Judit Porlgar the princess of chessJudit Polgr (born July 23, 1976) is a Hungarian chess grandmaster. She is by far the strongest female chess player in history. In 1991, she achieved the title of Grandmaster (GM) at the age of 15 years and 4 months. She was, at that time, the youngest person ever to do so. Polgr is ranked number 53 in the world on the January 2011 FIDE rating list with an Elo rating of 2686, the only woman on FIDE's Top 100 Players list, and has been ranked as high as eighth (in 2005). She has won or shared first in the chess tournaments of Hastings 1993, Madrid 1994, Leon 1996, US Open 1998, Hoogeveen 1999, Siegman 1999, Japfa 2000, and the Najdorf Memorial 2000.The educational experiment Judit Polgr and her two older sisters, Grandmaster Susan and International Master Sofia, were part of an educational experiment carried out by their father Lszl Polgr, in an attempt to prove that children could make exceptional achievements if trained in a specialist subject from a very early age.[2] "Geniuses are made, not born," was Lszl's thesis. He and his wife Klara educated their three daughters at home, with chess as the specialist subject. Traditionally, chess has been a male-dominated activity and women are often seen as weaker players; thus, the existence of a Women's World Champion.[Career Judit Polgr has rarely played in women's specific tournaments or divisions and has never competed for the Women's World Championship. "I always say that women should have the self-confidence that they are as good as male players, but only if they are willing to work and take it seriously as much as male players," she said.[6] While Laszlo Polgar has been credited with being an excellent chess coach,[7] the Polgars had also employed professional chessplayers to train their daughters, including Russian GM Alexander Chernin.[8] Initially, being the youngest, Judit was separated from her sisters while they were in training. However, this only served to increase Judit's curiosity. After learning the rules, they discovered Judit was able to find solutions to the problems they were studying and she began to be invited into the group.[9] One evening Susan, the eldest of the Polgar sisters, was studying an endgame with their trainer, a strong International Master. Unable to find the solution they woke Judit, who was asleep in bed and carried her into the training room. Still half asleep, Judit showed them how to solve the problem, after which they put her back to bed.[2] Laszlo Polgar's experiment would produce a family of one international master and two grandmasters and would strengthen the argument for nurture over nature, but also prove women could be grandmasters of chess.Grandmaster In December 1991, Polgar qualified as a Grandmaster by winning the Hungarian National Championship, at the time the youngest ever at 15 years, 5 months to have achieved the title. This beat Fischer's record by a month.[29][37] Hungary, one of the strongest chess-playing countries, had all but one of the best players participate in that year's championship. Only Zoltan Ribli was missing. Going into the last round Polgar needed only a draw to achieve the GM title, but she won her game against GM Tibor Tolnai to win first place with 6 points in 9 games.Strongest ever Judit Polgr is by far the strongest female chessplayer of all time.[75][76][77][78][79][80][81][7][82][83][84][85] The January 1996 FIDE ratings list was a landmark as Polgr's 2675 rating made her the number 10 ranked player in the world, the only woman ever to enter the world's Top Ten.[86][87] In August 1996, Polgar participated in a very strong 10player tournament in Vienna. There was a threeway tie for first between Karpov, Topalov and Boris Gelfand and a threeway tie for fourth between Kramnik, Polgar and Peter Leko.[88][89] In December 1996, Polgar played a match in So Paulo against Brazil's champion Gilbert Milos. The four games were played at 30 moves an hour with 30 minutes for the remainder of the game. Polgar won two, drew one and lost one and won $12,000 in prize money.[Making history In September 2002, in the Russia versus the Rest of the World Match, Judit Polgar finally defeated Garry Kasparov in a game. The tournament was played under rapid rules with 25 minutes per game and a 10 second bonus per move. She won the game with exceptional positional play. Kasparov with black chose the Berlin Defence instead of his usual Sicilian and Polgar proceeded with a line which Kasparov has used himself. Polgar was able to attack with her rooks on Kasparov's king which was still in the centre of the board and when he was two pawns down, Kasparov resigned.[126] The game helped the World team win the match 5248.[127] Upon resigning, Kasparov immediately left by a passageway barred to journalists and photographers. Kasparov had once described Judit Polgar as a "circus puppet" and asserted that women chess players should stick to having children. Polgar called the game, "One of the most remarkable moments of my career."[72] Polgar thus became one of the few players who have beaten Kasparov. The game was historic as not only the first time in chess history a female player beat the world's #1 player in competitive play,[128] it was the first time in any sport that the No.1 ranked male player has lost to the No.1 ranked female player.Personal life Judith Polgr was born July 23, 1976 to Klara and Laszlo Polgr. Polgr is Jewish, and from Budapest. She has two older sisters, Susan and Sofia. Members of her family perished in the Holocaust, and her grandmother was a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp.[193] In August 2000, she married Hungarian veterinary surgeon Gusztv Font.[194][123] They have two children. While Judit remained in Hungary, the rest of her family eventually emigrated; Sofia and her parents to Israel and later to Canada and Susan to New York.[Playing style While having a solid understanding of positional play, Judit Polgr excels in tactics and is known for an aggressive playing style, striving to maximize the initiative and actively pursuing complications.[181] The former World Champion Garry Kasparov wrote that, based upon her games, "if to 'play like a girl' meant anything in chess, it would mean relentless aggression."[182] In her youth, she was especially popular with the fans due to her willingness to employ wild gambits and attacks.[183] As a teenager, Polgar has been credited with contributing to the popularity of the opening variation King's Bishop's Gambit.[184] Polgar prefers aggressive openings like the Sicilian, but she has also said her opening choices will also depend upon her trainer.[