NIC Podcast #88: GM Judit Polgár

In this week’s episode of the New In Chess podcast, I talk to none other than Judit Polgar.  Of course, ‘The Queen of Chess’ needs no introduction, but then that’s something I have said about many guests - before proceeding to introduce them anyway.
Let’s stick to that routine, even if there is every reason to say that this guest really does not need an introduction.
Judit Polgar is rightly seen as the greatest female chess player of all time. She not only topped the women’s world rankings for a quarter of a century – I repeat, a quarter of a century, that is 25 years - but she also is the only woman ever to make it to the overall world top 10.
Think about it: over the course of her career, Judit defeated no fewer than 11 current or former World Champions in rapid or classical chess.

Judit became a grandmaster at the age of 15 years and 4 months, breaking Bobby Fischer’s old record and becoming the youngest grandmaster in the world at the time. Her life has been filled with records, firsts and extraordinary achievements, and so it doesn’t come as a total surprise that now there is a Netflix documentary about her unique career.
The film is called ‘The Queen of Chess’ and was directed by Rory Kennedy, the director of acclaimed films such as ‘Ghosts of Abu Ghraib’ and ‘Ethel’. The latter was a moving portrait of her mother,  the widow of her father Bobby Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968.

I invited Judit to talk about ‘The Queen of Chess’, but also about a dear friend of both of us, Jan Timman, who died on February 18. Jan and Judit not only met over the chess board, they also had training sessions together and shared a love for endgame studies.
Judit joined me from Budapest, where she was in the middle of a press day for the Netflix documentary that has attracted worldwide attention since it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

Judit Polgar talks about ‘The Queen of Chess’ and her friend Jan Timman. You don’t want to miss it.

0:00 – Intro

2:26 – How did “The Queen of Chess” come about?

11:48 – Did Judit have any doubts about Kasparov’s participation in the film?

20:11 – How does Judit look back on being the “guinea pig” of her father’s experiment?

24:40 – AD BREAK

25:12 – Mr. Polgar has no regrets!

27:02 – The influence of Judit’s husband Gustav

30:40 – How does Judit remember the late and great Jan Timman?

37:53 – Judit’s words of encouragement for talented young women

41:02 – AD BREAK

42:00 – Was Judit intimidated by Kasparov?

46:17 – Judit and Timman’s shared passion for the artistry of chess

53:43 – Outro