Meet the Legends: Susan Polgar

Indian mythology says Lankan king Ravana invented chess to keep his wife Mandadori entertained; however, soon he himself was humbled by his wife’s incredible wit in chess. In reality, though, chess has historically been deemed “too complicated” for a woman’s mind. These misogynistic views were even held by the bests of the 60s and 70s, like Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov, who had openly echoed similar mindsets. 

Hungarian psychologist Laszlo Polgar was far from a celebrity grandmaster; he didn’t have any title to his name. What he had was a clear game plan. He planned to craft ‘geniuses’ methodically through rigorous training, and unlike the rest of the 20th-century chess world, Polgar believed ‘genius’ doesn’t have any gender bias. So all three of his daughters, Susan, Sofia, and Judith, were part of this extreme experiment.

The goal?

Making his kids chess geniuses. 

Laszlo had started Susan’s training at the tender age of four. By the age of seventeen, she had already made history by becoming the first woman to ever qualify for the Men’s World Championship, which she couldn’t play due to gender restrictions. 

Since FIDE’s official recognition of women in 1927, the participation has been low. Due to this, FIDE had introduced numerous lower-rated women-only tournaments and titles like Woman International Master (1950) and Woman Grandmaster (1976).

Susan Polgar, however, has been a staunch critic of these gender-based segregations, so she went for the title of Grandmaster the old-fashioned way. Susan competed in the open tournaments with men and became the first-ever “woman” grandmaster through the same norms as men in 1991, a feat that was later repeated by her younger sister Judith Polgar.

Susan had won a previously unprecedented ‘treble’ in 1996, winning the big three in women's chess - the Women's World Blitz Championship, the Women's Rapid Championship, and the Women's Classical World Championship. 

Even though Judith is clearly the most famous and decorated Polgar sister, Susan Polgar broke the glass ceiling for women in chess. This 12-time Olympic medalist refused to back down in the face of rampant misogyny and showed the world that sexism has no place in chess. Even today, she continues to inspire young girls through writings and presence in the chess world as a coach and mentor to young chess players across the globe.