László Polgár - Biography

László Polgár (born 1946 in Gyöngyös), is a Hungarian chess teacher and father of the famous "Polgár sisters": Zsuzsa, Zsófia, and Judit. He authored well-known chess books such as Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games and Reform Chess, a survey of chess variants.

László is an expert on chess theory and owns over 10,000 chess books. He is interested in the proper method of rearing children, believing that "geniuses are made, not born". Before he had any children, he wrote a book entitled Bring Up Genius!, and sought a wife to help him carry out his experiment. He found one in Klara, a schoolteacher, who lived in a Hungarian-speaking enclave in Ukraine. He married her in the USSR and brought her to Hungary. He home-schooled their three daughters, primarily in chess, and all three went on to become strong players. An early result was Susan's winning the Budapest Chess Championship for girls under 11 at the age of four. Also his daughter, Judit, could defeat him at chess when she was just five,. He is an intense admirer of L.L. Zamenhof, the creator of the Esperanto language. Polgár's second language is Esperanto.

Published works

• Nevelj zsenit! (Bring Up Genius!), 1989 (ISBN 963-01-9976-9) – Out of print.
• Minichess, 1995 (ISBN 963-450-805-7)
• Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games, 1994 (ISBN 1-884822-31-2)
• Chess: Reform Chess, 1997 (ISBN 3-89508-226-0)
• Chess: Middlegames, 1998 (ISBN 3-89508-683-5)
• Chess: Endgames, 1999 (ISBN 3-8290-0507-5)
• Királynők és királyok. Sakk, Szerelem, Szex, 2004 (ISBN 963-216-008-8)
• Salom haver: Zsidó származású magyar sakkozók antológiája, 2004 (ISBN 963-214-570-4)
• PeCHESS ember elCHESSte, 2004 (ISBN 963-86531-1-6)
• Polgar Superstar Chess, 2004 (ISBN 963-216-009-6)
• Polgar Superstar Chess II, 2005 (ISBN 963-86531-4-0)
• I Love Superstar Chess, 2005 (ISBN 963-86738-5-0)
• Hatágú csillag. Sakk, képzőművészet és humor, 2005 (ISBN 963-86531-5-9)
• Biztonság. Sakk és humor, 2005 (ISBN 963-86531-9-1)
• Knight, 2005 (ISBN 963-86738-2-6)
• Queens, 2005 (ISBN 963-86738-0-X)
• Blanka: Miniaturaj ŝakproblemoj (White: Miniature chess problems), 2005 (ISBN 963-86531-7-5)
• Sakkmat(t)ek. Sakk, matematika, humor, 2005 (ISBN 963-86531-6-7)
• Eszperantó és sakk (Chess in Esperanto), 2006 (ISBN 963-86738-7-7)
• La stelita stel', 2006 (ISBN 963-87042-0-9)

See also

• Boris Sidis - The psychologist and social scientist who's educational experiments are credited for the genius of his famous son William James Sidis.

External links

• Psychology Today: The Grandmaster Experiment
• Telegraph: Queen takes all
• Eduku geniulon! Web page about the Esperanto translation of Nevelj zsenit!