Susan Polgar - Rebel Queen: The Cold War, Misogyny, and the Making of a Grandmaster

Born to a poor Jewish family in Cold War Budapest, Polgar would emerge as the one of the greatest female chess players the world has ever seen. While still a teenager, she became the first woman to qualify for the men’s World Chess Championship cycle. She went on to become the highest rated female chess player on the planet and, at age 21, the first woman to earn the men’s Grandmaster title—chess’ highest designation. But to get there, she had to endure sexism, anti-Semitism, state-sponsored intimidation, and even violent assault. Throw in sabotage, betrayal, and powerful enemies, and you have a sense of what she went through while breaking chess’ glass ceiling. 

Polgar eventually left Hungary and started a new life as an American citizen. After retiring as a player, she became the only female Division 1 college coach in the country and built two separate college chess dynasties from scratch—at Texas Tech in Lubbock (where she now resides) and Webster University in St. Louis—leading them to more national titles, world championships, major titles, and Olympiad medals, especially gold, than all other college chess teams in the United States combined!

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