REBEL QUEEN

The allure of chess.

Hungarian-born chess grandmaster Polgar, winner of the world’s six most prestigious chess crowns, recounts a triumphant career that began when she was 3. Excited by a chess set she discovered in a beat-up cabinet, she was eager to learn how to play with the enticing new toys. Her father incorporated chess into her homeschooling, teaching her moves for one piece at a time, gradually building up to openings and strategies. Clearly a prodigy, Polgar entered her first tournament when she was 4½, winning against older girls. In 1979, at age 10, she became the youngest person to earn official rating through the International Chess Federation. Although Hungary repeatedly refused to grant her a passport to leave the communist Eastern Bloc, publicity about her prowess soon led the government to relent. Competing internationally, she rapidly ascended in stature. In 1983, she ranked among the top 10 female players in the world. Polgar’s two younger sisters also became enamored of chess, proving to be talented as well: At the 1988 Olympiad, the three staged a “gold medal coup.” Besides striving to win, Polgar also devoted herself to publicizing chess and attracting new players. As a young mother in New York, she set up a chess school in her neighborhood; she took a position as a coach at Texas Tech University and Webster University in St. Louis, where, in November 2023, she was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame. Throughout her career, Polgar rose above considerable challenges: from those who believed that women shouldn’t compete against men; from political threats to her and her family; from bitter animosity from a woman champion; and from virulent antisemitism at home and abroad. The game sustained her.

A champion’s engaging memoir.