Judit Polgar, the chess prodigy who beat men at their own game

[Evil Eye]

In the game of chess, one woman has dominated all others for more than 20 years.



Judit Polgar has defeated nine world champions including Garry Kasparov, Boris Spassky and Viswanathan Anand, and is the only female ever to join an exclusive coterie of players rated above 2700 by the World Chess Federation.



Although she is the only woman ranked among the World Chess Federation's Top 100, Polgar has never won the Women's World Championship. By 14, she had so outstripped her female peers that she ceased competing in women's tournaments.



I have no problem with other women, she said, but if I had played against ladies there would be a huge gap between the two of us.



I played against men because it was challenging, it was interesting, and I felt I could improve the fastest and the best (against them). It's very important to know what your aims and ambitions are.



In chess, women's tournaments are only open to females, but women may compete in tournaments for men. It was Polgar's older sister Susan who broke this gender barrier, becoming the first woman to qualify for the men's world championship in 1986, and the first woman to earn a men's grandmaster title in 1991. Younger sister, Sofia, is an International Chess Master, too.



The family's success ignited an ongoing debate about whether genius is born or created, the sexual politics of professional sport, and the value of mixed gender competition.



After Polgar became a mother in 2004, she posed another challenge to the establishment: She didn't retire. Currently ranked 44th in the world with a rating of 2698, and a mother of two, Polgar is competing at the Chess Olympiad, which begins in Istanbul this week, and in the London Chess Classic in December.

Full article: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/30/world/europe/judit-polgar/





I never knew chess had gender-separated tournaments... seems kinda silly.

 

[Locke]

It's done to preserve the player's concentration.



If your opponent has a nice rack, it might prove to be a challenge to keep your mind on the game.





(not really)

 

[Evil Eye]

Well if that's all it takes to break their composure...

 

[Locke]

Well if that's all it takes to break their composure...

Think about it, they're so good at chess they're at a tournament. Something tells me they didn't get that way by spending their free time with the fairer sex.

 

[Evil Eye]

Hmm, yes, but you'd think they'd be more interested in chess than in women.

 

[Locke]

Hmm, yes, but you'd think they'd be more interested in chess than in women.

Yeah but they see chess everyday. Breasts, on the other hand...

 

[Evil Eye]

Surely they don't go to those tournaments blindfolded, should be plenty of women in the streets

 

[Locke]

Surely they don't go to those tournaments blindfolded, should be plenty of women in the streets

They're not playing chess in the streets.

 

[Evil Eye]

No, but they wouldn't come as quite so big a shock.