Judit Polgar

Just like these lovely children in Happy Kids’ classroom I was around 5 years old when I started to learn about the pieces on the chessboard. Only a few years later, I gained international recognition when I was 9. At the age of 12 and 14 I was able to win the boys’ !:) World Youth Chess Championship. I was still only 12 when our teenage team, including my two amazing sisters Susan and Sofia, together with Ildikó Mádl, made history at the Olympics. We won the first ever Olympic gold medal for Hungary in women’s chess. With this triumph the very, very long domination of the Soviet women in the chess Olympiads was broken in 1988. We were able to repeat this achievement in 1990.

Ever since that second Olympic gold medal, I have competed only against men. In 1991, I became Chess Grandmaster, breaking Bobby Fischer’s record as youngest grandmaster in history at the time. I represented the Hungarian men’s chess team on six Olympiads so far. We won a silver medal in 2002. During my career I have already defeated world chess champions Spassky, Karpov, Kasparov, Topalov and Anand in international tournaments, matches and rapid events.

On the world’s rating list, I am the No. 1 woman chess player for more than 20 years straight, since 1989. Among men, my top ranking was Nr. 8 in the world, in 2005. I was awarded the Chess Oscar seven times and was elected the best Woman Chess Player of the 20th Century.

In 2000, I got married to Gusztáv Font, a wonderful man and veterinarian by profession. Today, we have two children, Olivér and Hanna, they both have joined Happy Kids in 2009.

Beside the competitive chess carrier, my big ambition is to introduce chess to as many kids as possible. Countless studies have shown that chess can help develop critical thinking that can be used in other areas of a child's life, academics and social situations. For this reason, so far I have written two instructional and playful chess teaching-books, together with my lovely sister, Sofia: Chess Playground 1 and Chess Playground 2.