You seem to be suggesting the situation is hopeless. No matter how
talented the women players are, there doesn't seem to be an end to the
obstacles they have to traverse in order to be taken seriously. Even
when your sister Judit Polgar finally beat Gary Kasparov recently, it
was pointed out the game was only rapid time controls.
And with all due respect GM Susan Polgar, I think your sister has to do
more. She's been an exemplary example of how a chess player should
conduct herself in the public arena. She's thoughtful, engaging and
intelligent. But unfortunately (and this is just my opinion),I believe
Judit Polgar doesn't know how to play the "political game" of chess.
Granted, it's possible she has no desire to muddy her hands in the dirty
political backwaters in the chess world. But for the sake of women chess
players, I believe Judit has to do more. She must take a stand against
FIDE and force it to wake up. She doesn't have to do this alone. She has
family like yourself to help her. But for goodness sake, GM Susan
Polgar...this situation with women chess players lagging behind the men
has to stop. The "nerdiness' charge alone about the game would go away
if your sister would take up the sad, but necessary step of publicity
for the game's sake. The wonders it would do for the chess world if
Judit Polgar were interviewed by Katie Couric is priceless. And I've
always wondered why Judit Polgar HASN'T been interviewed by Katie
Couric. I can't imagine why it SHOULDN'T happen. Especially now.
With all the backstabbing going on due to the controversies of
Ponomariov, Kramnik-Leko and Kasparov is enough to make anyone throw up
their hands in disgust. But your sister can put an end to that. Her
recent match with Anand should have been televised live on ESPN. That
would have done wonders for chess. I don't understand why it wasn't. At
least that match wouldn't have made people fall asleep like it did for
me during the Kasparov Deep Junior match. But what do we get instead? A
mind numbing 17 hours coverage of Kasparov against Deep Fritz in 3D! You
think people starting to get interested in chess will be at all
impressed with this game if the time control is 40 moves in 2 hours per
game?! That amounts to over 4 hours of staring at the computer screen or
television! Correct me if I'm wrong here GM Susan Polgar, but your
sister played Anand in the 8 game blitz match in Mainz at 25 minutes per
side. That's 50 minutes per game. Far more appealing for TV advertisers
and sponsors.
In sum...FIDE is not going to go out of its way to modernize the way
chess gets presented to the world. It's going to take someone like
yourself and your sister to rouse FIDE from its slumber. Otherwise women
chess players will never be taken seriously and may never get the chance
to compete fairly for the world chess championship.
In article ,
says...
Already discussed this in my ChessCafe.com column 
Last year, Humpy
Koneru was replacing Judit. This year, it is Lahno. Next year, there
will be talk of someone else. I have heard this for 30 years. Many
women reached 2400-2500 level. The question is will they have the
support or intensity to reach the next level? Will there be any
motivation for them to do so? When was the last time the Women's
World Championship held?
There are many things that can be done, but who is going to do it?
USCF? FIDE? With what money and whose money? For every issue that
was brought up here, there are 10-20-30 different opinions. No good
promoter can survive the chess politicians. In the mean time, stay
tune for 2004
Best wishes,
GM Susan Polgar
www.SusanPolgar.com
www.USScholasticChess.org
Alberich wrote in message ...
In article ,
says...
Judit is very special. She is one of the hardest worker in chess. It
is not easy to train day in day out for 20-25 years. Talent alone
without hard work won't do it. She sacrificed a lot to get to where
she is right now and I am very proud of her. Family support is also
very important.
Best wishes,
GM Susan Polgar
www.SusanPolgar.com
www.USScholasticChess.org
This is all well and good. But how do you explain the lone rising star
of Kateryna Lahno? Why ONLY someone of her caliber is able to reach as
far as she could? She is the only other woman I can think of that can be
considered another Judit Polgar. But this is because she makes it a
point to avoid playing women only tournaments. Is there something to be
learned by this? Or is there still a reason why women chess tournaments
still exist? I'm all for bringing up the quality of women playing chess
but something has to be done to speed up the process. If I was in
Kirsan's shoes I'd make the bold suggestion to bring the best women
chess players to compete alongside the usual contestants for the World
Championship. Players like Alisa Maric, Galliamova, Skripchenko, Paehtz
and Kosteniuk should have the same chance to fight for the World Chess
championship title. Even you, GM Susan Polgar could win the World
championship under such a rule change. But even if none of the
contestants I mentioned win...at least their inclusion in the FIDE world
championship cycles would open the door more widely for women players
and give them the inspiration to play against the men more. This would
help narrow the gap between men and women much faster.
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