Chess Lesson With Grandmaster Susan Polgar, Author of "Rebel Queen"

A few times a year, SKCA hosts special events with big names in chess like GMs Magnus Carlsen, Anish Giri, and (most recently) Vincent Keymer, among others. We’re thrilled to announce that another exciting event is right around the corner: GM Susan Polgar, a legendary chess player, coach, author, and former world champion, will be stopping by for a visit with Silver Knights students on March 15! 

Susan is the eldest of three chess playing sisters. The middle sister Sofia is an international master, and the youngest sister Judit Polgar is the highest rated female chess player of all time. She's also featured in the new Netflix documentary “The Queen of Chess”, which tells the story of the Polgar children’s unusual path to chess stardom and Judit’s unprecedented journey to becoming one of the top 10 players in the world. 

Susan's memoir “Rebel Queen: The Cold War, Misogyny, and the Making of a Grandmaster” details the difficulties and triumphs of breaking through barriers in a male-dominated sport and changing long-held international perceptions of women in chess. It’s a fascinating read – she was locally famous and controversial as a child in her hometown of Budapest, Hungary, and there was media coverage both supporting and denouncing her while she was just an elementary schooler.

Susan Versus the Soviets

Part of Susan’s story is about how a family with limited resources found opportunities for their children. The family of five lived in a 600 square foot apartment, and the Hungarian government ranged from slightly supportive to indifferent to actively hostile towards them. At one point, to punish Susan for competing with men, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) gave every woman in the world except Susan 100 rating points, which the Hungarian government supported. 

To help give the girls extra opportunities to compete and get high-level coaching, the Polgars would routinely let chess masters traveling to or through Budapest stay with them, so there were often people in sleeping bags on their floors.

Another fascinating part (to read, not live through!) addresses the tactics the communist government used to prevent the girls from defecting. Whenever they traveled internationally for tournaments, one parent and one of the children had to stay in Hungary while the other parent and one or two of the children went abroad.  Defecting would agonizingly split the family. This wasn’t a baseless concern – the Polgars actively discussed it at various points. After the Iron Curtain fell, Susan moved to New York, Sofia moved to Israel, and Judit stayed in Budapest.

Breaking Free and Breaking Records

When Susan became a grandmaster in January 1991, she was the youngest woman to ever be awarded the title and was the first to earn it through traditional means (rating and norms). The following year, she went on to win the Women’s World Blitz and Rapid championships, and in 1996 she won the Women’s World Championship (classical), becoming the first and only female player to ever win world championship titles across all three formats. She’s also the only player in history to earn all six of the world’s most prestigious chess crowns–individual and team gold in the chess Olympiad, the world chess triple-crown, and a world #1 ranking–and was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame in 2019 in light of these achievements.

Susan was featured in an episode of the National Geographic docuseries "My Brilliant Brain" in 2007. You can watch the whole thing here:

Outside of her personal competitive career, Susan has had tremendous success as a chess coach. She’s led two collegiate teams to national championship wins and was the first-ever female coach to do so. Her nonprofit organization, the Susan Polgar Foundation, sponsors scholastic tournaments across the country and works to promote chess and its numerous benefits to young players. 

To top it all off, she also has an excellent five-book series called “Learn Chess the Right Way”–designed for scholastic players–that would be a perfect addition to any developing chess player’s bookshelf. 

With so much insight to share, Susan’s visit on March 15 is a can’t-miss event. She’ll teach a lesson and do a Q&A. Information and a link to join the session will be sent out in March. We hope to see you there!