Interview with Susan Polgar (by Natalia Pogonina) |
| Written by Natalia Pogonina | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday, 05 October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Grandmaster Susan Polgar, the first woman in history to break the gender barrier by qualifying for the 1986 Men's World Championship and earning the Grandmaster title in 1991. She became the #1 ranked woman player in the world at the age of 15 and remained in the top 3 for nearly 23 straight years. Polgar went on to win ten Olympic medals (5 Gold, 4 Silver and 1 Bronze) and four Womens World Championships.
Everything is possible. I enjoy playing. However, I have basically done everything I set out to do as a chess player. Now, some of my main areas of focus include: promoting chess in education, popularizing chess in general especially among girls, improving playing conditions and bringing in more sponsors for our professional players, and cleaning up chess corruption in the United States, etc.
It does not really matter to me. I won the Womens World Championship in Classical, Rapid, and Blitz format. I am fine with any time control.
Many but if I have to pick one, probably the one against GM Maia Chiburdanidze at the 2004 Calvia Olympiad. 4) How do you treat your opponents: killer instinct, love, play against the pieces, etc.? Do you have good friends among women chess players? I dont focus on who is sitting across from me. I play the position on the board. I have many friends but I dont want to offend anyone by accidentally leaving any name out.
I have known both of them for over 20 years. I would like to see a good, clean, and exciting match. The chess world deserves this and I think it will be a very exciting match. I also think it will be a close match. It will all come down to preparation and their team of seconds and nerves.
Hard work, hard work, and more hard work. I was also lucky to have supportive parents even though they are not really chess players. My Dad was an average amateur and my Mom did not even play chess when I started.
Physical training is very important to me. I like to jog and hit the gym. Being physically fit is vital.
On a personal level, I am basically done. However, I still have many goals to help chess.
It is fine. However, I prefer to focus and recognize the younger girls, not professional players. If women chess wants to grow, we must start from the ground up and not from the top down. This is why I organize 3 major tournaments for girls each year:
10) What is the best world championship system? Match, knock-out, round-robin, etc.? And what about women world championship? I think knockout is the worst system. This has the biggest luck factor and the champion receives little respect. I prefer the old system of Zonal, Interzonal, Candidates matches, and the World Championship match. Round robin is also interesting but the fans want to see a match to decide the champion.
There are many good young female players: Hou Yifan, Humpy Koneru, Anna Muzychuk, Tatiana Kosintseva, etc. If they want to be in the top 10 among men, they still have to work a lot harder. 12) People say that chess players reach their peak at 35-40, and then hardly progress due to lack of energy, etc. Do you agree with this statement? I am not sure if they peak at 35-40. But most people who are at that age are usually not as motivated to train as hard as a 16 year old. There is a lot more pressure dealing with family, money, life, etc. Korchnoi proves that he can play good chess at any age. 13) Do you like Fischer 960? Is it a decent alternative to classical chess? 14) Your hobbies? Too many. I love to travel, cook, workout, watch good movies, play sports, etc. 15) Do your kids play chess? How good are they? My elder son has the strength of around 1900. He is 10. My younger son who is 8 prefers to play the piano. I let them choose what they want to be involved in.
16) Do you think women (in general, not individuals) could play at mens level? Should they? Yes, they can but not unless they train as hard as men. You cannot train 50% as hard and expect the same result. 17) What impact did chess have on your life? Chess is a part of my life. It has always been and will always be. 18) Should chess keep trying to become an Olympic sport? It would be nice if it could be. But I dont think it will be any time soon.
19) What are the most effective ways of promoting chess? Promote it often and consistently. Give a clear message about why people should play chess. This is not a one day job. Many of my sponsors are not chess related. 20) What would you wish to young girls just starting to study chess? Have lots of fun!
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