spassky, and current world number one Magnus Carlsen.

Family support from the get-go

“My success was based on the extreme dedication of my parents,” says Polgár. She and her two sisters – fellow chess stars Susan and Sofia – were home schooled, with daily intensive chess study. Though Judit is the youngest of the siblings, she was ultimately to go the furthest in the competitive chess world: she reached the coveted rank of youngest-ever grandmaster at 15, breaking the record set by American legend Bobby Fischer.

With their sights set on the highest reaches of international chess, the sisters soon ran into off-board opposition in the shape of the Hungarian Chess Federation, which objected to the Polgárs’ habit of shunning women-only events and entering men’s tournaments. Judit’s older sister Susan was even banned from travelling internationally for competition for a period of three years.

Aiming for true equality

Encountering these obstacles contributed to Polgár’s strong belief in the importance of gender equality, which remains a loaded topic in the chess world; the game is male dominated, with male players outnumbering women at all levels. 

“There is a place for women’s tournaments, such as the Julius Baer Women’s Speed Chess Championship, but at the same time I believe most chess competitions should be open,” says Polgár. “When we limit someone, or they limit themselves – you have to question where they will be able to reach when they are positioned on a lower level. So I think it’s very important that the top women players believe and support the idea that, yes, it’s possible for women to play in the open section – among the top 10, 20, 30, whatever.”

Becoming a role model

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Polgár’s parents were committed supporters of their daughters’ focus on finding the strongest opponents available, male or female. As she gained fans internationally, Polgár experienced both the pressure of competition and of being a woman in a male-dominated field. She found the label of “role model” for women intimidating, though she says this unsought aspect of her career proved “healthy” in the long run, showing her how to guide and support the next generations of players.  

“It’s very important to give positive feedback,” says Polgár, noting the way that unconscious bias can subtly influence a chess player’s direction from the earliest stages. The feedback given by a chess teacher or parent, she explains, can have a substantial impact on the way a young player imagines themselves and their career.

The sky’s the limit

“Say a coach sees a boy and a girl, both seven years old and talented in chess,” says Polgár. “Wanting to motivate the boy, the coach might say, ‘You can be a world champion – like Magnus Carlsen!’ To the girl, the coach might say, ‘You can become women’s world champion!’”

This sort of automatic rhetorical splitting is commonplace, Polgár continues: though adults mean well when they praise a young player, a budding talent hearing the regular refrain of “women’s world champion” may unconsciously steer herself away from mixed-gender competition, reducing her pool of potential opponents – and thus her opportunities for chess glory.

“I think women do at least as much damage as guys in this respect. There are many things we say routinely, without really thinking,” adds Polgár. “For us, it’s a responsibility. We must not limit girls just because they are girls.”

Teaching the next generation

Though she retired from competition in 2014, Polgár remains active in chess. She is a sought-after tournament commentator, providing coverage at fixtures including the Chess Olympiad, the FIDE Candidates and Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour, where she uses her experience at the top level to provide both positional and psychological analysis. She also runs the Judit Polgár Chess Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the use of chess as a learning tool, which runs events and classes for school-aged children.

“I established the Foundation more than 10 years ago. I’m working hard on promoting chess for everyone,” Polgár says. She has been told that her assertive chess style is visible in her other projects, whether writing books or running her Global Chess Festival, a yearly two-day event held in Budapest featuring lectures, chess-based interactive and educational programmes, programming classes, and tournaments, aimed at both adults and children and supported by the Foundation. Over the next decade, she hopes that more and more schools will bring chess into their curricula, recognising the enormous benefits the game can provide for cognitive development.

Chess for success

“The chess way of thinking can have a powerful effect on kids,” she explains. “How you connect the dots, the logical thinking, the decision-making process, and even the soft skills.” The game can also be enormously beneficial in the development of emotional resilience, adds Polgár, as it forces players to confront their shortcomings and study their mistakes.

“With every move, you have to make a decision and take responsibility,” says Polgár. “You have to be resilient, and I think that may be the key to success.”