Breaking News: Hungary's PM nominates Judit Polgar for presidency

by Albert Silver
7/20/2026 – In an astonishing move, a day after Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok signed a ​constitutional amendment that ends ⁠his term as head of state, Prime Minister Peter Magyar announced on Sunday that he would ask Judit Polgar, the greatest female chess player of all time, to take up the mantle of interim president.| Photo: Judit Polgar Facebook page
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The news was first announced on the official Facebook page of the Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar (Ed: Magyar literally translates to 'Hungarian' in English).

And on it he posted the following on Sunday evening:

The English translation states:

Our country needs unity, peace, and a president every Hungarian can be proud of. The office of President of the Republic is not a profession or a job, but the highest form of service. The president’s duty is to serve and represent. Every Hungarian.

Judit Polgár, who was nominated today for President of the Republic by respected figures in Hungarian public life, is such a person. That is why I will meet with her tomorrow and ask whether she is prepared to serve our country in a new role until the adoption of the new Constitution.

For decades, the name Judit Polgár has been synonymous with talent and perseverance. As the most successful female player in the history of chess, she led the women’s world rankings continuously for 26 years, while also reaching the top ten in the overall world rankings.

She is a five-time Chess Olympiad champion, an international grandmaster, and a recipient of the Hungarian Order of Saint Stephen. Her extraordinary life story was recently featured in the documentary The Queen of Chess. A few weeks ago, she was also elected a member of Christ’s College at the University of Cambridge.

Judit Polgár’s career has always been defined by achievement. The recognition she has earned is due not to political affiliations or connections, but to her exceptional talent, diligence, extraordinary resilience, and integrity. She is a Hungarian whose accomplishments command respect and admiration both at home and around the world.

Personally, I would consider it a tremendous honor if she accepted the nomination.

This has since been reported and confirmed by Reuters and other news outlets. 

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In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Judit Polgar. Let them show you which openings Polgar chose to play, where her strength in middlegames were, or how she outplayed her opponents in the endgame.

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Topics: breaking news, Hungary, Judit Polgar, President
Born in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications, and the content creator of the YouTube channel, Chess & Tech as well as the author of Typing Tomes, a powerful typing program.
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Frits Fritschy Frits Fritschy 2 hours ago
That being said, it seems a bit strange to me to nominate someone without first seeking that person's approval. And that may well have been Polgar's real reason to refuse. I wouldn't trust an offer put this way myself, and I'm a far worse chess player...
Frits Fritschy Frits Fritschy 2 hours ago
'The Head of State's mandate shall also be terminated if the conditions required for his or her election no longer exist'
'Parliament shall decide with a two-thirds majority of the votes of members present to establish ... the absence of the requirements for his or her election' [Hungarian fundamental law]
Sulyok was elected and would have been sent down (if he hadn't chosen to accept the inevitable) according to law. Seems to me, nothing dictatorial about either of it.
lajosarpad lajosarpad 3 hours ago
All Hungarians love and respect Judit Polgár, but she refused the nomination, stating that she does not feel the power in herself to unify a polarized society.

@e-mars Hungary has a constitution and has laws, we're not in the stone age :) . Yet, according to the Hungarian system, we have a government led by the Prime Minister (Péter Magyar in this case) and the parliament elects the President. Since at the latest elections Péter Magyar gained a two-third majority with his TISZA party, they can even alone elect the President, according to the rules, independently of whether the opposition agrees or not.

@Mamack1 I think every human being has dignity and deserves respect, especially the first citizen of a country. Orbán was not a dictator at all. As we can see, at the latest elections the majority of Hungarians no longer wanted him to govern, therefore he lost the elections and stepped down without issues. A dictator grabs power and does unheard stuff, like forcing a president to step down. As of Tamás Sulyok being a "pawn", that is a political opinion, which unfortunately was exacerbated without proof by the new government.

Polgár would have been able to solve the issues, but likely she did not want to be the next president put in place after the incumbent was removed via an authoritarian procedure.
Mamack1 Mamack1 5 hours ago
Sometimes "political hacks" are justified.

Sulyok was a pawn of quasi-dictator Orban and thus deserves zero respect.
e-mars e-mars 5 hours ago
Ad interim, so I also suppose this means temporarily. As good as it may sound, however Judit Polgar as far as I know was not democratically elected. I do not know the full legal implications and have zero knowledge about Hungarian constitution - if they have one - so I refrain from jumping to conclusions.
arzi arzi 11 hours ago
I, too, would be very proud of Judit Polgár if she were to become the future president of our country, Finland. Unfortunately, however, that is not possible. Nevertheless, I understand Péter Magyar’s point: he wants someone as Hungary’s president whom all Hungarians can love and respect.
lajosarpad lajosarpad 11 hours ago
Polgár is obviously a well-respected and famous person and, as a Hungarian I would be honored if she would serve as my president. However, she has to decide whether she wants to do that and if so, she would face difficulties as president, as she is not trained in legal affairs, yet, the position would require her to review and occasionally reject laws, also, she would have to overcome the constitutional crisis Péter Magyar created by pushing out the incumbent Tamás Sulyok from position three years before his mandate would have ended, without him ever giving a legal reason for that, his removal being a political hack. If Polgár decides to become president, I hope she manages to overcome these difficulties and will be a successful president.
arzi arzi 7/20/2026 12:02
Peter Magyar: "Personally, I would consider it a great honor if she accepted the nomination."

I fully agree. It would be an honor for Hungary as well.
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