Susan Polgar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Susan Polgar (born April 19, 1969, as Polgr Zsuzsanna and often known as
Zsuzsa Polgr) is a Hungarian-born American chess Grandmaster. She is famous for
having been a child prodigy at chess, for being a pioneer for women in chess, and for
being an advocate for chess in education. She is an Olympic and World chess
champion, a chess teacher, coach, writer and promoter and the head of the Susan
Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE)[1] at Webster University as well as the
head coach for the 2011 and 2012 National Championship college chess teams at
Texas Tech University and the 2013 and 2014 National Championship teams at
Webster University.[2][3] She is the oldest of the famous "Polgr sisters": Zsuzsa,
Zsfia, and Judit. She was the first female to earn the grandmaster title through
tournament play, and is credited with breaking a number of gender barriers in chess.
On the July 1984 FIDE Rating List, at the age of 15, she became the top-ranked
woman player in the world, and remained ranked in the top three for the next 23 years.
She was also the first woman in history to break the gender barrier by qualifying for the
1986 "Men's" World Championship.[4] She was the Women's World Chess
Champion from 1996 to 1999 (in Classical time control). She won the World Blitz and
Rapid Championships in 1992. In October 2005, Polgar had an Elo rating of 2577,
making her the second-ranked woman in the world at the time, after her sister Judit.
Polgar went on to win ten Olympic medals (5 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze) and four
Women's World Championships. She has not played in official competition since
2006.
In 1997, Polgar founded the Polgar Chess Center in Forest Hills, New York to give
chess training to children.[5] The Polgar Chess Center closed in 2009 following her
relocation to Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. In 2002 she established the
Susan Polgar Foundation. During the past 12 years, her foundation has sponsored the
National Invitational for Girls, National Open Championship for Boys and Girls, World
Open Championship for Boys and Girls, All-Star Girl's Chess Team, NY City
Mayor's Cup Invitational, Tri-State Scholastic Chess Challenge, SPICE Cup and a
series of Get Smart Play Chess scholastic chess tournaments. She founded the SPICE
Institute in Texas in 2007 and began coaching the Texas Tech Knight Raiders in 2007
as well. As of January 2009, she has been the Co-Chairperson of the Commission for
Women's Chess for the World Chess Federation FIDE.[6]
Susan Polgar
Susan Polgar
Full name
Zsuzsanna Polgr
Country
Hungary
United States
Born
Title
Grandmaster
Women's
World
Champion
199699
Contents
1 Personal life
2 Chess career
2.1 Composition
2.2 American career and Olympic medals
2.3 Texas Tech Knight Raiders
2.4 Webster University
3 Notable chess games
4 Susan Polgar Foundation
5 SPICE Institute and SPICE Cup
6 Bibliography
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Personal life
She was born and brought up in Budapest, Hungary, to a Hungarian Jewish family.[7] In 1994,
Polgar married computer consultant Jacob Shutzman, and moved to New York. They have two
sons, Tom (born 1999) and Leeam (born 2000). She later divorced. In December 2006, she
married her longtime business manager and friend, Paul Truong.[8][9] She now lives in suburban St.
Louis, Missouri.
Chess career
Polgar and her two younger sisters, Grandmaster Judit
and International Master Sofia, were part of an
educational experiment carried out by their father Lszl
Polgr, who sought to prove that children could make
exceptional achievements if trained in a specialist subject
Susan Polgar wedding photo (2006)
from a very early age. "Geniuses are made, not born,"
was Lszl's thesis.[10] He and his wife Klara educated
their three daughters at home, with chess as the specialist subject. In 2010, National Geographic
published an hour-long documentary[11] with Susan Polgar as the main subject. The father also
taught his three daughters Esperanto. Most of her family eventually emigrated to Israel, but Susan
Polgar moved to New York after marrying an American citizen in 1994. Members of the Polgar
family, who are Jewish, perished in the Holocaust, and her grandmother was a survivor of
Judit Polgr and Sofia Polgar (1988)
Auschwitz.[12]
At age 4, Susan Polgar won her first chess tournament, the Budapest Girls' Under-11 Championship, with a 100 score. In 1982, at the age
of 12, she won the World Under 16 (Girls) Championship. Despite restrictions on her freedom to play in international tournaments, by 1984
at age 15 Polgar had become the top-rated female chess player in the world.[13]
In November 1986, FIDE decided to grant 100 bonus Elo rating points to all active female players except Polgar, which knocked her from
the top spot in the January 1987 FIDE ratings list. The rationale was that the FIDE ratings of women were not commensurate with the ratings
of the men because the women tended to play in women-only tournaments, Polgar being an exception because up to that point she had
played mainly against men. The statistical evidence supporting this decision was disputed because the data on which it was based was a small
subset of the available data, and Polgar and others alleged that the move was politically motivated. They said it had been contrived to
displace her, a non-Soviet, from the top spot in favor of Maia Chiburdanidze, the reigning Women's World Champion.
In January 1991, Polgar became the first woman to earn the Grandmaster title in the conventional way of achieving three GM norms and a
rating over 2500, though Nona Gaprindashvili was awarded the title earlier by special judgment of FIDE. In 1992, Polgar won both the
Women's World Blitz and the Women's World Rapid Championship.[14]
Polgar had tended to avoid women-only tournaments, but she abandoned this when she entered the 1993 cycle for the Women's World
Championship. She was eliminated at the candidates' final match with Nana Ioseliani; after the match was drawn she lost on the drawing of
lots. She became the Women's World Champion at her second attempt in 1996. Two years later, her title defense against Xie Jun of China
was scheduled to take place in November 1998. However, Polgar requested a postponement because she was pregnant and FIDE had
been unable to find a satisfactory sponsor. Ultimately, in 1999, a match was arranged, but under conditions to which Polgar objected firstly
because she had recently had a child, Tom, and had not had sufficient time to recuperate, and secondly because the match was to be held
entirely in China, the home country of her challenger. She also wanted a significantly larger prize fund.[15]
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When Polgar refused to play under these conditions, FIDE declared that she had forfeited the title,[16][17] and instead organized a match
between Xie Jun and Alisa Galliamova for the Women's World Chess Championship, which was won by Xie Jun.[18] Polgar sued in the
Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland for monetary damages and the restoration of her title. In March 2001, the case was
settled, with Polgar withdrawing her claims and FIDE agreeing to pay Polgar's attorney's fees in the amount of $25,000.[19] Since Xie Jun
had already been crowned Women's World Champion, FIDE could not restore the title to Polgar. Polgar has not participated in subsequent
Women's World Championship cycles.
Composition
Susan Polgar composed her first chess problem (see diagram) at the age of four. She is
Zsuzsa Polgr
First chess composition, age 4
Source unknown, 1973
considered the youngest composer of a published chess problem.[20] Formerly, the record
was held by Elliot Franklin Eichholtz.
1
a
Webster University
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Susan Polgar and the SPICE program joined Webster University in suburban St. Louis in 2012.[24][25] Webster won the 2013 Final 4 of
College Chess, also known as the President's Cup. As a result, Polgar was recognized as 2012-13 College Coach of the Year by Final 4
organizer Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc.
1
a
1
a
Final position
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Bibliography
Polgar has written several books, often in conjunction with Paul Truong, her business manager and (later) husband:
Queen of the Kings Game (as Zsuzsa Polgar; with Jacob Shutzman) (1997) ISBN 0-9657059-7-8
Teach Yourself Chess in 24 Hours (with Paul Truong) (2003) ISBN 0-02-864408-5
A World Champion's Guide to Chess (with Paul Truong) (2005) ISBN 0-8129-3653-1
Breaking Through (with Paul Truong) (2005) ISBN 1-8574-4381-0
Chess Tactics for Champions (with Paul Truong) (2006) ISBN 0-8129-3671-X
Rich As A King: How the Wisdom of Chess Can Make You a Grandmaster of Investing (with Douglas Goldstein, CFP) (2014)
ISBN 978-1-63047-097-5 paperback
Polgar is also a chess journalist, with columns in Chess Life, Chess Life for Kids, ChessCafe, Chess Horizons, Georgia Chess,
Chessville, Empire Chess, School Mates, Europe Echecs, etc., and she publishes a blog titled Chess Daily News with daily updates
about chess news and daily chess exercise problems. She has released a series of 14 instructional chess DVDs.
References
1. "Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence | Webster University" (http://www.webster.edu/spice/). Webster.edu. Retrieved 2014-07-30.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Polgar
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2. Week, This (2013-12-31). "This Week's Chess Safari: Webster sweeps; UMBC, Illinois and Texas Tech advance"
(http://www.twchesssafari.blogspot.com/2013/12/webster-sweeps-umbc-illinois-and-texas.html). Twchesssafari.blogspot.com. Retrieved
2014-03-29.
3. Young, Adam D. "Polgar makes a move; Texas Tech chess grandmaster and team leaving for St. Louis university | Lubbock Online |
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal" (http://lubbockonline.com/local-news/2012-02-04/susan-polgar-makes-move-texas-tech-chess-coach-andgrand-master-leaving-st#.UzdAFKhdU-M). Lubbock Online. Retrieved 2014-03-29.
4. "People: Isaac Rosa, Jennifer Aniston, Susan Polgar" (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/03/arts/03iht-peepthu.html). The New York Times. 4
August 2005. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
5. "Mastering Chess Was The Easy Part. Black Belt Champ Teaches Moves In Forest Hills"
(http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/boroughs/mastering-chess-easy-part-black-belt-champ-teaches-moves-forest-hills-article-1.556886).
New York: NY Daily News. 2005-04-03. Retrieved 2014-03-30.
6. "Commission for Women's Chess" (http://www.fide.com/fide/directory.html?comid=19&task=committee). FIDE Directory. FIDE. Retrieved
2 August 2011.
7. Breaking Through: How the Polgar Sisters Changed the Game of Chess, (Everyman Chess 2005), Susan Polgar, page 14
8. "Polgar and Truong Marriage Revealed" (http://www.checkmate.us/marriage.htm). 2007.
9. "Susan Polgar Blogspot confirms her marriage to Paul Truong" (http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2007/05/chess-gambit-in-westtexas.html#links). Susanpolgar.blogspot.com. 2007-05-13. Retrieved 2011-12-04.
10. "The Grandmaster Experiment" (http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200506/the-grandmaster-experiment?page=2).
11. Polgr, Zsuzsa (2010). My Brilliant Brain (http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/671303797) (two DVD video). Australia: National Geographic
Channel. OCLC 671303797 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/671303797).
12. "Susan Polgar" (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Susan_Polgar.html).
13. The Grandmaster Experiment (http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20050614-000002.html), Carlin Flora, Psychology Today
Magazine, July/August 2005
14. "History" (http://womenblitz.com/en/history.html). Women Blitz. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
15. Letter from Zsuzsa Polgar (http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic241.html#13) c. June 1999
16. First Saturday, June (http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic242.html#11) 1999
17. FIDE News from Executive Director Omuku (http://www.samsloan.com/omukutxt.htm) 17 February 1999
18. Xie Jun defeats Alisa Galliamova in match for Woman's World Chess Championship (http://www.samsloan.com/xiejun.htm) June 5, 1999
19. Editor's Note (http://www.iht.com/articles/2001/04/13/DROIT_ed3_.php) April 13, 2001
20. "Susan Polgar's profile" (http://www.worldchesschampions.com/Profile-of-Susan-Polgar-17.html). Worldchesschampions.com. Retrieved
2011-12-04.
21. Kavalek, Lubomir. "CHESS Lubomir Kavalek" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2005/08/08/AR2005080800302_pf.html). The Washington Post.
22. "Raiders Win Final Four: Best College Chess Team In Nation :: Texas Tech Today" (http://today.ttu.edu/2011/04/knight-raiders-win-finalfour-best-college-chess-team-in-nation/). Today.ttu.edu. Retrieved 2011-12-04.
23. December 4, 2011 (2011-04-07). "Knight Raiders win national championship - The Daily Toreador: La Vida"
(http://www.dailytoreador.com/lavida/article_36325cc0-618c-11e0-8684-001a4bcf6878.html). The Daily Toreador. Retrieved 2011-12-04.
24. "Top collegiate chess team moving from Texas to Webster U." (http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/top-collegiate-chess-teammoving-from-texas-to-webster-u/article_fd71f2dc-a284-547b-a95f-48f62996839e.html). St. Louis Post-Dispatch. February 4, 2012.
25. Fagone, Jason (2013-02-12). "The Queen's New Gambit: Chess as a Great American Spectator Sport"
(http://www.wired.com/playbook/2013/02/ff-grand-master-susan-polgar-chess/all/). Wired.
26. "Zsuzsa Polgar vs Peter Hardicsay (1985) "Hungary Minds"" (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1110010).
Chessgames.com. Retrieved 2011-12-04.
27. Polgr, Zsuzsa; Shutzman, Jacob (1997). Queen of the Kings Game (http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/37567453) (book). New York:
CompChess. ISBN 9780965705974. OCLC 37567453 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/37567453).
28. "Chess Informant" (http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/753106968). Vol. 40. Chess Informant. ISSN 0351-1375
(https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0351-1375). OCLC 753106968 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/753106968).
29. "The Mission of Susan Polgar and the Foundation" (http://www.susanpolgar.com/susan-polgar-foundation-mission.html). Susanpolgar.com.
Retrieved 2011-12-04.
30. "Texas Tech Hires Chess World Champion, Establishes Excellence Institute" (http://news.ttu.edu/browse/newsRelease/1318). 2007-05-14.
31. "Polgar: SPICE and chess in general in Lubbock get big boost from benefactor | Lubbock Online | Lubbock Avalanche-Journal"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Polgar
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31. "Polgar: SPICE and chess in general in Lubbock get big boost from benefactor | Lubbock Online | Lubbock Avalanche-Journal"
(http://lubbockonline.com/stories/051108/col_277847025.shtml). Lubbock Online. 2008-05-11. Retrieved 2011-12-04.
32. "Texas Tech Opens 2009 SPICE Cup :: Texas Tech News" (http://today.ttu.edu/2009/09/texas-tech-opens-2009-spice-cup/). Today.ttu.edu.
2009-09-23. Retrieved 2011-12-04.
33. McGowan, Matthew. "University welcomes international chess masters to Lubbock | Lubbock Online | Lubbock Avalanche-Journal"
(http://lubbockonline.com/education-/-tech/2010-10-29/university-welcomes-international-chess-masters-lubbock). Lubbock Online. Retrieved
2011-12-04.
34. "Chessdom - SPICE Cup 2010" (http://reports.chessdom.com/news-2010/alexander-onischuk-spice-cup). Reports.chessdom.com. Retrieved
2011-12-04.
35. "Laznicka is 1st SPICE Cup 2011 player | Susan Polgar Chess Daily News and Information"
(http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2010/10/laznicka-is-1st-spice-cup-2011-player.html). Susanpolgar.blogspot.com. 2010-10-18. Retrieved
2011-12-04.
36. "Aiming for a united and improved USCF" (http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2007/05/aiming-for-united-and-improved-uscf.html). 2007.
37. "I WILL run for the 2007 USCF Executive Board" (http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2006/12/i-will-run-for-2007-uscf-executive.html). 200612-06.
38. "Election Results In!" (http://beta.uschess.org/frontend/news_7_471.php). 2007-07-27.
39. "Election Summary (Endorsements)" (http://www.checkmate.us/summary.htm). 2007.
40. "Chess Group Officials Accused of Using Internet to Hurt Rivals" (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/08/nyregion/08chess.html). The New
York Times. October 8, 2007. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
41. "Susan Polgar Stating the Facts" (http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2007/10/stating-facts.html). Susanpolgar.blogspot.com. 2007-10-22.
Retrieved 2011-12-04.
42. "Polgar Responds on her Blog" (http://gambit.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/23/polgar-responds-on-her-blog/). Gambit.blogs.nytimes.com.
2007-10-23. Retrieved 2011-12-04.
43. McClain, Dylan Loeb (3 September 2008). "Federal Lawsuit Against Chess Officials Is Dismissed in Dispute Over Online Messages"
(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/04/nyregion/04chesssuit.html). New York Times. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
44. Member of U.S. Chess Federation's Board Is Asked to Resign in Dispute Over an Election
(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/crosswords/chess/15chess.html), New York Times, January 15, 2008.
45. Stating the Facts (http://chessdiscussion.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=668), Susan Polgar, January 15, 2008.
46. "The Delegates Meeting" (http://web.archive.org/web/20090825053410/http://www.chessdiscussion.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?
f=4&t=2624&st=0&sk=t&sd=a). Chessdiscussion.com. August 8, 2009. Archived from the original
(http://www.chessdiscussion.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2624&st=0&sk=t&sd=a) on 2009-08-25. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
47. Adam D. Young (2009-08-10). "Tech chess star removed from national organization | Lubbock Online | Lubbock Avalanche-Journal"
(http://lubbockonline.com/stories/081009/loc_480120106.shtml). Lubbock Online. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
48. USCF Executive Board. "USCF Agrees to Settle Lawsuits with Susan Polgar and Paul Truong"
(http://main.uschess.org/content/view/10070/319). USCF. Retrieved 15 July 2011.
49. "Susan Polgar Named World's Top Chess Coach" (http://www.websterkirkwoodtimes.com/Articles-Webster-Groves-i-2014-07-04192682.114137-Susan-Polgar-Named-Worlds-Top-Chess-Coach.html). Webster Kirkwood Times. 2014-07-04. Retrieved 2014-07-30.
External links
Official website (http://www.susanpolgar.com)
Susan Polgar (https://twitter.com/SusanPolgar) on Twitter
Sisters
Judit (http://juditpolgar.com)
Sofia (http://sofiapolgar.com)
Polgar's blogs
Personal (http://www.susanpolgar.blogspot.com/)
Chess Center (http://www.PolgarChessClub.blogspot.com/)
Girls (http://www.polgargirls.blogspot.com/), (SPICE)
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Preceded by
Xie Jun
Succeeded by
vacant, then Xie Jun
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