The woman I met two years ago at the Congress of Racial
Equality's annual Martin Luther King gala certainly deserves to
be a feminist icon. Yet when I checked the Web site of the
National Organization for Women for anything on Susan Polgar, I
found nothing. Instead, the Web site promptly spit back, "Do
you mean Susan Pleasure?" Surely a woman who had broken the
gender barrier time and time again and had developed a foundation
for young girls that would improve their self-esteem and
assuredness deserved some notice by this women's group. Alas, Ms.
Polgar's achievements are in the male dominated world of chess
— that great game of cerebral excellence and strategy —
not politically correct issues.
On June 25 the city hosted the highest-rated round robin chess
competition in America's history — the Mayor's Cup. In spite
of Ms. Polgar's stellar record of four World Women's
Championships, five Olympic gold medals, and Grandmaster status,
the Hungarian-American mother from Queens went into this event
under low expectations.
I asked her about the difficulty of the event. She said,
"Before the event, I was unsure of my performance because it
is incredibly hard to combine being the organizer of the event, a
devoted chess mom, and being one of the players at the same time.
This is a very big handicap. In addition, there was a lot of
pressure being the only woman in the highest rated ever chess
tournament in U.S. history. If I do well, it is a big boost for
women's chess in America. However, there are many critics who
were just waiting for me to fail so they can say that a woman has
no business competing against top-level male players."
What little I know about the world of chess has been derived from
headlines about the eccentricity of Bobby Fischer and feature
films of other child prodigies. Historically, chess champions are
also predominantly male Europeans. I also know that Ms. Polgar
competed in other events playing simultaneous opponents and
scored a spectacular win record (see www.susanpolgar.com). How
did she do, I asked? She told me, "I was the lowest rated
player in this tournament. Many people said the odds of me
winning this tournament is like the odds of winning the lottery.
Many believed that I would finish in last place by a significant
margin. I gave it my best shot and I was one half point away from
winning the strongest tournament in U.S. history."
Ms. Polgar competed against Grandmaster Ildar Ibragimov and the
reigning U.S.Champion Grandmaster Alexander Onischuk for the
first time. She beat them both. Gata Kamsky, now ranked no. 1
U.S. male, won the competition.
Raise your hand if you've never heard of Ms. Polgar but have
heard of Annika Sorenstam's failed attempt to qualify for the PGA
tournament. Yet Ms. Polgar's demolishment of gender barriers in
the last 25 years has actually reduced the chauvinism in chess
competition.
Speaking of her battles, she said, "One of the most painful
experiences was in 1986. I was the first woman in history to
qualify for the ‘Men's' World Chess Championship but I
wasn't allowed to compete. The official reason was I am a woman
and no woman is allowed. Luckily by the end of that same year,
because of my case, the International Chess Federation changed
the rule by deleting the word ‘Men's' from the name of the
event. Since then women, if they qualify, can compete for the
overall world title. I have stood up for the rights of women
chess players around the world in the past three decades and I
will not give up until we have the same rights and conditions as
our male counterparts."
Ms. Polgar started playing when she was just 4 years old and soon
won the championship of Budapest in her native Hungary with a
perfect score (10–0). She was a hyperactive child who
discovered that chess enabled her to focus for hours. Why not
chess instead of Ritalin, I asked? Susan agreed that chess is
certainly more fun than medication and added, "I strongly
believe that chess can help all children educationally and chess
will give them many incredible benefits throughout their lives.
This is even more important for girls as it can help enhance
their self-confidence and self-esteem."
The women I truly admire are those who face enormous wrath for
telling the truth, as Phyllis Chesler did when she spoke of the
feminist hypocrisy ignoring the plight of battered Islamic women;
and women like Susan Polgar who break down gender barriers
without demanding that they be altered or lowered.