From: "jay hack" <jay.hack@execnet.com>
Newsgroups: rec.games.chess
Subject: chess news        4/4
Date: 26 Jul 92 00:43:57 EST
Reply-To: "jay hack" <jay.hack@execnet.com>
Distribution: rec
Organization: Executive Networks Information

>>> Continued from previous message
 BODY:
    Trained by her father since birth to be a genius, Judit Polgar
, 15 , the Hungarian  chess  prodigy, is focused on becoming the
world's first female  chess  champion.
   No other subject interests her so much, except the prospect of
buying a Jaguar when she turns 17.
   Smashing stereotype in a 99% male game, her calculated wildness
and cool composure at the  chess  board create global aftershocks
in the cloistered  chess  world. This week, she's in the U.S.
Chess  Federation's prestigious U.S. International tournament.
   Judit captured the rank of grandmaster last December at 15 years
and 5 months - the youngest person in history. Bobby Fischer made
chess  front-page news 34 years ago when he earned grandmaster rank
at 15 years, 6 months.
   Described as fearless in competition, the blue-jeaned Judit
says, ''Of course I'm nervous sometimes, but I try not to show it.
... I collect all the best ideas from all the world-class  chess
players in history and I study the strategy, style and personality
of my opponent. Psychological advantage is as important as
strategy.''
   To get an idea of Judit's feat, 29 -year-old world champion Gary
Kasparov , has the highest  chess  ranking in the world, 2770 ;
Judit's ranking is 2575. The average competitive  chess  player is
1500.
   Judit started playing at age 4. To become grandmaster, she had
to excel in three tournaments played against opponents of
grandmaster or even more elite international grandmaster rank.
   Only about 350 top-ranking grandmasters exist, and four are
women: Judit, her sister Zsuzsa (pronounced Su-za) and two
Russians.
   Judit appears nonchalant, poised and cheerful on and off the
chess  board. Asked what her interests are, beyond the world of
kings and pawns, she replies, ''I'm only interested in  chess  -
and winning.''
   That attitude was likely fostered by her father, Laszlo Polgar,
who raised his daughters under the motto, ''A genius is not born,
but is educated and trained.''
   His ''do-it-yourself'' project was hatched from a boudoir in
Budapest, assisted by his wife Klara who knew of his plan - to
produce geniuses - before they married. Three girls were born,
Zsuzsa , now 22, Zsofia (pronounced Sophia), 17, and Judit.
   Their father, a teacher and psychologist, quit work to stay home
and teach his daughters. Klara, also a teacher, supported the
family. His ''human engineering'' formula was vague, and he didn't
know what his daughters would specialize in - until first-born
Zsuzsa happened upon Dad's  chess  set.
   Laszlo got into trouble with Hungary's communist officials, who
at first thought he was mentally ill for refusing to send his kids
to school. Even now, critics call his ''twig bending'' a form of
child abuse.
   Starting at age 4, Zsuzsa studied  chess  six to eight hours a
day, sprinkled with academic programs and physical sports, with 20
minutes a day of joke telling, for balance.
   Today, grandmaster Zsuzsa has a  chess  rating of 2535 and
speaks five languages. Zsofia and Judit followed her study regimen.
Expert  chess  instructors taught the girls at home.
   Though no woman has been world champion, pere Polgar wants to
change all that.
   His daughters are revolutionizing  chess  - be they pawns or
princesses of his home-based genius enterprise.
   The payoff is prize money, appearance fees, endorsements,  chess
books by the girls and TV movies about the family. And, Laszlo
sometimes insists on hefty interview fees.
   Klara says the children have always had busy social lives and
that no jealousy or rivalry exists among them.
   ''Soon the girls will be old enough to travel on their own. I
will be happy to have some peace and quiet and stay at home,'' she
says, chasing after her husband as he absent-mindedly crosses a
busy New York street, oblivious to the traffic.
   The three geniuses in jeans look at him and laugh, shaking their
heads in wonderment.
---
  SLMR 2.0  Backup not found: (A)bort (R)etry (P)anic
--
Executive Network Information System  (914) 667-4567
International ILink Host
Newsgroups: rec.games.chess