4/13/2021 – Nature or nurture? Much more men play chess than women and with a rating of 2658 Hou Yifan is the world's number one women player but on the world ranking list she is on place 85. The numbers alone suggest that there is a gender gap in chess. But why? And how should the chess world deal with this situation? Amanda Chen, chess fan and a student of Political Science and Women's and Gender Studies at Rutgers University shares a few observations and ideas.

3/22/2021 – Chess legends Judit Polgar and Vladimir Kramnik have joined forces with Play Magnus Group to launch a new elite online tour designed to support rising young players and advance gender equality in the sport. The Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour will feature some of the world’s top talent and include a healthy balance of male and female competitors.

2/22/2021 – Irina Bulmaga is a chess professional from Romania but she has sometimes found it difficult to explain to non-chess players what this means. Until recently - when she had an interesting conversation about chess, women's chess, Judit Polgar, Garry Kasparov, and others topics, while waiting for an official document. | Photo: Irina Bulmaga | Photo: David Llada

1/6/2021 – At the end of the year, Netflix organised a little video chat between Anya Taylor-Joy, who played Beth Harmon, the fictional world's best player, in the Netflix series "The Queen's Gambit", and the real-life best women player in history: Judit Polgar. An interesting talk!

11/18/2020 – The well-known US journalist Christiane Amanpour invited Garry Kasparov and Judit Polgar for an online talk on CNN and spoke to the two chess legends about the success of the Netflix series "The Queen's Gambit", women in chess, and their encounters at the board.

10/12/2020 – On Saturday, October 10, the Global Chess Festival was celebrated! The woman behind this vibrant annual gala hardly needs any introduction. The strongest female chess player of all time is the only woman to have ever challenged male hegemony in the sport. Though everyone is familiar with Judit Polgar, the chess player, we thought the world would also do good to know Judit the wife and mother. At the end of last month, ChessBase India's Amruta Mokal conducted an exclusive interview with this remarkable lady. In this article we bring you the full transcript of this candid tête-à-tête. | Photo credit: globalchessfestival.com

10/9/2020 – The Global Chess Festival, initiated and organised by Judit Polgar, is a treat for chess players all over the world. Traditionally, the festival takes place on the second Saturday of October, which this year falls on October 10, and this year the festival goes online - with a fantastic program and an amazing choice of events, all for free! "Chess Connects Us" is the slogan of the Global Chess Festival, and chess fans all over the world are invited to join the fun!

7/23/2020 – At her peak rating in 2005, Grandmaster Judit Polgár was ranked number 8 in the world. Although she retired from competing in August of 2014, Judit promotes chess through her Global Chess Festival and serves as Honorary FIDE Vice-President. To show appreciation for Judit on her 44th birthday, this article has a recipe for a dessert, which could serve as her birthday cake. WIM Alexey Root and her co-author WGM Sabina Foisor are former U.S. Women’s Chess Champions. | Pictured: Judit showing Shirov-Polgár (1994) to her children Oliver and Hannah | Photo: Bela Doka, 2012

7/14/2020 – We want you to find a caption for this picture. It shows the Balaton tournament director IM Janos Rigo congratulating winner IM Leon Luke Mendonca, who is fourteen years old. Due to the pandemic Leon has been trapped in Budapest, together with his father, for almost four months now. Fortunately it is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, and fortunately the legendary Judit Polgar has helped make their stay more pleasant – this time by sharing a culinary adventure.

7/1/2020 – Did you miss it? The Summer Nostos Festival, an international, multidimensional festival that gives us a week bursting with art, conversation, ideas, music, dance, performances, entertainment, and sports, for visitors of all ages, last Saturday streamed a preview of next year's edition. Watch it all, or just the in-depth discussion with Garry Kasparov and Judit Polgar.

6/25/2020 – The Summer Nostos Festival is an international, multidimensional festival that gives us a week bursting with avant-garde art, scintillating conversation, daring ideas, irresistible music, moving dance, delightful performances, participatory entertainment, and lively sports activities for visitors of all ages. And chess: the next edition features chess legends Garry Kasparov and Judit Polgar. Preview.

6/19/2020 – “There has long been a lively debate about who is the strongest player of all. [...] But there is no argument about the greatest female player: she is 21-year-old Judit Polgar of Hungary”, wrote Robert Byrne in his New York Times column of August 26, 1997. Polgar was recently awarded a Honorary Doctorate in Budapest, so we want to use this opportunity to recall a few of her remarkable achievements as a chess player.

5/30/2020 – Two months ago, just before his 14th birthday, Indian super-talent (Elo 2452) Leon Luke Mendonca played in the 1st Saturday tournament in Budapest, Hungary. He was scheduled to fly back on the 18th of March, but the Indian government closed the country on the 19th, when the flight was supposed to arrive. So for over two months now Leon and his father Lyndon have been separated from their family in Goa. Only comfort: they are stranded in what Lyndon called "one of the most beautiful cities in the world." And they got to meet a wonderful lady who inspired the young chess player deeply. Latest: yesterday five-time World Champion Vishy Anand was able to fly bacck to India after being stranded for over three months in Frankfurt, Germany.

4/22/2020 – "Queen of Chess" is documentary about Judit Polgar and Garry Kasparov that is scheduled for release at the end of 2021 or the beginning of 2022. In six episodes the documentary tells the story of the encounters and battles between Judit Polgar, the greatest female chess player of all time, and Garry Kasparov, who many consider the best male player of all time. In an interview with ChessBase Peter Stern, the producer of "Queen of Chess", reveals details about the project and his passion for chess.

3/11/2020 – A successful tourist company in Tunisia has organized, for a second year, an impressive tournament promoting both chess and tourism in the country. The winner of the Master tournament, scoring 7½/9, was GM Maxime Lagarde (pictured receiving the prize of €2,500 euro and a medal from Anatoly Karpov). DIANA MAHAJLOVA has the details.

12/16/2019 – As Honorary Director of the London Chess Conference, which had the theme in 2019 of Chess and Female Empowerment, Grandmaster Judit Polgár wrote, “I make a point of never separating girls and boys, nor awarding special prizes for girls...Meanwhile, national federations use their resources, and public subsidies are creating more female-only competitions. It is high time to consider the consequences of this segregation — because in the end, our goal must be that women and men compete with one another on an equal footing.” WIM ALEXEY ROOT responds.

11/2/2019 – The Global Chess Festival 2019 returned to the Hungarian National Gallery and featured all the usual events for children, including simuls and appearances by all three Polgar sisters — Judit, Sofia and Susan. Singer/songwriter Juga performed and Vladimir Kramnik gave a simul and was Judit's guest for a live question and answer session. ALINA L'AMI reports in exquisite detail from Budapest. | Photos: Alina l'Ami

10/11/2019 – Judit Polgar's Global Chess Festival culminates on Saturday in a colourful finale at the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest after a series of side events and an online record attempt. In addition to the three Polgar sisters, Vladimir Kramnik will be a guest. Here's a brief preview. | Photos: Global Chess Festival

9/27/2019 – The American magazine The Atlantic has published an interview with the Hungarian chess players Judit Polgar and Anna Rudolf in its series "The Friendship Files". Once Judit Polgar was Anna Rudolf's idol; now they are both friends. Earlier this week the magazine also featured a short film by Jenny Schweitzer Bell, and produced by Jennifer Shahade, called "Kid Chess Champions Share Their Secrets" which features a dozen cute kids who participated in the massive National Scholastic Championship in the USA. | Photo: Anna Rudolf

5/28/2019 – Armenia has the most ambitious school chess programme in the world. It recently hosted its third international conference and the first meeting of FIDE´s new Education Commission in the ressort town Tsakhkadsor. STEFAN LOEFFLER attended. | Pictured: The final of the Armenian Championship of Primary Schools took place in parallel nearby. | Photos: Armenian Chess Academy

10/26/2018 – Earlier this month, Judit Polgar showcased chess for the fourth time in the Hungarian capital Budapest, presenting her Global Chess Festival with the theme "chess connects us". ALINA L'AMI was an official photographer on behalf of the festival and sent us this recollection replete with visual highlights of the day — interspersed with her typical whimsical prose — for a colourful jaunt through this annual chess celebration. | Photos: Alina l'Ami

10/15/2018 – Last weekend, Judit Polgar's big, colourful annual Global Chess Festival took place. A full 24 hours revolved around chess — and not only in Budapest; about 100 places around the world were involved in one way or another. | Photos: Global Chess Festival

7/3/2018 – The two best female players of all time recently came together for The Conversation, a BBC podcast interview. They spoke about their respective chess careers as the best women in the sport, the challenges they each faced, and how they chose to transition away from dedicated competition. These are subjects both have dealt with often before, but rarely have the two come together for a direct back-and-forth conversation like this.

3/8/2018 – Gisbert Jacoby was a chess aficionado and multiple Hamburg champion. As a national coach of the Hamburg Chess Federation, he later promoted many Hamburg talents. From 1988 to 1999, Jacoby was a Managing Director of ChessBase and set the course for the development of the young company. He was friendly with chess luminaries such as Garry Kasparov and Judit Polgar. Last Thursday he died in Hamburg.