The strongest woman chess player of all time, Hungary’s Judit Polgar, 38, has retired from competition. She made the announcement at the conclusion of the Tromso Olympiad where she shared the prestigious silver medal with her Hungarian colleagues.
Polgar was one of the greatest prodigies in chess history. In 1989, at age 12, she became the first female player to be ranked among the world’s top 100. Two years later, she became the youngest player ever to earn the grandmaster rank, breaking the record set by Bobby Fischer in 1958. Polgar is ranked No 65 on the latest FIDE rating list, and is the only woman ever to play for the world championship title among her male counterparts. She had participated in the World Chess Federation’s Championship Tournament of 2005, in San Luis, Argentina. Years ago, Polgar had refused to play for the Women’s Chess Championship title,
suggesting in retrospect, that she was equal in intelligence to her male colleague grandmasters. She therefore only contested the men’s chess tournaments. Polgar was initially trained by her elder sister, Susan Polgar, and became a prodigy at an early age. At age five she defeated a family friend without looking at the chessboard. After the game the friend joked, “You are good at chess, but I’m a good cook.”
Polgar replied, “Do you cook without looking at the stove?”
Polgar never relinquished her spot in the top 100, and until recently, was the only woman on that list. She was joined by Hou Yifan of China four months ago. In 2004 and 2005, Polgar was ranked eighth in the world, reaching a peak rating of 2735 points. In the FIDE October 2014 list, she was categorized at 2675 rating points. Her finest result, based on the quality of the competition, was in 2003 at a tournament in Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands. She finished second behind Vishwanathan Anand of India, a future world champion; ahead of Russia’s Vladimir Kramnik, the reigning champion at the time; and Bulgaria’s Veselin Topalov, another future world champion.
The year before, Polgar had defeated Garry Kasparov, then the top-ranked player in the world. She defeated, at one time or another, ten world champions, namely: Carlsen, Karpov, Kasparov, Spassky, Smyslov, Topalov, Anand, Ponomariov, Khalifman and Kasimdzhanov.
Polgar’s path to success was effected by her father Laszlo Polgar, who began training her and her two older sisters as children. Early on, the Polgars decided their children would become professional chess players. Susan Polgar, 45, a grandmaster, won the Woman’s World Championship in 1996 and Sofia Polgar, 39, became an international master.
In her final competition at the Tromso Olympiad, Polgar played as a reserve. Hungary’s silver medal win represented the country’s best finish at an Olympiad since 2002.
Meanwhile, in local chess, the National Junior Championship began yesterday at the ECI Sports Com-plex at Friendship, East Bank Demerara, according to a press release from the Guyana Chess Federa-tion. A tournament for senior players is being held simultaneously alongside the junior competition.
