ON CHESS
Mother Polgar back at the board
Saturday, February 6, 2010 3:14 AM
By SHELBY LYMAN
Women can face special obstacles in maintaining a professional chess career, as is vividly illustrated in the changing fortunes of 33-year-old Judit Polgar, the world’s top female player.
In 2003, Polgar reached a pinnacle at the Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. Undefeated, she finished in second place, a point ahead of world champion Vladimir Kramnik and a half-point behind tournament winner and future world champion Viswanathan Anand.
With the birth of son Oliver in 2004 and daughter Hanna in 2006, her chess activity plummeted, as did her international rating. Today, she is ranked 48th in the world — a far cry from 2003, when she was 11th, and earlier years, when she was among the top seven or eight grandmasters.
But she is back with renewed focus and energy. The reason is compelling:
“I cannot live without chess,” she said on Chessdom.com. “It is an integral part of my life. I enjoy the game.
“When my son was born, it was clear that children are most important. So chess disappeared from my life for some period.
“But I wanted to play again . . . and become the best again. I have a lot of ambitions. (It’s) just difficult to fulfill them all.”
Source: http://www.dispatch.com
Beautiful Picture..Saw Judit playing in Hoogeveen not so long ago (about 3 monts).
I hope she keeps playing for a long time 🙂
The reality of motherhood.
Celebrate motherhood don’t curse it!
Chess is just a game.
Children and family are far more rewarding than career and fame.
Better to be remembered for your love by your children rather than being famous for thousands of anonymous fans. Such is a thing discovered by many rich and famous people who have no relationships with their children.
Go Judit! You’re awesome! 🙂
Glad to see Judit back.
I know it’s difficult doing both, but I wish her well in pursuing her chess career.
agree with anon 10:08 CST
judit is a great player, and will always be.
Kosteniuk is a joke in chess compare to Judit. And Judit doesn’t even call herself a chess queen.
She’s a phenomon.
Judit is an outstanding player, and I wish her well in balancing work and family.
I’m wondering when Susan is going to start playing competitive, rated chess again.
Anon 7:33:00
Where do you think she is going to find the time 🙂
I doubt Susan would say that she doesn’t play competitive, rated chess because she is short of time.
That simply is not credible. She could play in her own SPICE events for example.
Anon 12:39
But if you are playing in your own event, you are not able to keep your finger on the pulse of the event, nor would Susan be able to deal with the other zillion things that she deals with on a day to day basis, the blog being just one of them