3. Judit Polgar (1976- ) from Hungary
Judit Polgár is Jewish, and from Budapest. Members of her family perished in the Holocaust, and her grandmother was a survivor of Auschwitz. She is married to Gusztáv Font, a veterinary surgeon from Budapest, whom she met through his caring for her dog.
Polgár has always preferred not playing the women's specific division events, making it clear from the beginning that she wanted to become the true World Champion of Chess regardless of gender.
Judit Polgar is without a doubt, unquestionably, indisputably, the greatest female chess player in history. No other woman comes close to matching her achievements. She plays against men and regularly wins. She is still an active player and there is the possibility that she could reach higher levels than what she has already done. In February and May of 2004 she had a chess elo rating of 2746 which placed her at number 5 in the world on the men's list. This is an incredible feat considering that about 90% of all chess players are male.
As a woman, within genuine reach of the World Championship on the 'open' / men's list, she is largely unsung and unrecognized outside of the chess world for this significance. In virtually no other sport can women compete with the top men due to the average larger muscle mass in men. But since chess is primarily a mental / intellectual game, Polgar demonstrates that women can reach the highest levels. This could suggest that there is little to no differences in intellectual abilities between men and women, but again, unfortunately this goes largely unnoticed outside of the chess world.
If there is still anyone who questions her greatness and rank on my list here at number 3, consider the following incredible achievements:
- In 1991 she became a chess grandmaster at the age of 15 years, 4 months which at that time broke the record of 15 years, 6 months by Bobby Fischer
- In 1996 she defeated the Brazilian champion
- In 1998 she defeated Anatoly Karpov in a match of "action" chess (30 minutes per game). At the time Karpov was FIDE World Champion.
- In 1998 she won the US Open chess tournament, which included several high rated Grandmasters
- She has also won other tournaments in Asia and Europe
- In the 1999 FIDE World Chess Championship in Las Vegas she made it to the quarterfinals in a tournament of the 100 top players in the world. She lost by one game to Khalifman (Russia) who eventually won, thus, potentially missing the men's / open title by only one game.
- In 2002 she defeated former World Champion Gary Kasparov (in a single game, not a complete match, but still an impressive victory)
- In individual games she has beat former World Champions: Karpov, Topalov, Kasparov, and Anand.
- She has an I.Q. of 170 and is listed as one of the top 10 most intelligent living people on the planet.
Polgar–Viswanathan Anand, Dos Hermanas 1999
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e6 7.g4 e5 8.Nf5 g6 9.g5 gxf5 10.exf5 d5 11.Qf3 d4 12.0-0-0 Nbd7 13.Bd2 dxc3 14.Bxc3 Bg7 15.Rg1 0-0 16.gxf6 Qxf6 17.Qe3 Kh8 18.f4 Qb6 19.Qg3 Qh6 20.Rd6 f6 21.Bd2 e4 22.Bc4 b5 23.Be6 Ra7 24.Rc6 a5 25.Be3 Rb7 26.Bd5 Rb8 27.Rc7 b4 28.b3 Rb5 29.Bc6 Rxf5 30.Rxc8 Rxc8 31.Bxd7 Rcc5 32.Bxf5 Rxf5 33.Rd1 Kg8 34.Qg2 Kf8 1-0
(Polgar, playing white, wins in 34 moves)
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