Judit Polgar Retiring from Professional Chess

Um, I thought she did this years ago, except for the occasional urge to make some appearance fees at special events or serve the call of her homeland (as in an Olympiad).  It's been clear for some time that Judit P.'s heart was no longer solely dedicated to the game. One reaches the point in one's life where too many other things are calling out to one...  And, as we know, Chess is a very jealous lover. 

Here's a link to the report at The Week in Chess. 

Will there ever be another female player of Judit Polgar's calibre?  Not in what's left of my lifetime, unless there is an undiscovered "prodigy" out there who will stun the world during the next 5-10-15-20 years or so.  I can always hope that will happen; otherwise, female chessplayers will continue in their chess ghetto, earning half (or much less) than mediocre male chessplayers. 

Personally, I won't ever forget actually seeing JP play in person at the FIDE World Chess Championship held at Caesar's Palace Resort Complex in Las Vegas, Nevada, in August, 1999.  I saw her in only one game -- a quarter-finals game, on Friday, August 13th.  She should have won, that's an auspicious number for chess goddesses.  However, she was knocked out of play by GM Alexander Khalifman, a long-shot who went on to win the title.  I was close enough to nearly reach out and touch both of them, I'd only have to have gone a little bit over the red rope separating the row of seats I was in to where the players' table were, but of course that would have been a horrible breach of ettiquette!  I should have done it...

JP's legacy, and that of the three Polgar sisters, will always be part of chess lore.  For that, I am grateful.  They stand as beacons of enlightenment to other aspiring female chessplayers, if they work hard enough (as hard as the best male players, who get utterly obsessed with the game).  Remember - 10,000 dedicated focused, hours of practice and study...that is what research has shown is necessary for most anyone to become an expert at any endeavor.

2014 European Individual Chess Championship - Update

Top Ten female players after R6 (with top player(s) included for comparison) -- 259 players through R6:

Rank after Round 6

Rk.	SNo			Name	sex	FED	RtgI	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	Rp	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	33		GM	Motylev Alexander		RUS	2656	5.5	2568	17.5	19.5	5	2938	6	5.5	3.91	1.59	10	15.9

33

18

GM

Polgar Judit

w

HUN

2693

4.0

2594

20.0

22.5

2

2691

6

4

4.00

0.00

10

0.0

98

129

GM

Stefanova Antoaneta

w

BUL

2476

3.5

2462

17.5

18.5

2

2455

6

3.5

3.44

0.06

10

0.6

105

137

IM

Melia Salome

w

GEO

2453

3.5

2429

16.5

18.5

3

2437

6

3.5

3.55

-0.05

10

-0.5

117

104

GM

Dzagnidze Nana

w

GEO

2546

3.0

2626

18.0

19.5

2

2546

6

3

2.87

0.13

10

1.3

120	167		WGM	Charochkina Daria	w	RUS	2374	3.0	2619	19.0	20.0	3	2536	6	3	1.81	1.19	10	11.9
121	160		WGM	Arabidze Meri	w	GEO	2388	3.0	2600	18.5	20.0	2	2529	6	3	1.93	1.07	15	16.0

128

186

WGM

Kursova Maria

w

ARM

2326

3.0

2531

17.0

19.0

2

2431

6

3

2.11

0.89

15

13.4

145

131

GM

Danielian Elina

w

ARM

2467

3.0

2427

16.5

19.0

2

2379

6

3

3.64

-0.64

10

-6.4

161

166

IM

Bulmaga Irina

w

ROU

2375

2.5

2618

19.0

22.0

1

2547

6

2.5

1.29

1.21

10

12.1

169

147

WGM

Goryachkina Aleksandra

w

RUS

2424

2.5

2507

16.0

18.5

2

2387

6

2.5

2.86

-0.36

10

-3.6

Five more rounds of action to come! It's not going to get any easier as the pairings in the second-half rounds get tougher and tougher.  Can Judit Polgar pull herself up into the top 10?  That's a BIG mountain to climb.  The next closest female player is GM Antoaneta Stefanova, in 98th place.  EEK!  Personal favorite IM Salome Melia, whom I got to "know" during her appearance at the Montreal Chess Championships back in 2009 (I think it was 2009), is hanging tough.  I would love to see her advance.

Stay tuned for reports as the action advances.

Judit Polgar's Latest Book

Reported at Chessbase News (you can read the full review there):

GM Judit Polgar, 2011 World Cup, sporting her favorite
animal print - leopard! 

Judit Polgar: How I beat Fischer's record
05.02.2013– It is not often that we review books, but some simply call for attention. Such as this one by the strongest female in chess history, which was given to us by Judit during the London Chess Classic. We have known her since early childhood, and followed her career. The book was a trip down memory lane. We are pleased to share with you a sample chapter and a wonderfully annotated game.

Judit Polgar is one of the most celebrated chess players in the world, and as a woman competing in a male-dominated game, her achievements are unparalleled. It is not often that an active world-class player goes to the trouble of writing a highly personal account of their life and chess career, but now, with the help of the British publisher Quality Chess, the strongest female player of all time has made just such a gift to the chess world.

“I started flirting with the idea of publishing a collection of my best games a long time ago. For years, I was aware that the moment when I could fulfil my dream was far away. As a professional player, I spent most of my time and energy playing in tournaments and training, so each time the idea of my book popped up, I had to say to myself “Later, later...””

So writes Judit Polgar in the preface of her new book, How I Beat Fischer’s Record. The first in a three-part series, it documents her early life and chess development, spanning a period from the early 1980s up to 1991. The latter was the year in which she made history by achieving the grandmaster title approximately one month younger than Bobby Fischer.

Will any chess femme take her place?  Beth Harmon, where are you when we need you???  I don't expect to see one in what's left of my lifetime.

2012 London Chess Classic

Game 2:

Judit Polgar is playing the white pieces against Gawain Jones today and she's down on time -- looking right now at live coverage at Chessdom.com and she's got about 18 minutes to Jones' 27.  Here's the game thus far.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2 O-O 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Rc8 11. Bb3 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 b5 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. exd5 a5 16. a3 Kg8 17. Rhe1 b4 18. axb4 axb4 19. Qxb4 Rc5 20. Rd3 Qa8 21. Rxe7 Qa1+ 22. Kd2 Qf1 23. Qf4 Bf5 24. Rc3 Ra5 25. Rce3 Qxg2+ 26. Re2 Qg1 27. Qe3 Qa1 28. Re8 Ra8 29. Rxf8+ Rxf8 30. Qc3 Qg1 31. Qe3 *

A win here is important for Judit because if draws she gets only a point, she'll be very far down point wise (win = 3; draw = 1) and may not finish in the money.  Only the top 6 players receive prize money and the pay-off is generous!

More later!  Here's a pic from The Week in Chess of Judit and Vlady from yesterday's game.  Judit resplendent in red.

2012 London Chess Classic Game 1.  Photo © Ray Morris-Hill http://raymorris-hill.smugmug.com/.

UPDATE:

It's now 2:22 p.m. Milwaukee time and Judit and Gawain are still going at it!  UNBELIEVABLE!

Here are the moves since 31 that I posted this morning:

31. Qe3 Qa1 32. Qc3 Qg1 33. Ba4 Qg5+ 34. Qe3 Qf6 35. c3 Rb8 36. b3 Qh4 37. Qe7 Qf4+ 38. Qe3 Qh4 39. Kc1 Qh3 40. Qf2 Bd3 41. Rd2 Bb5 42. Bxb5 Rxb5 43. b4 Qc8 44. Kb2 Rb8 45. Kb3 Qf5 46. Qf1 Re8 47. Qd3 Qg5 48. Ra2 h5 49. b5 Qg1 50. Re2 Ra8 51. Rb2 Qa1 52. Qd4 Qa3+ 53. Kc2 Ra4 54. Qd2 Ra8 55. b6 Qa4+ 56. Kd3 Qa1 57. Qe2 Rb8 58. Kc2 Qa4+ 59. Kb1 Qa5 60. Qb5 Qxc3 61. b7 Qxf3 62. Ka2 Kh7 63. Qc6 Qf4 64. h3 Qd4 65. Rb6 Qd2+ 66. Kb3 Qd1+ 67. Kb4 Qb1+ *

I've no idea of course, but just looking at the position of Judit's pawns and pieces, it doesn't look good for her.  So please, Judit, prove me absolutely dead wrong and win this game!

UPDATE:

It's now 2:43 p.m. and I checked Chessdom's live coverage a few minutes ago to see what was going on with Judit's game. 

Well, Judit couldn't manage a win.  The game was drawn.  No offense against Jones, but Judit in form should have been able to wipe the table with him.   Hmmm.....  Here are the remainder of the moves after the update at 2:22 p.m.

67. Kb4 Qb1+ 68. Ka5 Qa2+ 69. Qa4 Qxd5+ 70. Ka6 Ra8+ 71. bxa8=Q Qxa8+ 72. Kb5 Qd5+ 73. Ka6 Qa8+ ½-½

Here's a snip of the final position from Chessdom:

World's Best Ever Female Chessplayer on Sexism

From The Indepdent

'I never wanted men's pity': Chess child prodigy Judit Polgar on the game's inherent sexism

Judit Polgar beat Bobby Fischer’s record by becoming a chess Grandmaster at 15. Her spectacular talent – and her frustration at the game – still endures, as Dominic Lawson finds when he meets her, 24 years after their first encounter.

Saturday 24 November 2012
Dominic Lawson

GM Judit Polgar and her children, Oliver and Hannah

Almost a quarter of a century ago I met a 12-year-old girl in Budapest, who told me: "When I am rich I want a castle. And five servants. Minimum." It was an extraordinary aspiration for a child living in what was still a Communist country. But then this was no ordinary girl.

Twelve-year-old Judit was already better at chess than any human had been at that age; and within three years she had, at aged 15 and five months, beaten Bobby Fischer's record to become the youngest person – boy or girl – ever to achieve the Grandmaster title.

 

Earlier this month this chess addict went back to Hungary to see Judit, now a married 36-year-old with two children. She was a little late for our meeting at her home, an entirely new-built two-floor apartment in one of Budapest's smartest residential areas. So her husband of 12 years, a strikingly handsome veterinary surgeon called Gusztav Font, showed me around their home while one of two domestic helpers prepared a pot of tea. Judit's office, which Gusztav opened with reverence, was wall-to-wall with chess books and cupboards full of trophies, of course. But I was more taken with the main feature in the marble-floored drawing room – an immense picture window with a stunning view across the Danube to the old imperial palace of Emperor Franz Joseph.

 

So I couldn't quite resist saying, when Judit arrived home: "Well, you didn't get a castle with five servants – but even a view of a palace like that, and two domestic helpers, isn't bad."

"Yes, not bad at all," laughed Judit, who made it clear she had not forgotten our conversation of 23 years ago – she forgets nothing, in fact. In those days she had lived in a much less glamorous, smaller and viewless flat with her two elder sisters and parents. Her mother and father, Laszlo and Klara Polgar, had devoted their lives to their children in an extraordinary way: refusing to send them to school and educating them at home with chess as the main subject and Esperanto as a base for linguistic ability – Judit is nowadays fluent in Russian, English and Spanish as well as her native Magyar.

Laszlo, an educational psychologist by profession, had wanted to demonstrate that what we call 'genius' is not a naturally occurring or genetically created phenomenon, but could be achieved by any child, given intensive early tuition on a one-to-one basis. Chess was a natural way of trying to prove his theory to the world, partly because the game is viewed as a touchstone of the intellect, but also because results are easily compared and measured by a universal grading system. Thus, as Judit put it in her recently published autobiography, How I Beat Fischer's Record: "From the moment of my birth on 23 July 1976, I became involved f in an educational research project. Even before I came into the world, my parents had already decided: I would be a chess champion."

Laszlo Polgar proceeded to demonstrate his theory: his eldest daughter, Zsuzsa, became a Grandmaster and woman's world champion; and the middle daughter, Zsofia, achieved the title of International Chess Master (one rung below Grandmaster status) before abandoning the game as "not enough for me". But it was the Polgars' youngest child, Judit, who challenged all conventional thinking about the innate superiority of the male mind at chess. Unlike all other girls – or women – she refused to take part in the closed ghetto of female events and would play only in male competitions: in these, having started playing competitively at the age of six, she would chew up and spit out Grandmasters and their egos in a style combining breathtakingly direct aggression with lethal tactical trickery.

Between 1 and 10 December at the London Chess Classic in Kensington's Olympia, Judit will be taking on her biggest challenge yet to the male elite of the chess world. Among her opponents will be the reigning World Champion, Viswanathan Anand of India, and the world's two highest-ranked chess players – Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Levon Aronian of Armenia. Oh, and she'll also be up against the former World Champion, Russia's Vladmir Kramnik, the man who took the title from Garry Kasparov in the same city 12 years ago.

Because of her commitments as a mother, Judit does not play chess nearly as much as she did, and has less time to dedicate to study and preparation – she used to put in 10 hours a day of practice, study and training; so I asked her if she was apprehensive about taking on these monsters of the full-time professional game. "I was hesitating about playing. I don't play as much as a full professional should play. But I like a challenge. I just hope it's not too much of a challenge!"

Judit gave up the game entirely for two years, around the time of the births of her and Gusztav's two children, Oliver in 2004 and Hanna in 2006. Lying with her shoeless feet tucked underneath her on a vast red leather chaise longue, Judit explained: "Actually we wanted to have kids earlier. But in 2002 I had a miscarriage, at 13 weeks. And funnily enough after that I had my best-ever tournament result, in January 2003. That was when my international rating reached its peak [she achieved the ranking of world number 8]. So it was a terrible time personally but a great time professionally. It was then that I decided to stop playing… I thought, perhaps if I stop playing then I will be able to get pregnant again."

One can understand Judit's thinking. As one of the world's strongest women players, Russia's Alexandra Kosteniuk has written of her own battle to succeed in what is still a male-dominated sport: "It's almost impossible to explain to non-chess players how physically demanding the game is, and how hard, physically and psychologically, it is to compete in world-championship level competition".

Yet, I asked Judit, doesn't her decision to cut back on the career that once dominated her life almost justify Garry Kasparov's dismissive remark that a woman could never become a great chess player, because she will always be "distracted by a baby's cry"? This, naturally enough, provokes Judit: "I grew up to know what pressure is, for hour after hour! I grew up with pressure from the very beginning. In 2005 I played in the world chess championship in San Luis [in Argentina]: I was away from my family for 27 days. That was not nice – you don't want your babies to suffer emotionally. But I did it. Anyway, this is not just an issue for women, as Kasparov imagines. Don't tell me that if a guy wants to be a good father it doesn't affect his job. My husband supports me a lot – he would probably go higher in his field if he didn't. And that relationship between the sexes is becoming more acceptable."

Yet in the world she moves in professionally, women are still second-class citizens. This is not least because Judit remains a country mile ahead of all other female players, none of whom have even broken into the world's top 100 ranking list. For 23 years now she has been the only woman to figure on it, being currently ranked at number 43. So doesn't this perhaps prove the chauvinists right – that there is an intrinsic superiority in the male mind, in this sphere at least? Judit, naturally, bridles at that.

"No, I don't agree that it's significant that no woman has reached my rating since. The problem is that women are still measured by how they do against other women and that is where the bar is set. For example, the Chinese have a great young woman player, Hou Yifan. But the Chinese government are interested only in her becoming woman's world champion. For them that is enough, and it is much easier to achieve than outstanding performances against the best men. My parents, however, believed that there should be no limits to what you could reach as a woman."

This fierce defence of her upbringing separates Judit from another home-educated prodigy, Britain's Ruth Lawrence. Her father, like Judit's, had devoted himself entirely to her schooling at home, with extraordinary results: Lawrence came top in the Oxford University mathematics entrance exam at nine. She is now married with four children and is also maths professor at the Einstein Institute in Jerusalem – so there has been fulfilment both personally and professionally; but she has apparently long been estranged from the father who had driven her to such an early peak of performance.

Yet it's notable that Judit could have brought up her children in the same way she and her sisters had been, but has chosen not to. Oliver and Hanna are having a normal education (they had just got back from school and were zooming around the family home, while I was there); and Judit has made no special effort to make them focus on chess ahead of their schoolwork.

"Well, our kids have two parents. And while I may have been brought up in a strange way, my husband was brought up in a normal way. Also, the effort involved on my parents' part was extraordinary. They gave up everything for us. My parents didn't believe in their method 100 per cent; they believed in it f 1,000 per cent. I'm not fanatical about such things in the way they were. Plus, my parents were financially deprived, and there was a lot to win for them, in terms of chess prize money. My father wanted to break out. It wasn't easy for him. And I don't think he would even have started it if he'd known all the struggles he'd have with the authorities… they threatened to put him in a mental hospital and us in an orphanage. Also, for us, tournament invitations were the key to travel outside [Communist] Hungary. It was magical to go abroad and see the world. But for kids in Hungary now, it is not magical and their parents don't have to do something extraordinary to make that happen."

Yet the experience of a young girl travelling with just her mother to far-flung places – the Communist authorities kept the father grounded, just in case – was not entirely magical. As Judit recalls: "In 1986, at the age of 10, I won the unrated section of the New York Open and I was on the front page of the New York Times; then, shortly after that, I did a press conference, in Germany. And they killed me. The journalists said 'You are not normal'. They attacked my family's lifestyle. They wanted to tear us apart. I had been speaking English for only six months, so it was difficult for me to answer their questions. Afterwards I was crying in the bathroom. And then I decided at that moment: you know what? I don't care and I won't care. There's absolutely nothing you can do about it."

Judit had the same tough-as-tungsten attitude over the board, something I noticed a quarter of a century ago when watching her lose the odd game and showing none of the wobbling lower lip or other signs of distress that most young children – even the toughest-looking boys – tend to display after defeat. When I mentioned this, Judit's response was fierce: "Of course I got angry when I lost and maybe would cry in my hotel room afterwards. But I would never show it. I didn't want the men's pity. I didn't want to share my pain with them. I would never give excuses, even if I really had one, like being ill." And then she laughs, recalling her sister Zsusza's remark that she "never won a game against a healthy man", a reference to the excuses that grown-up male Grandmasters would make when losing to one or other of the amazing Polgar sisters.

But it's very clear that Judit still craved something from her male rivals: respect. And she felt she got it after that remarkable result in the annual Wijk-an-Zee tournament of January 2003, when she was beaten to first place only by Vishy Anand, and finished undefeated ahead of such giants of the game as the reigning world champion Vladimir Kramnik and the former champion Anatoly Karpov (whom she wiped off the board in characteristically ferocious attacking style using her favourite Queen's Indian Defence).

"After that tournament Anand said, 'She is one of us'. Finally! Finally I got there!" Judit's dark eyes still light up at the memory; but I dared to suggest to her that the Indian might have been saying not that she was a fellow genius, but that she was an honorary man. "Ha! Well, it's true that my old trainer [the Russian Grandmaster Lev Psakhis] would tell people, 'She's a man. She only looks like a woman'. And when I first started going out with Gusztav he would say, 'My God, you are looking at things with a man's brain'. Well, that's how I live. People say I'm tough and harsh. But the truth is that it's just not acceptable for a woman to be self-confident."

Aside from male chauvinism, Judit is also sharply sensitive towards a different sort of prejudice, with dreadful historic echoes in that part of the world: her great-grandparents were among the estimated half a million Jews from Nazi-occupied Hungary who perished in the Holocaust. "In 1988 I received a letter with a picture of my father with his eyes cut out, and an anti-Semitic message. You don't forget things like that. We're still not doing too well in Hungary on this, and maybe it's worse now than when I was a kid. There are these ultra-nationalist organisations… there is a band – Karpatia – which supports this sort of thing and one of its singers invited me to a concert they were doing. And I told him, 'Don't you know I'm Jewish?' and he said, 'Yes, but you're different'." Judit shakes her head at the memory of this bizarre encounter.

A superstar in her native Hungary – rather as a top footballer would be in the UK – Judit is generally wary of getting sucked into politics, of being used to promote the ideas of others. However, she has been very active in trying to persuade the government to make chess an option within the national curriculum, not because she wants all Hungarians to be chess players like her, but because she is passionately convinced it is an attractive way of training children to think logically, which in turn would aid their development in all subjects.

The politicians have consistently expressed their support for her initiative, but Judit – at least the day I saw her – was deeply frustrated that no announcement had yet been made: "The biggest enemy we have is the teachers. They are scared to death by the idea. And the politicians drive me nuts! I don't mind talking about something, OK, but then you've got to take action. For the politicians it's only about talking."

Probably Hungary's exclusively male political elite does not much enjoy being subjected to such treatment by a woman. But it would be completely wrong to give the impression that she is without feminine charm. With her long auburn hair and dazzling smile, Judit has always been the most glamorous presence in a sport not exactly long on sex appeal and she is actually quite coquettish in her manner, enhanced by the fact that she has a little of the Mae West about her. It is hardly surprising that her husband – as he explained to me, still charmingly smitten 14 years later – fell for her immediately when she turned up at his veterinary surgery with her ailing Hungarian Vizsla.

I suspect London will also fall for her when she arrives in the capital next month – her first professional appearance in the UK since 1988, when no one could quite believe what they were witnessing. If you can, try to get to London Olympia to see her in action. We will not see her like again.

For more details, visit londonchessclassic.com

Polgar to Play in London Chess Classic!!!!!

Oh yes!!

Judit Polgar: 'Everything was about chess'

Judit Polgar was the youngest ever grandmaster at 15 and is the best female chess player of all time. When will more join her at the top?

 

Stephen Moss

The Guardian, Monday 12 November 2012 14.30 EST

 

Judit Polgar is a phenomenon. She is not just the best woman chess player of all time; she is the best by a mile. Chess grandmasters (note master! – traditionally, chess barely recognised the existence of women) have official ratings. Polgar is the only woman in the world's top 100; at her peak, and before she had two children, she was in the top 10.

 

In December she will pay a rare visit to the UK for the London Chess Classic and do what she has always done – play as the lone woman against eight top male players, including world champion Vishy Anand and world No 1 Magnus Carlsen. Aggressive at the board and now getting back to her best after a mid-career slump when her results were poor following the birth of her second child in 2006, she will give as good as she gets.

Does it feel odd to be playing against a field of men? "For me it is very natural," she says. "I started when I was five, and grew up playing against adults and against men most of the time." She never accepted the path many leading female players take, competing in separate women's events and aiming at the women's world title. She took on all-comers from an early age, became the then youngest ever grandmaster (male or female) at the age of 15, and didn't bother competing for the women's world championship because she could have won it in her sleep. She simply aimed to be the best in the world, regardless of gender.

Polgar, who was born in Budapest, is one of three chess-playing sisters. The eldest, Susan, was women's world champion; the middle sister, Sofia, was an international master; but Judit, hard-working and with an immense will to win, proved the strongest of all. The three were part of a controversial experiment conducted by their teacher father Laszlo, whose contention was that "geniuses are not born, but made". He taught his daughters at home – the curriculum included Esperanto – and drilled chess into them from an early age.

From 2011 Aquaprofit Polgar Sakknap.  From Left to right: GM Judit Polgar, IM Sophia Polgar, GM Susan Polgar.
2012 Aquaprofit Polgar Sakknap coming up!

"I grew up in a very special atmosphere," she says. "Everything was about chess. I learned from my sisters and won my first international competition at nine years old." Did she resent being part of her father's experiment? "In the beginning it was a game. My father and mother are exceptional pedagogues who can motivate and tell it from all different angles. Later, chess for me became a sport, an art, a science, everything together. I was very focused on chess, and happy with that world. I was not the rebelling and going out type. I was happy that at home we were a closed circle and then we went out playing chess and saw the world. It's a very difficult life and you have to be very careful, especially the parents, who need to know the limits of what you can and can't do with your child. My parents spent most of their time with us; they travelled with us [when we played abroad], and were in control of what was going on. With other prodigies it might be different. It is very fragile. But I'm happy that with me and my sisters it didn't turn out in a bad way."

Top chess players can be dysfunctional – think Bobby Fischer, who Polgar knew when he lived in Budapest in the 1990s – but Polgar is relaxed, approachable and alarmingly well balanced. After her 2006-09 slump, she says she worked out how to juggle a career in competitive chess with having two young children, running a chess foundation in Hungary, writing books and developing educational programmes based on chess. "My life is very complex and rich now," she says.

Has she struck a blow for women by showing they can compete with the best men? "There are many guys who say: 'OK, you are an exception, so you prove the rule. Show me the next.' I say: 'Yes, I am so far exceptional, but I don't think I will be the only one in the upcoming decades.'" Women's chess is getting stronger, more girls are playing at a very young age, and strong women players are emerging from China and India. Chess would benefit from an influx of women able to compete with the top men, because it would add spice to a pursuit that struggles for media attention. The first ever world title match between a male and female player would generate huge interest.

Polgar came close to the summit – she was eighth in the tournament to determine the world champion in 2005 – but, at 36, realises that the chance to compete for the world title won't come again. Forty is a watershed for top players, and many start to ease away from serious competition, but she has no thoughts of retiring. "I don't like 'never, never, never'," she says. "I don't think I could ever say that I will never play again, because even if I felt I could never play in top-class tournaments again because I don't have time for the preparation, after a while you might one day think: 'maybe, maybe, maybe … why not?'"

The London Chess Classic is at Kensington Olympia, London W14 from 1-10 December, hosted by Chess in Schools and Communities.

2012 Chess Olympiad - Final Standings

I'll get the Open out of the way first.  Top 10 finishers:

Rk.	SNo		Team	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	3		Armenia	ARM	11	9	1	1	19	397.0	29.0	155.00
2	1		Russia	RUS	11	9	1	1	19	388.5	28.5	157.00
3	2		Ukraine	UKR	11	9	0	2	18	363.0	29.5	147.00
4	6		China	CHN	11	8	1	2	17	390.5	29.5	157.00
5	5		United States Of America	USA	11	7	3	1	17	361.0	30.0	142.00
6	9		Netherlands	NED	11	8	0	3	16	329.0	29.0	133.00
7	27		Vietnam	VIE	11	6	4	1	16	313.5	29.0	126.00
8	25		Romania	ROU	11	8	0	3	16	310.0	29.0	128.00
9	4		Hungary	HUN	11	7	1	3	15	368.0	28.0	151.00
10	7		Azerbaijan	AZE	11	6	3	2	15	344.0	29.0	144.00

A creditable finish for Team USA-Open.

Now, the women!  Top 10 finishers:

Rk.	SNo		Team	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	2		Russia	RUS	11	8	3	0	19	450.0	33.0	155.00
2	1		China	CHN	11	8	3	0	19	416.0	31.5	154.00
3	4		Ukraine	UKR	11	7	4	0	18	408.5	30.5	154.00
4	6		India	IND	11	8	1	2	17	336.0	28.0	148.00
5	10		Romania	ROU	11	8	0	3	16	313.5	28.5	129.00
6	8		Armenia	ARM	11	8	0	3	16	313.0	26.5	140.00
7	14		France	FRA	11	7	1	3	15	347.5	29.0	147.00
8	3		Georgia	GEO	11	6	3	2	15	344.0	28.5	144.00
9	26		Iran	IRI	11	7	1	3	15	339.0	31.0	132.00
10	5		United States of America	USA	11	6	3	2	15	326.0	29.5	133.00

Team USA Women managed to squeak into the Top 10 but, frankly, I'm not impressed.  I don't know what happened - disharmony on the team?  Personality clashes?  Bad coaching decisions?  But we should have done better than we did.

Team Georgia Women managed to climb up to 8th place, but what a big disappointment from them, too! 

Iran? IRAN, where the women barely are allowed to play the game, let alone compete, finishes in 9th place?  Well, what a dilemma for the Ayatollah and Clueless Leader Ahmadwhateverhisnameis.  Will they tout this finish to the world, demonstrating how "advanced and equal" the sexes are in their theocracy under Sharia law, while simultaneously banning the women from giving interviews to national press or, Idol Forbid, going on television to encourage other women to become independent and critically-thinkers by taking up the game?  Ha ha ha!  I'm happy for Team Iran Women, because this is a great showing for them.  I'm all for encouraging women to independence and critical thinking.  May Caissa by with them.

JUDIT WATCH! 

All right, now is the tine for me to finally look -- I'm on pins and needles.  How did Judit do in the last round???  Wow!  Team Hungary Open had a VERY tough assignment in the final round: they played Armenia!

9. Hungary (HUN / RtgAvg:2708, TB1: 15 / TB2: 368)
Bo.		Name	Rtg	FED		2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pts.	Games	Rp	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	GM	Leko Peter	2737	HUN		1	½	½	½	½	½	0	½	1	½	5.5	10	2710	5.5	5.83	-0.33	10	-3.3
2	GM	Almasi Zoltan	2713	HUN	½		½	1	0	1	1	½	½	1	0	6.0	10	2655	6	6.63	-0.63	10	-6.3
3	GM	Polgar Judit	2698	HUN	1	½	1	½	½	1		½	1	1	½	7.5	10	2744	7.5	6.79	0.71	10	7.1
4	GM	Berkes Ferenc	2685	HUN	½	½	1	1		½	0		1	1	½	6.0	9	2625	6	6.59	-0.59	10	-5.9
5	GM	Balogh Csaba	2668	HUN	1	½			½		½	½				3.0	5	2564	3	3.43	-0.43	10	-4.3

Judit drew her game with GM Vladimir Akopian. 

GO JUDIT GO!  I am so happy for her for this very good performance.  She's the only member of Team Hungary Open to ADD points to her ELO, and her performance rating was Team highest.  Excellent!  Judit's new ELO will go over 2700 once again.  And to think that people were saying that she had was past her prime.  HA!  And I'll say it again for good measure -- HA! 

If you are interested in looking further at Team Hungary Open, you can find all of the match-ups and results here. 

GAPRINDASHVILI CUP

Gaprindashvilicup (Best federation = sum (open + women))

Rk.	flag	Team	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1		Russia	38	838.5	61.5	312.00
2		China	36	806.5	61.0	311.00
3		Ukraine	36	771.5	60.0	301.00
4		Armenia	35	710.0	55.5	295.00
5		United States of America	32	687.0	59.5	275.00
6		Romania	32	623.5	57.5	257.00
7		Germany	30	650.5	53.0	292.00
8		India	30	645.5	53.5	293.00
9		Netherlands	30	614.5	56.0	266.00
10		Hungary	29	671.0	55.5	280.00

INDIVIDUAL BOARD PERFORMANCES

Board 1
Rk.			Name	Rtg	Team	%	Games	RtgAvg	Pts.	Rp
1		GM	Hou Yifan	2599	China	72.2	9	2479	6.5	2645
2		GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2547	Georgia	75.0	8	2432	6.0	2625
3		GM	Lahno Kateryna	2542	Ukraine	70.0	10	2459	7.0	2608

Board 2
Rk.			Name	Rtg	Team	%	Games	RtgAvg	Pts.	Rp
1		GM	Zhao Xue	2549	China	80.0	10	2334	8.0	2574
2		IM	Muzychuk Mariya	2466	Ukraine	66.7	9	2401	6.0	2526
3		WGM	Yildiz Betul Cemre	2341	Turkey	86.4	11	2193	9.5	2502

Board 3
Rk.			Name	Rtg	Team	%	Games	RtgAvg	Pts.	Rp
1		GM	Kosintseva Nadezhda	2524	Russia	88.9	9	2342	8.0	2693
2		WGM	Zawadzka Jolanta	2377	Poland	81.8	11	2276	9.0	2538
3		IM	Sachdev Tania	2379	India	81.8	11	2260	9.0	2522

(Happy to see Sachdev step it up a notch for this Olympiad.  Congratulations to her for her fine performance!)

Board 4
Rk.			Name	Rtg	Team	%	Games	RtgAvg	Pts.	Rp
1		WGM	Huang Qian	2449	China	80.0	10	2307	8.0	2547
2		IM	Collas Silvia	2261	France	83.3	9	2196	7.5	2469
3		GM	Kosteniuk Alexandra	2489	Russia	77.8	9	2248	7.0	2468

Congratulations one of my favorite players, GM Kosteniuk, on her Bronze Medal!)

Board 5
Rk.			Name	Rtg	Team	%	Games	RtgAvg	Pts.	Rp
1		WGM	Pogonina Natalija	2448	Russia	81.3	8	2236	6.5	2487
2		WFM	Castrillon Gomez Melissa	2181	Colombia	87.5	8	2043	7.0	2379
3		WIM	Davletbayeva Madina	2165	Kazakhstan	72.2	9	2191	6.5	2357

It was a China and Russia gold medal fest for board performances.

WIM, IM, WGM and GM FIDE-Titles (unofficial)

No.	FideID		Name	Team	FED	After Rd.	Pts.	Games	New Title
1	13903284	WFM	Baciu, Diana	Moldova	MDA	11	7	11	WIM
2	3804178	WFM	Chumpitaz Carbajal, Ann Linsay	Peru	PER	11	6.5	9	WIM
3	2114160	WFM	Feliciano Ebert, Vanessa	Brazil	BRA	11	7	9	WGM
4	4403070	WFM	Franco Valencia, Angela Maria	Colombia	COL	11	6	10	WIM
5	5212499		Frayna, Janelle Mae	Philippines	PHI	9	6	9	WIM
6	5105994		Garcia Morales, Ivette Alejandra	Mexico	MEX	11	7	9	WIM
7	14201437	WFM	Gevorgyan, Irina	Uzbekistan	UZB	10	5	9	WIM
8	8602689	WGM	Huang, Qian	China	CHN	11	8	10	IM
9	13401521	WGM	Mamedjarova, Zeinab	Azerbaijan	AZE	10	6	10	IM
10	13403508	WGM	Mammadova, Gulnar	Azerbaijan	AZE	10	7	10	IM
11	7101570	WFM	Medina, Warda Aulia	Indonesia	INA	11	6.5	10	WIM
12	3900517		Montilla, Jorcerys	Venezuela	VEN	11	7	9	WIM
13	14201526	WIM	Muminova, Nafisa	Uzbekistan	UZB	10	6	9	IM
14	13704788	WIM	Nakhbayeva, Guliskhan	Kazakhstan	KAZ	11	6.5	10	IM
15	322750	WGM	Nemcova, Katerina	Czech Republic	CZE	11	8.5	11	IM
16	4182146	FM	Pustovoitova, Daria	IBCA	IBCA	11	6.5	10	WIM
17	13700090	WIM	Saduakassova, Dinara	Kazakhstan	KAZ	11	7	9	WGM
18	14100126	WFM	Shvayger, Yuliya	Israel	ISR	11	6	9	WIM
19	7101198	WIM	Sihite, Chelsie Monica	Indonesia	INA	11	7	9	WGM
20	6300278	WCM	Sop, Selen	Turkey 2016	TUR16	10	7	9	WIM
21	13505300	FM	Stetsko, Lanita	Belarus	BLR	11	7	9	WGM
22	937266	WGM	Vojinovic, Jovana	Montenegro	MNE	11	8	11	IM
23	6302920	WGM	Yildiz, Betul Cemre	Turkey	TUR	11	8.5	10	IM
24	1122320	WGM	Zawadzka, Jolanta	Poland	POL	11	9	11	IM

Official Website.