The Polgárs’ story is more than inspiring: it’s the most remarkable “nature vs. As an adult she racked up victories against the likes of Boris Spassky, Magnus Carlsen, and Garry Kasparov, who had once declared that “women by their nature are not exceptional chess players.” At her peak she was ranked No.
At age 15 she became the youngest player ever to reach grandmaster status. The second child, Zsófia (Sofia), became an International Master. In 1991 Zsuzsa (Susan) became the first female grandmaster in the history of the sport. With the help of elite coaches, the Polgárs drilled their daughters in the art of chess. Accordingly, we reject any kind of discrimination in this respect.” Chess is a form of intellectual activity…. “Women are able,” László insisted, “to achieve results similar, in fields of intellectual activities, to of men. But László and Klara Polgár scorned the received wisdom. Top-level chess had long been considered a domain in which women were mentally incapable of competing.
When the eldest took an interest in his chessboard as a toddler, László realized the game-with its objective measures of success-would make an ideal test of his method. The author of a brassy parenting book called Bring Up Genius!, he sought to prove that, as one of his kids later put it, “any healthy child-if taught early and intensively-can be brought up to be exceptionally successful in any field.” He married a fellow teacher who shared his views, and together they had three daughters. In the late 1960s, a Hungarian teacher named László Polgár resolved to try an educational experiment.